Can casual game developers earn enough cash to stick it to the man? Jim and Jameson discuss how their start–ups help casual game developers thrive through advertising and analytics.
November 22, 2007
(New York Times) — If you're looking for a time killer, most of you tend to play casual games online. It is the fast–growing segment that accounts for about 10% of the $30 billion global video game industry.
(The Escapist) — Since its official launch, Kongregate, the so–called YouTube of Flash games, has hosted hundreds of original games, created a community of developers, addicted millions of users to their "badge" rewards and grown from 30,000 unique monthly users to over 3 million in less than a year.
(Gamasutra) — Social flash gaming portal Kongregate has announced five development studios whose game concepts were chosen to receive funding, from $20,000 to $100,000 each, to create original, large–scale Flash games exclusive to the site.
(Gamasutra) — Independent gaming portal Kongregate has announced that it has secured an investment round of over $5 million in venture funding in a round led by Greylock Partners. Greylock’s track record includes companies like Digg, LinkedIn and Facebook, so at a glance it may seem surprising that they're putting such a vote of confidence in a games site.
(CNN) — Kongregate, a Web site that bills itself as the YouTube of games since it allows users to create and upload video gamekongregate.jpgs, announced Thursday that it had received $5 million in funding from influential venture capital firm Greylock Partners.
(TechCrunch) — 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 of Greylock pegs the casual game market at $500 million and expects it to grow even larger.
(Next Generation) — YouTube. Flickr. MySpace. Wikipedia. Second Life. Bored yet? Probably. We've had the message of how these web phenomena epitomise the user–generated content revolution excitably rammed down our throats for what seems like years. Yet the Flash game sites that really kick–started the movement hardly get a mention.
(Scobleizer) — I was hanging out at Kongregate this afternoon getting a look at their video game distribution service and community. The two founders, a brother–and–sister team (Jim and Emily Greer) taught my camera a ton about the video game market. Kongregate caught my eye because of the very rapid growth it's experiencing and because Jeff Clavier, one of the valley's hottest early–stage investors, was ranting and raving about it when he came and visited me in line at the Apple store on Friday. In May 2007 they had about 300,000 unique visitors. A month later they had 750,000. Amazing growth so I wanted to see what was up with this hot company.
(Joystiq) — Flash gaming community Kongregate recently rolled out a new feature: Xbox Live–style achievements. Many of the popular games feature tasks you can complete to earn badges, such as the Defender of the Universe Badge you get for defeating the final boss in Gamma Bros. without using the level 3 password. Around 20 games have Achievements implemented at the moment, and Kongregate plans to expand that in the near future. The system operates just like the challenges introduced in March, but instead of earning cards to use in a site–wide game, you get pretty badges.
(The Escapist) — Jim Greer is an old–school idealist. Co–Founder of independent game community site, Kongregate, he was formerly Technical Director at EA's casual game site, Pogo and before that worked on a number of games, including a few entries in the storied Ultima series. Last year he decided to make a go of building his own independent game site and co–founded Kongregate.
(Joystiq) — Flash gaming community Kongregate recently announced a few Xbox Live–ish upgrades to be rolled out over the next few months. Starting today, time–limited achievements will be available for select games. The current challenge for The Fancy Pants Adventure requires you to collect five trophies within the game and rewards you with a collectible Rumiko card. Gather cards to participate in the site–wide multiplayer game Kongregate will unveil in a few weeks.
(Pandasmic) — As the name implies, Kongregate brings game–lovers together. It features a pretty classy system for users to upload and play flash games; essentially, it's the YouTube of the flash game world.
(Gamasutra) — Social Flash gaming portal Kongregate has today announced the launch of a series of new features as part of their Beta release. The site has been running since last October, when it was launched as an invitation–only Alpha build, though it has gradually opened up to the public through that period. Kongregate is billed as a Web 2.0 gaming hub and has attracted more than 300 user–submitted Flash and Shockwave games over that time, including Fancy Pants Adventures, and the IGF nominated shooter Gamma Bros..
(Reuters Life!) — When video game maker Jim Greer approached Silicon Valley investors to give him nearly $1 million for his start–up. he had an irresistible pitch: "It's video games meets YouTube."
New social gaming website launches with Xbox-style achievements.
Hilary Goldstein, March 22, 2007
(IGN) — Fans of casual gaming have a new destination. The social gaming website, Kongregate, launched its beta version today. Featuring free Flash and Shockwave games uploaded by registered users, Kongregate eagerly embraces the growing phenomenon of casual games. It's here that you may play the next break–out title or, at the very least, have a good time enjoying some games that are easy to pick up and play.
(TechCrunch) — 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 VC) and Richard Wolpert (Disney Online), among others.
(Hyperreality & Soroush) — Without a doubt, everybody needs a break every now and then in their work! For someone who's work depends on using the computer, that break could be visiting a news website, checking personal emails or playing a little online game. In my opinion, not all online games are interesting and it's very hard to come by some quality games. On occasions, I've found a few on Digg's gaming page. But recently, I heard about Kongregate and it's great! I've loved it so much that I've put it on the list of my daily websites! (Usually play a bit a night!)
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(Joystiq) — The Flash game Fancy Pants Adventures is one part Super Mario Bros., a dash of Sonic, and a heaping tablespoon of originality. Brad Borne's fancy–pants–wearing stick figure stars in a side–scrolling platformer that emphasizes speed, exploration, and acrobatics. It's a well–polished title that stands tall over the deluge of second–rate Flash platforming games.
(Kotaku) — One of my favorite Flash games lately has been a great little platformer calledFancy Pants Adventure over at ArmorGames.com. I'd written about it here previously and then today on casual game's site JayIsGames I saw the announcement that creator, Brad Bourne has released a demo of World 2 in his now "episodic game", to use the parlance of our times. The style has gotten a bit slicker and more complicated movements have been added. The unfinished demo level is available to try out and comment on at Kongregate and hopefully we won't have to wait too long before Brad finishes the rest of it.
(Joystiq) — Red Ball is as simple as Flash games get. On the left side are numbered targets, separated from your throwing zone by a dotted line. The goal is to toss the red ball and hit the targets in numerical order. That's it.
(CenterNetworks) — Jake reviewed Kongregate yesterday. Kongregate is a site that houses great Flash video games. I have been in the Flash gaming business for years now and really like what Kongregate is doing. At first the name seems odd for a gaming site. However once you watch Jake's video, it will make more sense. You congregate around the games you play to create this immense community.
(blog.hanfordlemoore.com) — I guess I didn't really "get it" when I first checked out the new game site Kongregate. I kind of saw it as a YouTube for games. But even though I'm an indie game developer, I didn't see what really is important about their site. So I'm going to discuss it. I'm loving their point–driven system, which is not unlike the Xbox points that I talked about earlier. but the the real important thing Kongregate is doing is on the developer side.
