GameSpy Open for indie developers a hit, 800+ signed up so far to use their tools

MORE THAN 800 GAME DEVELOPERS SIGN ON FOR FREE AND OPEN ACCESS TO GAMESPY TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Freely-available Online Toolset Now Being Utilized by Hundreds of Developers of Mobile, Console, Portable and PC Games

San Francisco – August 2, 2011 – GameSpy Technology, a leader in connected game services, has announced that more than 800 developers have now signed on to use the company’s freely-available online services to add extensive online functionality for games being created across all platforms, including Android and iOS.   The program, which opened to developers on February 25^th, makes GameSpy Technology’s APIs easily accessible via an online self-service process.  Within the span of five months, the roster of developers using GameSpy Technology has more than doubled in size, welcoming such talented independent developers as Halfbrick, War Drum Studios, Trapdoor and many others.  The initiative is part of GameSpy Technology’s ongoing effort to help developers of all sizes integrate comprehensive online services into titles on all platforms.

“GameSpy Technology ‘s goal is to make it easy to integrate online connectivity to games. The GameSpy Open initiative has made our services even more easily attainable to all developers,” said Todd Northcutt, Vice President, GameSpy Technology. “We’re proud to see GameSpy Technology’s tools embraced by so many teams.  Developers who recognize the power of online features can now make their awesome games with less technical challenges between their vision and their execution.”

Among the slate of talented developers enrolled in the GameSpy Open program are creative independent development studios like Halfbrick, creator of critically-acclaimed and massively popular mobile games Fruit Ninja and Monster Dash; Trapdoor, developer of the upcoming multiplatform sci-fi stealth action game Warp; and War Drum Studios, who are creating the title Chess: Revolution for PC, PS3 and Android with full cross-platforming multiplayer.  For developers like Halfbrick, War Drum and Trapdoor, GameSpy Technology allows them to easily port online functionality to multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, PC and consoles.

“GameSpy gave us exactly what we needed to bring cross-platform matchmaking to Fruit Ninja, and the tools were easy to integrate into our existing code base,” said Shainiel Deo, CEO of Halfbrick. “Now that matchmaking is rolling out, we're looking forward to exploring several other ideas that GameSpy can help us achieve on global multi-platform scale.”

“We chose GameSpy Technology primarily because of its multi-platform nature, “said John Haynes, Lead Network Engineer of War Drum Studios. “By using GameSpy Technology we don't have to splinter our online community and everyone can play together with cross-platform friends, messaging, and game invites."

“When the subject of leaderboards came up, GameSpy Open stood out as a perfect solution that would merge seamlessly with our development pipeline,” said Ken Schachter, founder of Trapdoor. “The user-friendly tools and stellar support we received have allowed us to integrate leaderboards while still maintaining a tight production schedule.”

All of GameSpy Technology’s services are freely available to developers once they’ve signed up at www.poweredbygamespy.com, allowing them to integrate unique online functionality and data tracking into their games immediately. The cross-platform SDKs include open APIs for rich player data tracking that assist in gauging game performance and audience engagement, user-generated cloud storage content tools to enable actively-engaged communities to collaborate and extend the gameplay experience, social network integration, in-game and web-based commerce and multiplayer matchmaking services. GameSpy Technology’s services have been tested and proven at multiple levels of scale, from the popular cross-platform indie game Dungeon Defenders to the hit online console title Crysis 2.

Developers looking to explore the whole suite of GameSpy Technology services will have an opportunity to meet with the GameSpy Technology team face-to-face at several industry events throughout the summer and fall, including GameLoop in Boston, PAX Dev in Seattle, IndieCade in Los Angeles, and more. Developers can enroll in the open game development revolution at http://www.poweredbygamespy.com

About IGN Entertainment

IGN Entertainment, a unit of News Corporation, is the leading Internet media and services provider focused on the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN's properties reached more than 45 million unique users worldwide November 2010, according to Internet audience measurement firm comScore Media Metrix. IGN's network of video game-related properties (IGN.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, Direct2Drive and others) is one of the Web's leading video game information destinations.  IGN also owns the leading men’s lifestyle website AskMen.com and provides technology for online game play in video games.  IGN is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices across North America, Europe and Australia.

About GameSpy Technology

A division of IGN Entertainment, GameSpy Technology is the leading provider of online services to video game developers. Founded in 1997, GameSpy has provided its connected gaming technology to the best-selling, most innovative games in the industry. Its various services—social, cloud, commerce, data and mutliplayer—are designed to make games more fun by helping players share their experiences. GameSpy’s technology is accessible on every gaming platform and has been utilized by more than 1000 titles to date, including landmark games like Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption, Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii, and Crytek’s Crysis franchise.