Kongregate

Kongregate
Type of site
 Online gaming website (Social Network)
Owner GameStop
Revenue Advertising
In game currency ("Kreds")
Corporate sponsorship
Premium memberships(Kong+)
Website Kongregate.com
Alexa rank Increase Global Rank 1,558(July 2016)[1]
Commercial Yes
Registration Free, not required (however, some features are disabled); Paid membership optional
Launched October 10, 2006[2]

Kongregate is a mobile game publisher and web gaming portal owned by Gamestop Corporation.[3] Kongregate’s mobile games have been downloaded tens of millions of times and have hundreds of millions of gameplays. Kongregate's web portal features over 120,000 free games played by tens of millions of players per month.

The mobile portfolio consists of 26 games across various genres, with a focus on role-playing and collectible card games.

On the web portal, users can upload Adobe Flash, HTML 5/JavaScript, Shockwave, Java or Unity games. Users can rate the games and search games by its user rating. It features an API that Flash, Unity, and JavaScript developers can integrate into their games which allows users to submit high scores and earn achievement badges. Badges and local score submissions are available only on games whose developers choose to use the Kongregate API.[4][5][6] Players can earn badges, challenge friends, and collect Kongpanions, as well as participate in forums, chat rooms, and guilds.

History

Kongregate was released on October 10, 2006 by siblings Emily and Jim Greer into an alpha testing phase, which lasted until December 2006.[7] During this time, game developers and players tested the site's interface and functionality. In December of the same year, the site was formally opened to the public.[4] The site formally entered the beta testing phase on March 22, 2007.[8][9] As of July 2008, Kongregate had raised around $9 million in capital from investments by Reid Hoffman, Jeff Clavier, Jeff Bezos, and Greylock Partners.

On July 23, 2010, GameStop announced an agreement to acquire Kongregate.[10][11] Because of Gamestop's purchase of Kongregate, developers who work through Kongregate can have their content promoted to people who shop at a GameStop store. Kongregate also provides a way for creators of games on Facebook to expand their potential audience.[12]

In early 2013, Kongregate announced a $10 million fund devoted to mobile gaming.[13] The new mobile division is led by former Zynga executive Pany Haritatos.[14] In 2014, the site introduced Kongpanions, acting as a trophy system and metagame in the form of small creatures, whether animals or personified objects. The Kongpanions players collect can then be used in some games on the site.[15]

Kongregate announced plans in October 2016 to help developers bring their games to the Steam distribution platform with an updated software development kit to make it easy to port games between their web, mobile, and the Steam platforms (Windows, macOS, and Linux), and to support data sharing between these for players. This will enable games to take advantage of microtransactions through the Steam store for titles otherwise normally free-to-play.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Kongregate.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  2. ↑ "Kongregate: a Next Generation Web Games Marketplace". techcrunch.com. 2006-10-19. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
  3. ↑ "GameStop Corp.: NYSE:GME quotes & news - Google Finance". Google.com. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  4. 1 2 Baertlein, Lisa (2007-03-22). "New site aims to be the YouTube of gaming". Reuters Life!. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  5. ↑ Kirkpatrick, Marshall (2006-10-19). "Kongregate: a Next Generation awesome site Web Games Marketplace". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  6. ↑ Wilson, Matt (2006-12-20). "Kongregate: Your Gatorade For Flash Games". Solution Watch. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  7. ↑ Greer, Jim (2006-09-01). "Gamers asking for Kongregate!". Jim on Web Games. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  8. ↑ Nicole, Kristen (2007-03-22). "Kongregate Announces Funding, Launches". Mashable Social Networking News. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  9. ↑ Marshall, Matt (2007-03-21). "Kongregrate, the online social game hub". Venture Beat. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  10. ↑ GameStop (2010-07-27). "GameStop Announces Agreement to Acquire Kongregate Inc.". BusinessWire. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  11. ↑ "Company Overview of Kongregate, Inc.". Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Facebook Developers Page".
  13. ↑ "Kongregate Announces First Mobile Games". July 1, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Kongregate launches $10M mobile games fund". February 4, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Other Work". Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  16. ↑ Brightman, James (October 28, 2016). "Kongregate expands to Steam, "exploring opportunities" in premium". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved October 28, 2016.

External links

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