GameSync Game Data Importer

Description

GameSync Game Data Importer imports game data from IGDB.com — descriptions, storylines, ratings, platforms, genres, developers/publishers, cover art, screenshots, artwork and trailers — straight into a dedicated Game custom post type on your WordPress site.

Features

• Game custom post type (ggdi_game) with taxonomies for Platforms, Genres, Game Modes, Themes, Player Perspectives, Companies and Franchises.
• Search & Import — search IGDB by name from the WP admin and import individual games with one click.
• Downloads cover art and screenshots into the Media Library (cover art becomes the featured image, screenshots become a gallery), or optionally just link to IGDB’s own CDN instead of storing images locally.
• Stores ratings, release date, storyline, developer/publisher, trailers (YouTube) and official/store links (Steam, GOG, etc.) as post meta.
• A Re-sync button on every imported game re-pulls the latest data from IGDB, without overwriting fields you’ve hand-edited in WordPress since the last sync.
• A [ggdi_game id="123"] shortcode plus an automatic, theme-overridable front-end template for a ready-to-use game page.
• Game card, Game grid and Release calendar blocks (also as [ggdi_game id="123"], [ggdi_games count="8" columns="4" platform="" genre="" orderby="date"] and [ggdi_releases mode="upcoming" count="10" group="yes"] shortcodes) — show a game, a grid of games or a list of upcoming or recent releases anywhere in the block editor or a classic page.
• Top rated / Recently added lists — switch the Game grid block to its List layout (or use [ggdi_games layout="list" rank="yes" orderby="rating" count="10"]) for a compact, optionally numbered list with a thumbnail, rating and release year.
• Setup guide — a short guided screen that walks you through creating the Twitch app, pasting the credentials, testing the connection and importing your first game.
• WP-CLI commands — wp ggdi import, wp ggdi bulk, wp ggdi resync, wp ggdi status, wp ggdi test and wp ggdi scheduled list|run for scripting and servers without a browser.
• Works with block themes — on Twenty Twenty-Five and other Site Editor themes, game pages use the theme’s own header, footer and layout, with the game details added below the content.
• Store links block (also [ggdi_store_links]) — “Get on Steam”, “Get on GOG”, Epic Games Store, itch.io, App Store and Google Play buttons built from the links a game already has, plus its download link.
• Block patterns — Top 10 games, Recently added, Game library, Upcoming releases and Game of the month, ready to insert from Patterns -> Games.
• Search-engine markup — game pages carry schema.org VideoGame data (name, image, release date, genres, platforms, developer, publisher, rating and screenshots) so search engines can understand them.
• Site Health — Tools -> Site Health tells you if the IGDB connection stops working, for example after a Twitch secret was reset.
• Import Log — see what each import did and why anything failed (expired credentials, rate limits, a game missing from IGDB), and retry failed imports with one click.
• Demo Content — one click adds a full set of fictional demo posts and demo games with locally-generated placeholder art (no real IGDB calls, nothing added automatically), so you can preview a fully populated site before importing anything real.
• Bulk Import — filter by platform, genre, minimum rating and release year, preview the matches, then import up to 500 games in one batched run, plus a “Resync All” to refresh every game already imported.
• Scheduled Imports — save a Bulk Import filter as a recurring background task (“5 games every 6 hours”, say), any number of times over for different platforms, genres or year ranges. Each run automatically skips games already imported, so a task keeps finding new matches over time.
• Game Editor — hand-edit trailers/videos, screenshots and a download link directly on the Game edit screen, instead of only what the last import/re-sync happened to pull in.
• Import by List — paste game names, IGDB IDs, IGDB links or Steam store links, check what each line matched, and import up to 200 games in one run.
• Choose fields to re-sync — see what would change for a game (what it has now next to what IGDB has) and update only the fields you tick.
• Release calendar filters — filter the release list by platform or genre or a number of days, and show “In 5 days” and “Just released” badges.
• Themes & Add-ons — a screen listing the free GameSync PixelWire, Deals, Presswire, Ludexa, Arcade and Nocturne themes and the GameSync Game Ratings, Related Games and Review Breakdown plugins, with links to download each one from gamesyncwp.com and a button to activate it once it is installed.

Everything above is included and free, with no license key, no time limit and no usage limit.

Getting your IGDB / Twitch API credentials

IGDB’s API is provided through Twitch, so you’ll need a free Twitch developer app:

1. Log in at dev.twitch.tv/console/apps with a Twitch account.
2. Click Register Your Application, give it any unique name, set the OAuth Redirect URL to https://localhost (required by the form, not actually used), and pick a Category such as “Application Integration”.
3. Open the app, copy the Client ID, then click New Secret to generate and copy the Client Secret.
4. Paste both into Game Data Importer -> Settings in your WordPress admin (or define GGDI_CLIENT_ID / GGDI_CLIENT_SECRET as constants in wp-config.php if you’d rather keep credentials out of the database).

Notes and limits

• IGDB enforces a rate limit of roughly 4 requests/second per API key; the plugin throttles its own requests and batches bulk imports to stay well within it.
• Bulk Import runs are capped at 500 games per run — run it again with different filters to keep going.
• Access tokens are cached and refreshed automatically.
• Deleting the plugin (Plugins -> Delete, not a plain Deactivate) removes its own saved settings, Scheduled Imports tasks/run log, and cached data, but never touches already-imported Game posts, their images, or the taxonomy terms attached to them.

This plugin is an independent, unofficial integration and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by IGDB or Twitch Interactive, Inc.

External services

This plugin connects to two third-party services, both required for its core “import game data” functionality — it will not contact either one until you enter your own API credentials and use a feature that needs them (searching, importing, or re-syncing a game; Demo Content never makes a real API call):

• IGDB’s game database API. When you search for a game, import one, or click Re-sync, the plugin sends your search term or the game’s IGDB ID to IGDB’s API and receives back the game data (name, description, ratings, platforms, genres, cover art and screenshot URLs, etc.) shown in this description. No data about your site, your visitors, or your other content is ever sent — only the search term or IGDB ID you’re actively looking up. See IGDB’s Content Policy and the Twitch Developer Services Agreement (IGDB’s API is provided through Twitch/dev.twitch.tv, so a Twitch developer account governs access to it).
• Twitch’s OAuth token service (id.twitch.tv). Your Client ID and Client Secret (entered under Game Data Importer -> Settings, or defined as constants in wp-config.php) are sent to Twitch to obtain and refresh the access token IGDB’s API requires. See the Twitch Developer Services Agreement linked above.