GameFly acquires PC digital distributor Direct2Drive
Shacknews parent company GameFly announced that it has acquired PC game digital distributor Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment.
Shacknews parent company GameFly announced that it has acquired PC game digital distributor Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment. The deal adds D2D's library of over 3,000 PC and Mac titles available for purchase and download digitally to the extensive list of video games available for rent from the GameFly's subscription service.
GameFly chief executive officer Dave Hodess told Shacknews that for the immediate future there will be no changes to either service. Though down the line, customers of both services can expect to see some new options.
"We have some ideas but need to get the D2D team onboard and benefit from their experience. We will let our customers know as soon as we are ready to roll them out," Hodess said. Though he didn't commit to any sort of hard timetable, Hodess did say that he expected six months would be a fair estimate of when the first changes might start to be seen.
As for why GameFly looked to add D2D to the company, Hodess explained that the company knows its console game subscribers are heavy PC gamers as well, so offering a combination of the two makes a lot of sense. As for whether adding D2D was a prelude to offering PC games for rental as well, Hodess said "We know that consumers are interested in PC game rentals, so we will investigate this idea thoroughly."
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but as part of the deal, IGN will acquire a minority stake in GameFly. IGN parent News Corporation will also take an observer seat on GameFly's board but neither will effect the operation of GameFly.
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Shacknews
replyShack Staff posted a new article, GameFly acquires PC digital distributor Direct2Drive.
Shacknews parent company GameFly announced that it has acquired PC game digital distributor Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment.-
now steam just needs to buy gamefly..... oh wait
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Speaking in an unofficial capacity, I'll say that the death of our Sun and the theoretical eventual Big Crunch are probably more pressing concerns.
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The collapse of the universe maaaaan!
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LOL, nice.
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What is this "Sun" you speak of?
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can we still say "water vapor"?
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Oh you know its coming, you just know :)
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RIP cybernetic michael. Banned mid-sentence. :(
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In Conservative America, Internet censors you!
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This isn't a bad thing since IGN's days are numbered. However I have a ton of stuff on D2D I haven't played yet. Guess i better grab them incase of some future change.
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Woaaaaaaaaah!
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Cool. Lots of opportunity to make it a helluva lot better
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Cool, incoming chatty member only super discounts!!! WOOOO!!
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Every time we have to nuke a post it adds 5% to your orders. A 30 minute ban adds 20%, an week get 50, and a permaban makes everything 100% more expensive. WE HOLD THE POWER OF GODS.
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Hahaha, if this is true it would be awesome.
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Might as well just move to Australia then!
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Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
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That is crazy. Any Mercury discounts? *cough*
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I have a question: Since my Direct2drive log in is my ign log in, am i going to have any issues when the ownership officially changes?
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the problem right now with pc game rental is the amount of games that need serial codes to be playable anymore. It gets worse when you move to bigger titles like starcraft 2 and EA titles where it is locked to an online social account or locked out of "dlc."
Anyone thinking they might pick up onlive next for pc rental duties? It would fit them quite well I would imagine.-
That sir, is some quality thinking. Maybe Gaikai instead of Online? Gaikai added some pretty famous gaming folk recently, so you might be on to something here. I applaud your reasoning.
I would not worry about serial codes. Certain GFWL demos (Crash Time 4 comes to mind) have a specific DEMO serial, so the ability to code in a timebased/rental serial is not that far of a technical leap. As for DLC, we have already seen games like Naruto, Crackdown, Fable II-III, and Dead Rising 2 have "trial" versions of DLC for free download that allowed non-purchasers to play with purchasers. You could see something close to that as well.
Good thinking however, and a topic worth fleshing out.
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Bigger news: IGN acquires minority stake in GameFly, board of directors seat.
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Also remember that IGN recently bought up UGO. Remember UGO? The "Save the Shack!" days?
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Wuuuuuugh.
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Hooray, McGriddles Shack incoming!
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link to release or anything? This is troubling :/
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Not yet...
Consider other acquisition ventures by IGN and News Corporation.-
do you ever even try to consider the bright side of things? :(
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"It's not safe to hope for the best without preparing for the worst."
As a general rule, the things I like are constantly under assault by people with ulterior motives.-
I can understand that rule but you almost always seem to take the negative side of things. Try looking for the bright side sometimes.
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Sorry, I've been backstabbed too many times to do that anymore. Most good things in my life are a result of me having direct control over something. Sometimes I get a pleasany surprise, but that's much more rare these days.
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You never do that unless you have big plans in the future. Come on.
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it says it in the shacknews article
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can't read the articles in WinChatty :(
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look how terrible you are
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so by the chatty theory above, this means that all negative mention of FoxNews is now bannable
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i would like to be able to get my gamefly loyalty discout and rewards applied to d2d purchases.
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/TROLL MODE ON
This Is an interesting development here. This place has been pro-Steam (and that is me being kind...) for a while now. Who here remembers a certain morning discussion write up about their love for the Steam icon in their system tray (*RAISES HAND*)? Or the same writer of that purposely altering the tone of Capcom's quote from Sven when Dead Rising 2 PC was announced using GFWL (*RAISIES HAND*)? Or the outcry for a lack of a Bulletstorm PC demo but when Portal 2 PC did not have a demo there was only CRICKETS (*RAISES HAND*)?
So, does that mean on Weekend Confirmed this week, Garnett will suggest that D2D "cede to market to Steam" like he did back in Episode 10 (11?) with GFWL? I mean, it would be the only sane thing to do, right? Steam is the bestest most awesomeest thing since oxygen according to some, so might as well get the apologists in line...
/TROLL MODE OFF
But I will say one thing in all seriousness - PC game rentals might be the one thing that brings Steam back to earth. Why pay $5 for something you can not resell when that same $5 (or $3/2 rentals for $5) might let you rent the game instead? That way, if you think it sucks, you are not stuck with it. I think it is time for something like that.
Either that, or every D2D download is going to offer in-game hats from this point forward. EXCITING!
The place that signs the staff paychecks is now going to be a direct competitor to Steam in some form.
This is going to be worth keeping an eye on for sure... *NINJA VANISH*-
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Thank you haiku for bringing these posts to us.
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Stop reading at pro-Steam. Please go kill self.
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Eh? Why rent for a couple of days at $5 what I can own outright (via Steam's crazy sales) for nearly the same price? Might be a nice option for new releases I suppose.
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I think he's talking about me! Which is hilarious.
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Yep!
Issues with Bulletstorm demo on PC, when it was already available on consoles - http://www.shacknews.com/article/67364/parody-game-promoting-bulletstorm-analyzes
My apparent changing of "tone" Re: GFWL, when the post is about the difference about GFW and GFWL: http://www.shacknews.com/article/64730/dead-rising-2-uses-games
Morning Discussion Re: Steam icon, which (I think is pretty clear) is only used as the conduit to more games being fed through my Vista-less system: http://www.shacknews.com/article/64833/morning-discussion
But, no matter. I LOVE this comment. Brought a huge smile to my face. You pulled some Kama Sutra moves to make your tinfoil hat theory work, and I love you for it. -
Why pay $5 for something you can not resell when that same $5 (or $3/2 rentals for $5) might let you rent the game instead?
So pay $5 to have the game forever whenever I want it or pay $3 to have temporary access to it? I'm not some neverending Steam defender but did you actually think that sentence all the way through and then post it anyway? -
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I hope we still get the "Shack PSA - Weekend Digital PC Deals" posts, I LOVE those!!!
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hopefully the service doesn't go down the pooper.
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this is exactly what news corporation wants ,... an observer , which is a SPY
there's no good attack without scouting
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