GameFly to publish iOS, Android games

GameFly announced plans today to publish mobile games for iOS and Android, aiming to publish its first game this summer. Also, it will launch an Android "GameStore" this fall.

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GameFly announced today that it plans to begin publishing mobile games for iOS and Android. The company is now inviting submissions from iOS developers seeking a publisher, and expects to put out its first title sometime in the summer. Submissions can be sent to GameFly's GameDev group via email to gamedev AT gamefly.com.

The company also plans to launch an Android "GameStore" storefront this fall. The store will offer daily deals on Android games, similar to the mobile "Game of the Day" highlight in the iOS GameFly app.

"GameFly is dedicated to giving consumers the best user experience possible, and to be their single destination for console, PC and mobile gaming needs," said co-founder and senior VP of business development Sean Spector, in the announcement. "We plan to be a leading player in mobile games by launching our retail GameStore for Android and helping to fund mobile developers of all sizes to publish, promote and sell their smartphone and tablet games."

[Disclosure: Shacknews.com is part of GameFly Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of GameFly, Inc.]

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  • reply
    May 23, 2012 8:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, GameFly to publish iOS, Android games.

    GameFly announced plans today to publish mobile games for iOS and Android, aiming to publish its first game this summer. Also, it will launch an Android "GameStore" this fall.

    • reply
      May 23, 2012 8:05 AM

      You know when I think about Android the first thing that comes to mind is that it could really use another app store.

    • reply
      May 23, 2012 8:43 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        May 23, 2012 9:09 AM

        Netflix is a company whose bread and butter is distributing physical discs but long term it may be doomed to be a niche market as the world goes digital so they got in on the streaming thing early. And it's simple, technically: just serve a video over the Internet and you're done.

        Gamefly is in the same spot but they're sort of screwed since serving games digitally is much more hairy from a technical perspective. OnLive has shown that it's not really feasible and the public isn't going for it. With Steam having the weekend $5 sales and whatnot it doesn't make sense to pay money to rent a game digitally on the PC, and the console makers can just cut them out of the mix.

        So it's not surprising that they're doing a lot of flailing maneuvers, like buying a website whose community is like the drunken "SHOW US YOUR TITS" fraternity of the Internet.

        • reply
          May 23, 2012 9:16 AM

          I think they bought shacknews for the "news" portion. I think they only tolerate us because we probably generate a steady revenue stream from ad-views.

          • reply
            May 23, 2012 9:51 AM

            Actually they bought shacknews to attempt to monetize your amazon referral links.

            • reply
              May 23, 2012 10:11 AM

              You know, you joke about this, but they could totally pull a CAG and make every Amazon link a link using their associates ID and probably pull a decent stream of income.

              • reply
                May 23, 2012 11:04 AM

                Hahahah. I mean, they could but that would require...

                code

          • reply
            May 23, 2012 10:24 AM

            They're certainly pumping up the ads; they added sidebar ads on /news and article pages, as well as more DVD release page takeover ads.

        • reply
          May 23, 2012 9:50 AM

          Netflix is a company whose bread and butter is distributing physical discs

          Then why aren't they called Mailflix? From what I read they always planned on streaming being their core business. Physical media is just a bridge to that and helped with licensing etc.

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            May 23, 2012 10:22 AM

            Because "mail" sounded old and dated in the early 2000's, just like it does now?

          • reply
            May 23, 2012 12:52 PM

            Either because online streaming was their long term goal from day one (I think this is their official line now) or it was a reference to how you used the Internet to manage your queue (which was a novel concept at the time).

            Actually the first concept above might be why they tried to spin the disc-by-mail part off into a new name, Qwikster, while keeping the Netflix name for the streaming bit.

        • reply
          May 23, 2012 11:07 AM

          I disagree, I think Netflix has always seen the writing on the wall in terms of physical media, they treat it as a necessary evil

      • reply
        May 23, 2012 9:17 AM

        aside from the gaming web site, that is an exact carbon copy of netflix's plan. digital distribution + bankrolling new content. doesn't seem too weird to me

      • reply
        May 23, 2012 9:22 AM

        Yep. I'm worried they're putting too much money into new departments, trying to be involved with "what's hot" except they are always a year or two late.

      • reply
        May 23, 2012 9:40 AM

        Conversely, if they weren't doing all this we'd be lamenting their lack of diversity when the game rental business dries up.

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        May 23, 2012 9:41 AM

        With all signs of a new generation of consoles moving towards anti game tradin-in/rental, it wouldn't hurt for them not to have all their eggs in one basket.

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        May 23, 2012 1:16 PM

        I feel like Netflix knows what it wants to be, it just doesn't know how to make the transition and doesn't know how it's going to pay for content in the future.

        Gamefly on the other hand doesn't know what it wants to be because what it is, is going away, and where things are going, Gamefly isn't a player and is already behind (OnLive etc).

    • reply
      May 23, 2012 9:11 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      May 23, 2012 9:37 AM

      This is a hint that Gamefly wants us to make the ShackGame.

    • reply
      May 23, 2012 9:55 AM

      Are they creating games or acting as a middle man publisher?

      • reply
        May 23, 2012 10:32 AM

        Eco if you're reading this I am sure there are a bunch of shackers who would apply to work for the gamefly competitor to zynga rovio

    • reply
      May 23, 2012 10:55 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        May 23, 2012 11:03 AM

        To do the marketing and help with dev costs I guess.

    • reply
      May 23, 2012 1:14 PM

      If you had a game for iOS or Android why wouldn't you just publish the game yourself? You can just submit them to the platform now. What is Gamefly doing for me? Paying for marketing?

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        May 23, 2012 1:33 PM

        It kind of sounds like they are trying to build an market place app like Amazon did on the Android Platform. You are right it makes no sense to go through another curated market. I only use the Amazon Market because that is the only one I can use with my Tablet (Kindle Fire).

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