GameTap to close Atlanta office and change catalogue focus

Digital download service GameTap has closed its Atlanta-based technical and support team as part of a restructuring move which also involves a shift away from the retro games the site has become associated with.

Speaking to Joystiq, a GameTap representative said that the company would be hiring ten new staff at its San Fransico offices in order to strengthen its US presence in the wake of the closure.

GameTap was acquired by French download service Metaboli in 2008, but maintained its separate identity in the US. GameTap operations are now being merged with Metaboli's French offices in order to create a "global support centre based in Europe," a representative said.

The company also hopes to reinvigorate its catalogue of games with 15 new signings, moving away from a previous focus on older titles.

"We need to show that we have moved forward and that we now offer a wide range of recent PC games. Some old PC games will be replaced by more recent PC games or by some casual games. Our decisions were taken based on our gameplay statistics, which is much better than our own opinion about the games or the opinion expressed by some of our users on the forum. We offer what people play."

A new tech update, which has caused problems with some of GameTap's titles recently, should be complete by the end of this month, incorporating a new download system and compatibility with 64-bit operating systems.