Video game and software retailer GameStop is buying Kongregate, a social gaming destination and community site for gamers. The purchase price was not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close within a week, subject to customary closing conditions.
Kongregate co-founders (and brother and sister) Jim and Emily Greer will retain ownership over the site, as the company will become a… → Read More
We already had HeyZap, the “YouTube for Flash games” and Game Curry, a search engine for Flash games, so not that much of a surprise we now have a “Ning for Flash games” that lets anyone create a gaming website much like Marc Andreessen’s service does the same for social networking sites.
Danish startup / gaming community Nonoba is taking a crack at just that by launching GameRise, a CMS that… → Read More
The content for most user generated content sites is pretty easy to make. Just shoot a photo for Flickr or record a video for YouTube. But when it comes to the user generated games on Kongregate, you’ll need to acquire some basic programming skills before contributing anything.
Instead of relying on its users to go out and buy O’Reilly books on Flash development, the two-year-old startup has put… → Read More
InstantAction is a GarageGames project focused on bringing free high-quality games to the browser. Like Kongregate, InstantAction is highly social and quickly accessible. Both sites appeal to casual gamers who don’t want to install software or learn complex user controls before competing with friends or strangers in short rounds of play. InstantAction, however, differentiates itself from… → Read More
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has invested $3 million into user-generated casual gaming site Kongregate through Bezos Expeditions, his personal investment vehicle. Kongregate CEO calls it a “super angel round,” although technically it is a B1 round (the startup raised $5 million in a round led by Greylock). Bezos Expeditions won’t be taking a board seat. Greer says: If we had done… → Read More
Still number one social networking destination MySpace has entered the casual flash games market with games.myspace.com. The new site won’t win any awards for innovation, indeed it looks like a < $100 template buy from Digitalpoint, but ultimately that doesn't make a difference. Casual flash gaming combined with a youngish user base in the millions makes this a no-brainer in terms of… → Read More
We’ve covered a variety of casual gaming sites before on TechCrunch. It’s a hot vertical, particular since the rise of the Nintendo’s Wii console proved that there was a huge willing market for games that don’t need a 4 hour long instruction session from a gaming geek. South Korean company NHN comes with strong credentials. The company is claimed to be the be “the… → Read More
Freewebs is taking a step back from its personal website network and expanding into a social media portfolio company under the name Webs.com. The domain will serve as a hub for its new web properties, including recently launched social publishing site Pagii and Freewebs. The site will also include a new property, the “Social Gaming Network” (SGN). SGN is a game developer that builds… → Read More
If you’re looking for a killer app on the Internet and are unwilling to get into pornography, gaming is your best bet. So when Meebo opened their platform last month to third party developers, it was clearly only a matter of time before they let game startups in. That time has come. Twenty games launched on the service last night, ranging from chess and checkers to Texas Hold ‘em. → Read More
Paul Preece was a British game developer. That was, until he created Desktop Tower Defense. In two months, he developed a game that’s been played over 15 million times and brought in thousands in advertising. Paul Preece has since quit his day job and teamed up with David Litsky of FlashElementTD to run his own gaming startup. Flash gaming site Kongregate is encouraging more people to do the… → Read More
Angel investor and startup advisor Jeff Clavier (pictured with Digg founder Kevin Rose) just announced a new $12 million early stage venture fund today at the TechCrunch40 conference. The new fund will be called SoftTech VC II. Clavier, who has a degree in computer science, has been actively investing in startups over the last few years and has had notable successes such as Truveo (acquired by AOL… → Read More
Casual gaming community Kongregate has closed a $5 million series A round led by Greylock today. This is on top of a $1 million angel round they raised from Reid Hoffman, Joe Kraus, Jeff Clavier and Richard Wolpert, among others. The casual gaming category consists of all those addictive online flash games that often distract you during your downtime (remember desktop tower defense?). James Slavet… → Read More
We covered Kongregate when they were in private beta, but they’re officially public with a new wad of cash from some big names to back them up. They’ve created a gaming community around Flash games developed by other users, and are announcing a “nearly” $1 million angel round, including funds from Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Joe Kraus (Excite/JotSpot), Jeff Clavier (SoftTech… → Read More
Kongregate is an alpha stage online gaming site that will let users upload games they have built, charge users for premium play or features with a one click payment system and share revenues with the site from premium payment and advertisements. The company aims to take the site live just after the holiday season. Co founders Jim and Emily Greer say they expect to get a term sheet for a seed… → Read More
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