GameFly

GameFly is a privately held American online video game rental subscription service that specializes in providing games for Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft systems starting from the sixth generation onwards.

GameFly Holdings, LLC.^[1]

Company type	Private
Founded	April 15, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-04-15)
Founders	Sean Spector (Co-Founder) Jung Suh (Co-Founder)
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Key people	Jeff Walker (CEO) Tim Hinsley (President)
Website	gamefly.com

The business model of GameFly is similar to the DVD-by-mail subscription service Netflix and Blockbuster online. In 2009 GameFly sued the U.S. Postal Service alleging the favoring of Netflix and Blockbuster by sorting their DVDs at no charge.^[2] GameFly sends games to subscribers for a monthly fee. Over 8,000 titles are available.

In May 2018, Electronic Arts announced that they acquired cloud gaming technology assets and personnel from GameFly (including its Israeli outpost).^[3] GameFly is currently owned by the same ownership group as Alliance Entertainment and is operated as a stand-alone company.

History

In May 2002, Sean Spector and Jung Suh partnered with founding CEO Toby Lenk to start GameFly. GameFly later received venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital.^[4] In February 2009, GameFly acquired the gaming news and community site Shacknews, along with its download and streaming video sites.^[5] It was reported in February 2011 that GameFly had acquired MobyGames.^[6] Despite filing plans in February 2010 for an initial public offering, GameFly remains a privately owned company as of 2017.^[7] GameFly shut down the streaming service on August 31, 2018.

Purchase of Direct2Drive

In 2011, Gamefly announced that they had acquired Direct2Drive, an online distribution service previously owned by IGN. Direct2Drive later merged with GameFly; subscribers that had both D2D and GameFly accounts were migrated to a single account.

Shortly after the merger, GameFly introduced a new "GameFly Client", which combined the services previously offered by Direct2Drive and GameFly individually; the client came out of beta on November 8, 2012, and allowed direct download and installation of PC games, as well as the rental of games without visiting the GameFly website itself.

As of April 2014, GameFly has since sold Direct2Drive to AtGames.^[8][9]

References

1. Name Change post sale to Alliance
2. "Postal Service must stop favoring Netflix DVDs over GameFly ones, says appeals court". January 11, 2013. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
3. Musil, Steven. "EA acquires GameFly subsidiary's cloud technology assets". CNET. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
4. "Gamefly - How it works". Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
5. Morris, Chris (February 4, 2009). "GameFly 'Shacks' Up". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
6. Kyle Orland (February 7, 2011). "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
7. Matt Krantz (April 10, 2013). "Ask Matt: Did GameFly ever go public?". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 2, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
8. Nutt, Christian. "Direct2Drive is back under new owner: GameFly Digital is no more". Archived from the original on April 6, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
9. "Direct2Drive rises from its grave to find its digital game store niche this weekend". Venture Beat. November 7, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2024.

External links

• Official website