GameStop (Gamestop.com), America and the world’s largest videogame software retailer, has bought Kongregate, the popular online casual game social network.
The amount offered was not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close within the week, subject to customary closing conditions.
Kongregate is a popular Flash-style games destination with built-in rankings, Achievements, social networking features and more with around 10 million monthly players who play around 23 million hours of Kongregate games per month. All of the games on the site are free-to-play, but the site also features a virtual currency in the form of “Kreds”, which are purchased with real money and allow players to purchase additional features in certain games.
Kongregate also allows casual game and Independent game developers to upload their games to the platform, where they can share in 30-50% of the ad revenues. And over 8,500 developers have done so. In addition, Kongregate also pays skilled developers anywhere from $20,000-80,000 to create “high-quality premium games” that are meant to be a cut above the rest of the titles offered at the site.
The site was founded by siblings Jim and Emily Greer in 2007, and they will retain ownership of the site, while also becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of GameStop. The Greer’s even get to keep their San Francisco offices.
GameStop says that they acquired Kongregate to help them become the “gaming aggregator of choice”.
This acquisition follows that of GameStop buying online gaming site Jolt Online last year. It seems they are definitely out to grow their online gaming/network portfolio.
A smart move as the gaming industry speeds full-steam ahead into the all-digital age, leaving GameStop’s retail stores in the dust.
Via TechCrunch