GameStop Buys Flash Game Portal Kongregate

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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GameStop Buys Flash Game Portal Kongregate



Brick-and-mortar kingpin GameStop has taken a decidedly non-brick-and-mortar turn with the purchase of online social gaming mecca Kongregate.

When you think of GameStop, you think of a massive chain of videogame retail stores across North America - the sort of place one would, say, Don't Touch My Gems [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102374-StarCraft-II-Midnight-Launch-Detected].

And yet: GameStop has announced plans to buy online game hub Kongregate [http://www.kongregate.com/], host of a bajillion tiny timewasters. Kongregate, which allows game creators to publish their games and even monetize them through microtransactions, says that it services 10 million unique users per month.

"Combining Kongregate's expansive catalogue of games with our well known consumer brand, powerful marketing and strong customer relationships, means that even more gamers will be able to enjoy their games anytime, anywhere and on any device," said GameStop president Tony Bartel.

It's an interesting move for the retail giant, which has previously rise of digital distribution [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100549-GameStop-Admits-Fear-of-Digital-Distribution]. One could see this as GameStop trying to hedge its bets in an increasingly digital age - or, at the very least, to plant the suggestion in the minds of Kongregate users to go pick up a game at an old-fashioned retail outlet every now and then.

GameStop wouldn't have bought Kongregate if the site weren't profitable, but how the Flash-game portal will figure into the retailer's larger plans remains to be seen.

(GamaSutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29607/GameStop_Buys_Social_Gaming_Hub_Kongregate.php])

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Dexiro

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Dec 23, 2009
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Leave Kongregate alone! That's a nice site. I just hope they don't faff about with anything.
 

sentient_afterbirth

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Jun 19, 2010
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Love Kongregate, as a poor gamer it is my only source of entertainment and its never done me wrong. Please don't screw up my entertainment GameStop.
 

Premonition

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Jan 25, 2010
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Very interesting to see it broaden it's horizons like that. Let's just hope that they don't destroy Kongregate in hopes of assimilating it in to GameStop.
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
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Smart business move. most likely a terrible injustice to gamers.

I can see them start charging for free games sadly :(
 

chaos order

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Jan 27, 2010
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sentient_afterbirth said:
Love Kongregate, as a poor gamer it is my only source of entertainment and its never done me wrong. Please don't screw up my entertainment GameStop.

im poor too :(

i really hope hey dont change kong, i love the site and i love the games
 

Jikuu

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Mar 3, 2010
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I'm amused to see Sushi Cat from Armor Games as the picture. Interesting to see how this turns out.
 

DeadlyYellow

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Jun 18, 2008
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sentient_afterbirth said:
Love Kongregate, as a poor gamer it is my only source of entertainment and its never done me wrong. Please don't screw up my entertainment GameStop.
I'm going to start calling it Gamestopregate, in order to reserve the dignity of the former site for when GS inevitably screws us over.
 

Aristabulus

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Nov 17, 2009
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One more site I won't visit anymore. *sighs*

At least most of the good games on Kongregate are hosted elsewhere on the web.
 

AkJay

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Feb 22, 2009
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"Strong customer relationships", pfft, my ass. All of your customers really don't like you, especially when you start to charge people to use the site, which we ALL know you are going to do.
 

imnot

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Apr 23, 2010
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sentient_afterbirth said:
Love Kongregate, as a poor gamer it is my only source of entertainment and its never done me wrong. Please don't screw up my entertainment GameStop.
agreed! leave it alone, even though i rarelly go on it anymore.
 

nik3daz

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Jan 1, 2008
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Dammit, I spent so much quality time at kongregate.

I'm expecting the entire site to be skinned in GameStop ads by... let's say... next week.
 

HSIAMetalKing

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Jan 2, 2008
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Damnit Gamestop, why you gotta buy everything I love? You took EB and Babbages and Funcoland and GameCrazy and VG Cavern away from me, now Kongregate...
 

Jandau

Smug Platypus
Dec 19, 2008
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Crap...

Kongregate is awesome. A great site, huge collection of games, with constant new achievements. Heck, they even have their own CCG. They are one of the nicer places on the internet.

I don't see how this can improve the site. Also, as soon as read this article, the word "monetize" started ringing in the back of my head, with chills running down my spine...
 

unacomn

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Mar 3, 2008
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But Kongregate doesn't sell used games for a lot more they they're worth. What do they want with a site that lets us play games for free...
Wait, I just answered my own question. Some of the games on Kongregate are very fun, and free, and there's a lot of them.
Killing off any competition they can.
 

KEM10

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Oct 22, 2008
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It could be good (granted I am taking the devil's advocate position) because the web hosting is a lot of money, and Kongregate was starting to lose out. If they are smart (and they are the only real game store that didn't lose money these past few years) they wouldn't change anything but add a few more giveaways like they have been doing only on a larger scale.

Beat the Prince of Persia flash game and enter to win one of five retail copies at your local GameStop.

That and Kongai might actually finish and leave the beta after the few years it has been there.
 

Ciler

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Nov 16, 2009
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This worries me. Kongregate is great the way it is... As others have said, I sure hope they don't mess it up.
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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It appears that the deal is done and dusted. [http://www.kongregate.com/pages/kongregate-announcement] While it's a smart move by GameStop, I can't help but feel slightly worried, since when websites get aquired by big companies, they usually start pissing people off (which I presume explains why Newgrounds is doing so well). Hopefully the changes won't ruin the site.