Indie Open House project

Sept. 15, 2010 – San Francisco, CA– IGN Entertainment, Inc. today announced the debut of the Indie Open House project, a new company-wide initiative aimed at helping independent game developers worldwide eager to put their mark on the $20 billion game industry.  The multi-faceted program is anchored by a free residency, which includes full access to dedicated office space inside IGN’s offices in the heart of San Francisco.  Participating game teams will also be granted exclusive demo days, free licenses to valuable online gaming technology, professional consultation, technical support, advice on distribution strategy and much more. 

Indie Open House is strictly a support and residency program, meaning IGN maintains no interest in owning any content or binding participating teams to prohibitive contracts.  Instead, the goal of the Indie Open House project is to lend valuable resources and support during difficult financial times and to encourage innovation within independent game development. 

“Just because you’re an independent team doesn’t mean you have to work alone,” said Roy Bahat, President of IGN Entertainment. “Indie Open House is an incubator program with no strings attached.”

“Independent and start-up studios will write the future of video gaming – a future in which everyone takes rich online experiences for granted,” added Todd Northcutt, VP of GameSpy Technology, which is offering Indie Open House participants no-cost licenses to its online gaming technology as part of the GameSpy Open initiative. “We want to ensure that these developers can realize the totality of their vision, and offering them access to the full suite of our open gaming services is a great way to make that happen.”

The Indie Open House program is ideal for game teams looking to benefit from exposure to an energetic, team-focused environment featuring other independent development groups and experienced editorial teams willing to exchange ideas on cutting-edge game design and innovation.  Helping guide the program will be several internal and external advisors, including company executives, editors and independent developers. The program offers a 6-month rolling term for participating teams.  Additional benefits include, but are not limited to:

·         24-hour access to IGN headquarters located in SOMA district, including conference rooms and kitchens

·         Daily interaction with IGN editorial and executive teams, including face-to-face opportunities to receive feedback on your project while still in development

·         Participation in Demo Days and the opportunity to showcase your game(s) directly to publishers, retailers, online distributors and the IGN / GameSpy editorial teams

·         Free licensing of GameSpy Technology’s Open Services Platform supporting essential online features like Leaderboards, Matchmaking, Deep User Stats, In-Game Commerce and more across multiple systems

·         Consultation with GameSpy Technology’s Professional Services team at no cost

·         Customized demo space in GameSpy Tech’s booth at GDC 2011 in San Francisco

·         Free advertising and promotional opportunities showcasing your projects on the IGN Network (if applicable)

Participating teams will be selected by key members on the IGN.com editorial staff and executive team, in addition to Eddy Boxerman, winner of the first D2D Vision Award at the 2009 International Games Festival and Founder of Hemisphere Games, creator of Osmos.

To learn more and to submit your application, visit www.ign.com/indieopenhouse.

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About IGN Entertainment

IGN Entertainment, a unit of News Corporation, is theleading Internet media and services provider focused on the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN's properties reached more than 37.8 million unique users worldwide June 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 900 titles to date, including landmark games like Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption, Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii, and THQ’s WWE: Smackdown vs. Raw franchise.

Contact Information

Kristen Sharbaugh

IGN Entertainment, Inc.

ksharbaugh@ign.com

Chris Kramer

fortyseven communications

kramer@fortyseven.com