Tuesday, September 18, 2007
IAC/InterActive Corp Buys Majority Stake in GarageGames, Plans Action-Games Portal
IAC / InterActiveCorp has purchased a majority stake in GarageGames. Details are sketchy... but extremely interesting. This article in the Wall Street Journal Online has some fascinating bits of information. IAC (which already has experience in the online space with Ticketmaster, the Home Shopping Network, and Ask.com) is planning building a non-casual "Internet Action Game" portal called "InstantAction". And they are planning to announce a multimillion-dollar fund to develop said games.
The article states, "IAC, which has sought to enter the gaming market for years, is taking a different tack, trying to offer games with more realistic graphics than casual games that can be played without additional software or a console... Users will have access to an array of action-game titles within their browser and be able to chat with others through the service. InstantAction plans to experiment with a range of business models, including subscriptions, advertising and charging for virtual currency"
And another juicy little tidbit: "GarageGames's 27-year-old chief executive, Josh Williams, showed off its early-stage Web-based gaming platform to Ms. Fisher, who had been hunting for an opportunity beyond the already saturated market for online casual games. The deal, to be announced today, closed during the first half of the year."
A Web-based gaming platform? A non-casual action gaming portal? A multi-million-dollar fund to develop "Internet Action Games"? GarageGames' focus on indie game development and the Torque gaming engines?
Interesting. There's a ton more information available right now at GarageGames - Josh Williams has a whole bunch more information directed towards GG's customers and the indie development community in this article. He stresses that it means only good things for the community. In particular, he states, "We're getting more done on Torque than we ever have before. As you've seen, we recently pushed out updates to TGB, TGEA, and TGE, while shipping Torque X and more. But all of this work pales in comparison to what we have to announce in the coming weeks for Torque, and the community here at GG. We're pushing Torque forward in a huge way, re-vamping and overhauling the engine and tools in ways we couldn't have before. We can't wait to share the updates with everyone, and we have a bunch of cool stuff for the community up our sleeve." And they have recently been funding development of games, and acting as more of a publisher.
As to the web-based gaming platform, Josh explains, "Effectively, we are building a web-based console... and just like a console, we'll have a wide variety of games and will be working with lots of developers and eventually perhaps even other publishers to create games for it."
Wow. The game development world is definitely changing. All this smells like interesting opportunities to me.
Source: Wall Street Journal Online - "IAC/InterActiveCorp Takes Game Designer Stake"
Hat Tip to Jeff Tunnell (one of GarageGames' founders) for the info at Make It Big In Games.
Labels: Biz, Indie Evangelism
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:35 AM (Permalink)
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It certainly is interesting. I think it is an indication of where the frontier of gaming may be -- the merging of the console/PC/internet gaming worlds through 2D or 3D browser-based games.
The IGC conference should be interesting. I'm guessing they will be announcing new versions of TGB and TGE which will allow the games to be run in a browser. Unity has been able to do this for some time now, I believe, so it's not unheard of. I think a lot will depend on performance and screen sizes allowed.
I just hope that GG continues to develop and support TGE as a major product. I've had the sense that GG has been moving further and further away from TGE recently, and more towards consoles, TGB, and now browser-based games. I could be wrong, of course, especially if TGE is in the plans for browser games.
It's a little disappointing that GG isn't really interested in a Vespers-type of game right now (so they tell me), although not really unexpected. Still, it might fit a nice little niche (assuming it will run in a browser) as a relatively short, intensive, 3D interactive fiction/adventure game. I guess we'll see.
Are you going to IGC, by the way? I'll be there...
The IGC conference should be interesting. I'm guessing they will be announcing new versions of TGB and TGE which will allow the games to be run in a browser. Unity has been able to do this for some time now, I believe, so it's not unheard of. I think a lot will depend on performance and screen sizes allowed.
I just hope that GG continues to develop and support TGE as a major product. I've had the sense that GG has been moving further and further away from TGE recently, and more towards consoles, TGB, and now browser-based games. I could be wrong, of course, especially if TGE is in the plans for browser games.
It's a little disappointing that GG isn't really interested in a Vespers-type of game right now (so they tell me), although not really unexpected. Still, it might fit a nice little niche (assuming it will run in a browser) as a relatively short, intensive, 3D interactive fiction/adventure game. I guess we'll see.
Are you going to IGC, by the way? I'll be there...
Nope on IGC this year. I was all set to go last year - we had tickets, hotel reservations, and everything. And then it was canceled.
And *I* am interested in Vespers-types of games right now. Now if only I had millions of dollars to throw around to fund development... I'm not sure if InstantAction is really focusing on action games, or if there'll be room for something like a turn-based RPG :) Probably not, but we'll see.
A web-based 3D engine for Torque would be pretty sweet. I've seen it running under IE using ActiveX controls, but I know as a customer I'd be a little nervous about that.
Now the next question would be --- will GG / IAC control all content for this engine like a console manufacturer? If you aren't making it for their website, will you not be able to use it? I hope not.
And *I* am interested in Vespers-types of games right now. Now if only I had millions of dollars to throw around to fund development... I'm not sure if InstantAction is really focusing on action games, or if there'll be room for something like a turn-based RPG :) Probably not, but we'll see.
A web-based 3D engine for Torque would be pretty sweet. I've seen it running under IE using ActiveX controls, but I know as a customer I'd be a little nervous about that.
Now the next question would be --- will GG / IAC control all content for this engine like a console manufacturer? If you aren't making it for their website, will you not be able to use it? I hope not.
This worries me. A lot. How can you be indie if you are not actually independant? I'm just getting flashes of every other time I've seen a creative development house in the game industry bought by a larger financial group. Has that EVER worked well?
Worrying, worrying news. I've put in 2 years, too much time and effort for this all to go awry now just so another web portal can come into being.
Worrying, worrying news. I've put in 2 years, too much time and effort for this all to go awry now just so another web portal can come into being.
Well, I'm not convinced that it is either a good or bad thing. I hope it will mean good things for the game engines and tools. They are in the honeymoon phase, so I'm sure things will be going great for them (and for us) for the next couple of years. After that, things might change. You never know.
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