All of our jaws dropped when we found this out: The excellent social Flash game site Kongregate is being purchased by real-world games retailer GameStop.
In a video announcing the purchase, Kongregate co-founder Jim Greer expressed his commitment to the partnership and his sense that GameStop “get[s] what we’re doing and value it for what it is: They want to help us make it bigger and throw their resources behind it.” Greer elaborates in a Reddit thread:
Hey guys. It’s true, we’re part of GameStop now.
Like I said in the video, GameStop is not the only offer we’ve had. The reason we went with them is that they are very focused on going the way of Netflix, not the way of Blockbuster. They have serious resources to put behind that, and they’re committed to it. I’ll be reporting to the president. There’s no way we would have that kind of stature and control if we’d sold to a big media company, or Google, or whatever. They’re keeping the entire staff, and we’ll be able to hire more programmers and get more done.
I know that there’s no way that I can say prove that we’ll stay true to what has made Kong a great gaming community – all I can say is watch us and see what happens.
Further into the thread, Kongregate community manager Alison Claire reaffirms that “we will not become soulless corporate drones. This really, really is a good thing and we wouldn’t have done it if they weren’t going to let us/didn’t want us to remain who we are.”
Words of assurance duly noted and appreciated, you can still count us among the slightly nervous about the merger: This isn’t just a medium-sized company merging with a larger one, but a tiny one merging with a huge one, and we hope that GameStop’s commitment to Kongregate’s original indie, organically social vibe continues unabated once the ink dries and it becomes a fully owned subsidiary. On the plus side, this could be our greatest hope yet for getting a Battletoads game on Kongregate.
(Kongregate via Reddit)
