GameSpy, also known as
GameSpy Industries, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet
QuakeQuake is a first-person shooter video game that was released by id Software on June 22, 1996. It was the first game in the popular Quake series of video games....
server search program named QSpy. The current company is headquartered in
Costa Mesa, CaliforniaCosta Mesa is a suburban city in Orange County, California, United States. The population was 116,479 as of January 1, 2009 . Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a suburban city with an economy based on retail, commerce and light...
. It is currently controlled by
News CorporationNews Corporation is the world's second largest media conglomerate as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009...
, the 92.3% shareholder of its parent company,
IGNIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
- which was bought for $650 million on September 8, 2005.
GameSpy includes coverage for
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
,
PlayStation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
,
PSPThe PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
,
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
,
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
,
Nintendo GameCubeThe is Nintendo's fourth home video game console with Wii being fifth, and is part of the sixth generation console era. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to Nintendo's Wii....
,
WiiThe is a home video game console released by Nintendo. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of both...
,
Game Boy AdvanceThe Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color...
,
Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
,
N-GageThe N-Gage is a mobile telephone and handheld game system by Nokia, based on the Nokia Series 60 platform, released in October 2003. It began sales on October 7, 2003. The N-Gage QD replaced the original N-Gage in 2004....
,
WirelessWireless communication is the transfer of information over a distance without the use of electrical conductors or "wires". The distances involved may be short or long . When the context is clear, the term is often shortened to "wireless"...
,
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
, and
RetrogamingRetrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old-school gaming, is the hobby of playing and collecting older computer, video, and arcade games. These games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports or compilations...
.
The 1996 release of
id Softwareid Software is an American video game development company from Mesquite, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
's Quake furthered the concept of gamers creating and releasing "
modsMod or modification is a term generally applied to PC games, especially first-person shooters, RPGs and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and require the user to have the...
" or modifications of games for use by other gamers.
GameSpy, also known as
GameSpy Industries, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet
QuakeQuake is a first-person shooter video game that was released by id Software on June 22, 1996. It was the first game in the popular Quake series of video games....
server search program named QSpy. The current company is headquartered in
Costa Mesa, CaliforniaCosta Mesa is a suburban city in Orange County, California, United States. The population was 116,479 as of January 1, 2009 . Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a suburban city with an economy based on retail, commerce and light...
. It is currently controlled by
News CorporationNews Corporation is the world's second largest media conglomerate as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009...
, the 92.3% shareholder of its parent company,
IGNIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
- which was bought for $650 million on September 8, 2005.
GameSpy includes coverage for
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
,
PlayStation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
,
PSPThe PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
,
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
,
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
,
Nintendo GameCubeThe is Nintendo's fourth home video game console with Wii being fifth, and is part of the sixth generation console era. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to Nintendo's Wii....
,
WiiThe is a home video game console released by Nintendo. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of both...
,
Game Boy AdvanceThe Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color...
,
Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
,
N-GageThe N-Gage is a mobile telephone and handheld game system by Nokia, based on the Nokia Series 60 platform, released in October 2003. It began sales on October 7, 2003. The N-Gage QD replaced the original N-Gage in 2004....
,
WirelessWireless communication is the transfer of information over a distance without the use of electrical conductors or "wires". The distances involved may be short or long . When the context is clear, the term is often shortened to "wireless"...
,
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
, and
RetrogamingRetrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old-school gaming, is the hobby of playing and collecting older computer, video, and arcade games. These games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports or compilations...
.
Origins
The 1996 release of
id Softwareid Software is an American video game development company from Mesquite, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
's Quake furthered the concept of gamers creating and releasing "
modsMod or modification is a term generally applied to PC games, especially first-person shooters, RPGs and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and require the user to have the...
" or modifications of games for use by other gamers.
Mark SurfasMark Surfas founded GameSpy Industries, a network of computer and video game Web sites and online video game-related services. He was the majority owner, CEO and Chairman of the board until its acquisition by Great Hill Partners and IGN Entertainment in March 2004.Mark is now an investor and board...
saw the need for hosting and distribution of these mods and created PlanetQuake.com - a Quake-related hosting and news site. The massive success of mods such as ThreeWave Capture the Flag catapulted PlanetQuake to huge traffic and a central position in the burgeoning gaming website scene.
