The Vault Network began with the creation of the Ultima Online Vault in 1995. When Everquest and Asheron's Call were announced to be released in 1999, Vaults were created for them as well. Around this time, the existing Vaults were merged with the Snowball Network, better known by its later moniker, IGN.

As new online games and MMORPGs are created or announced, respective vaults and message boards are created if the game is popular enough to warrant the resources. As of December 2007, there are over 20 Vaults and forums exist for over 70 games. Vaults include those for games such as World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Final Fantasy XI, EverQuest II, Lineage and Lineage II, Guild Wars, Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot and many more. In addition to the gaming message boards, there are community and off topic forums where users can discuss issues not related to any one game in particular.

With its acquisition by IGN, the Vault Network and the VNBoards work on a similar business practice utilizing advertisements as a form of revenue. The service known as IGN insider works on both the IGN and VN boards. Wikipedia