Quake also marked the beginning of the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
multiplayer real-time action game scene. However, finding a Quake
serverA server is an application running on a computer that delivers a service. For example, a web server will deliver web pages when requested by a browser . The way a server and a client dialogs is called a protocol...
on the Internet proved difficult. Gamers could only share IP addresses of known servers between themselves or post them on gaming websites. To solve this problem, a team of three programmers (consisting of Jack "morbid" Mathews, Tim Cook, and Joe Powell) formed Spy Software and created QSpy (or QuakeSpy). This allowed the listing and searching of Quake servers available across the internet.
Surfas licensed QSpy and became the official distributor and marketer while retaining the original programming team. QSpy became QuakeSpy and went on to be bundled with id's
QuakeWorldQuakeWorld is an update to id Software's seminal multiplayer deathmatch game, Quake, that enhances the game's multiplayer features to allow people with dial-up modems to achieve greatly improved responsiveness when playing on Internet game servers...
update - an unprecedented move by a top tier developer and huge validation for QuakeSpy. With the release of the Quake Engine-based game Hexen II, QuakeSpy added this game to its capabilities and was renamed GameSpy3D.
Present operations
Currently, the company's websites include the gaming portal, GameSpy.com, created in 1999; the
Planet NetworkThe Planet Network is a network of video game-related websites operated by GameSpy. It includes the genre-specific sites, 3DActionPlanet, RPGPlanet, SportPlanet and StrategyPlanet, as well as sites dealing with specific video game titles...
, a collection of "Planet" websites devoted to popular video games (such as Planet Quake,
Planet Half-LifePlanet Half-Life is a gaming website owned by IGN and its subsidiary GameSpy. Maintained by a voluntary team of contributors, the site is dedicated to providing news and information concerning the games Half-Life and Half-Life 2, as well as related modifications and other Valve Software titles...
and Planet Unreal) as well as the genre-related websites, 3DActionPlanet, RPGPlanet, SportPlanet and StrategyPlanet; ForumPlanet, the network's extensive message board system; and
FilePlanetFilePlanet is a video game download service that provides free game patches, mod files and media downloads to its users. FilePlanet was launched, and is run by, GameSpy, which is now a subsidiary of IGN, and is one of the most used video game download sites on the internet...
, arguably the largest video game file download site on the
WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks...
. GameSpy also offers online matchmaking and community software, such as
GameSpy ArcadeGameSpy Arcade is a shareware multiplayer game server browsing utility. GameSpy arcade allows players to view and connect to available multiplayer games, and chat to other users of the service. It was initially released by GameSpy Industries, a division of IGN Entertainment, in early 2000, to...
and GameSpy3D, as well as software development kits (
SDKA software development kit is typically a set of development tools that allows a software engineer to create applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
s), middleware and back-end online services for game developers and publishers.
GameSpy Arcade is the company's flagship matchmaking software, allowing users to find servers for different online video games (whether they be free or purchased) and connect the user to game servers of that game. GameSpy also publishes the
Roger WilcoRoger Wilco is a Voice over IP application used by multiplayer video game players, usually in combination with a headset. A version for the Mac is currently in development, but developers have "no idea when it will be made publicly available", citing "obstacles the alpha is encountering"...
voice chat software, primarily meant for communication and co-ordination in team-oriented games, where users join a server to chat with other users on the server using voice communication. This software rivals the other major voice chat software
VentriloVentrilo is a proprietary Voice over Internet Protocol program with clients for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Most users of Ventrilo use a headset or microphone and use the program to talk to each other, similar to a telephone conference call. Ventrilo is often used by multiplayer video game...
and
TeamspeakTeamSpeak is proprietary Voice over IP software that allows users to speak on a chat channel with other users, much like a telephone conference call. A TeamSpeak user will often wear a headset with an integrated microphone...
.
The company's "Powered by GameSpy" technology has enabled online functionality in over 300 PC and
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
games. In 2005 GameSpy added the
PlayStation PortableThe PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
, and
Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
to its stable supported platforms. In March 2007, GameSpy added the
WiiThe is a home video game console released by Nintendo. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of both...
as another supported platform and will help get some of its games online.
In March 2004, IGN Entertainment and GameSpy Industries merged, and was briefly known as IGN/GameSpy before formalizing their corporate name as IGN Entertainment.
Corporate history
In 1996, Quake is released, as one of the first 3D multiplayer action games to allow play over the internet. In 1996, Jack Mathews, Tim Cook, and Joe Powell form Spy Software and create QSpy to allow easy searching of internet-based multiplayer Quake game servers. The software was soon updated to include games other than Quake, and renamed from QSpy to GameSpy. In 1997, Corporate strategist
Mark SurfasMark Surfas founded GameSpy Industries, a network of computer and video game Web sites and online video game-related services. He was the majority owner, CEO and Chairman of the board until its acquisition by Great Hill Partners and IGN Entertainment in March 2004.Mark is now an investor and board...
licensed GameSpy 3D from Spy Software, and creates GameSpy Industries. In 1999, GameSpy receives angel investment funding from entrepreneur David Berkus. The company also releases MP3Spy.com (later renamed RadioSpy.com), a software browser allowing people to browse and connect to online radio feeds, such as those using
NullsoftNullsoft, Inc. is a software house founded in Sedona, Arizona in 1997 by Justin Frankel. Its most famous products include the Winamp media player and the SHOUTcast MP3 streaming media server. In recent years, their open source installer system, NSIS, has also risen in popularity as a widely used...
's
SHOUTcastSHOUTcast is server software for streaming media developed by Nullsoft. It allows digital audio content, primarily in MP3 or HE-AAC format, to be broadcast to and from media player software, enabling hobbyists and professionals to create Internet radio networks...
. GameSpy receives $3 million in additional funding from the Yucaipa Companies, an investment group headed by Hollywood agent
Michael OvitzMichael S. Ovitz is a former talent agent and Hollywood powerhouse who served as the head of the Creative Artists Agency from 1975 to 1995....
and Southern California supermarket billionaire
Ronald BurkleRonald Wayne Burkle is an American business magnate. Listed on Forbes magazine's 400 and known as a major political fundraiser, his present net worth is estimated at $3.5 billion....
. GameSpy quickly reached profitability. In 2000, GameSpy receives additional investment funding from the Ziff-Davis publishing division ZDNet.com and from Guillemot Corp. GameSpy shuts down its RadioSpy division, backing away from an online music market dominated by
peer-to-peerA peer-to-peer, commonly abbreviated to P2P, distributed network architecture is composed of participants that make a portion of their resources directly available to other network participants, without the need for central coordination instances...
applications such as
NapsterNapster was an online music file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning while he was attending Northeastern University in Boston. The service operated between June 1999 and July 2001...
and
GnutellaGnutella is a file sharing network. In late 2007, it was the most popular file sharing network on the Internet with an estimated market share of more than 40%...
. GameSpy releases
GameSpy ArcadeGameSpy Arcade is a shareware multiplayer game server browsing utility. GameSpy arcade allows players to view and connect to available multiplayer games, and chat to other users of the service. It was initially released by GameSpy Industries, a division of IGN Entertainment, in early 2000, to...
. In December 2000, GameSpy purchases Roger Wilco,
MPlayer.comMPlayer, referred to as MPlayer.com by 1998, was a free online PC gaming service and community that operated from late 1996 until early 2001. The service at its peak was host to a community of more than 20 million visitors each month and offered more than 100 games...
and various assets from HearMe, Inc. While the MPlayer service is shut down, the RogerWilco technology is improved and incorporated into GameSpy Arcade. In 2001, GameSpy's corporate technology business grows to include
SDKSDK may refer to:* Slovak Democratic Coalition* Software development kit...
s and
middlewareMiddleware is computer software that connects software components or applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
for video game consoles, such as Sony's
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
, Sega's Dreamcast and Microsoft's
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
. In March 2004, acquired by
IGN EntertainmentIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
.
External links