GamersGate AB (formerly Gamer's Gate) is a Sweden-based online

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

store offering electronic strategy guides and games for Windows, macOS, and Linux via direct download. It is a competitor to online video game services such as

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...

, and

Direct2Drive Direct2Drive (commonly D2D) is an online game store offering PC games via direct download. On May 25, 2011, GameFly acquired Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment, Inc. and renamed the service to GameFly Digital.Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its ...

2K Games 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same m ...

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

SEGA is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

Paradox Interactive Paradox Interactive AB is a video game publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company started out as the video game division of Target Games and then Paradox Entertainment (now Cabinet Entertainment) before being spun out into an independen ...

and

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, M ...

as well as smaller

independent developers An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

such as

2D Boy ''World of Goo'' is a puzzle video game developed and published by independent video game development, independent game developer 2D Boy. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and Wii platforms on October 13, 2008, with releases on Nintendo ...

Jonathan Blow Jonathan Blow (born 1971) is an American video game designer and programmer. He is best known for his work on the independent video games ''Braid'' (2008) and '' The Witness'' (2016). Born in California, Blow developed a passion for game progra ...

and

Amanita Design Amanita Design is a Czech independent video game developing company founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorský and headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic. The company has created award-winning games including '' Machinarium'', the '' Samorost'' series ...

. , there are over 6000 games available through GamersGate.

History

The idea of GamersGate was conceived by

in 2004Caoili, Eric.
GamersGate Launches Microtransactions Platform
. ''

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

''. 9 December 2008. after numerous fan requests for better access to Paradox's games were finally answered in the form of direct downloads. After Paradox sold a game to an Argentine fan via a download link that was later removed, word spread on the Paradox forums and international fans began asking if they too could purchase video games through downloads.Reid, Christos.
Alternative Access: Gateway to Gaming
(cont
p.2
. '' The Escapist''. Issue 212. 28 July 2009. Seeking to provide cheap distribution of games to countries that did not offer them in physical retail stores, Paradox developed a

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...

system called "Paradox on Demand" and commenced trial operations in April 2006. On 20 November 2006, the system was officially launched under the name "Gamer's Gate". Interest in the service grew such that in 2008, after other publishers requested that Gamer's Gate distribute their games as well, Paradox decided to separate the service into an independent company called "GamersGate". By April 2009, GamersGate was offering 1000 video game titles. By April of the following year, they had doubled their offering to 2000 titles. An additional 1000 games were added in 2011, bringing the company's total to 3000 games.Caoili, Eric.
GamersGate To Launch Ad-Supported FreeGames
. ''

''. 9 June 2011. This pattern has repeated each year with 4000 games offered in 2012, 5000 offered in 2013, and over 6000 .

Features

As a digital distribution company, GamersGate offers

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...

-free (DRM-free) games and

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

(DLC) for PC, Mac, Linux, and Android platforms. GamersGate is a client-free service that does not require users to

log on In computer security, logging in (or logging on, signing in, or signing on) is the process by which an individual gains access to a computer system by identifying and authenticating themselves. The user credentials are typically some for ...

in order to play purchased games. In a January 2012 article for '' The Escapist'' magazine, columnist Shamus Young speculated that these features would appeal to gamers opposed to the passive DRM validation,

always-on DRM Always-on DRM or always-online DRM is a form of digital rights management, DRM that requires a consumer to remain connected to a Server (computing), server, especially through an internet connection, to use a particular product. The practice is al ...

, and mandatory client program downloads that were common to many of GamersGate's top competitors.Young, Shamus.
Experienced Points: Digital Distribution: The Other Guys
(cont
p.2
. '' The Escapist''. 27 January 2012. GamersGate accepts online payment by credit card or cash via

Rixty Rixty was an alternative payment system that let domestic and international users spend cash and coins for online games and digital content. Rixty was a subsidiary of MOL AccessPortal Sdn Bhd (MOL) which was one of Asia's leading payment servic ...

. From 2012-2013, it offered a catalog of free games via its Void system.Wittenkeller, Josh.
Gamersgate officially announces ad-supported free games platform VOID
. '' Gamezebo''. 22 May 2012. GamersGate is one of the earliest digital distribution sitesNunneley, Stephany.
Impulse and GamersGate don't agree with NPD digital sales results
. ''

VG247 ''VG247'' is a video game blog published in the United Kingdom, founded in February 2008 by industry veteran Patrick Garratt. In 2009, CNET ranked it as the third best gaming blog in the world. History Founded in collaboration on 1 February 2 ...

''. 23 July 2010. and has undergone major aesthetic redesigns over the years. The first major redesign occurred in May 2009 when they adopted a design that ''

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...

s Alec Meer described as " GoG-esque" and "shiny". The second redesign occurred in July 2011 and was interpreted by some as a response to changes in the industry including the launch of

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...

and the acquisitions of

Impulse Impulse or Impulsive may refer to: Science * Impulse (physics), in mechanics, the change of momentum of an object; the integral of a force with respect to time * Impulse noise (disambiguation) * Specific impulse, the change in momentum per uni ...

GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,5 ...

Downloadable content and developer tools

GamersGate was one of the earliest video game stores to offer

for PC games, starting with downloadable content for the '' Hearts of Iron'' and ''

Europa Universalis ''Europa Universalis'' is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published in 2000 by Strategy First. Development The game was originally based on a French board game of the same name by Philippe Thibaut that ...

'' series. In December 2008, GamersGate began offering developers MicroSuite, a free in-game downloadable-content

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

that allows game companies to insert DLC

microtransaction Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...

s into gameplay. The release of MicroSuite came only a few months after GamersGate's release of the GameNerve Publishing Suite, a management tool allowing users to publish and digitally distribute newly created games in order to maximize profits for the creator rather than an intermediate distribution company.

Client-free

GamersGate initially required a

software client In computing, a client is a piece of computer hardware or software that accesses a service made available by a server as part of the client–server model of computer networks. The server is often (but not always) on another computer system, in ...

for its customers to download their purchased games, but on 28 January 2009, the company began allowing customers to download games through a micro-download. Under this system, every game is associated with a small corresponding program that, when downloaded, will retrieve the install files for the customer's computer. Upon retrieval, the user installs the game and may then remove the downloader from the computer. CEO Theo Bergquist has touted the client-less feature of GamersGate as a way to distinguish it from more dominant video game distribution platforms like

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

DRM-free

Since its inception, GamersGate has eschewed the use of controversial

(DRM) schemes common to other digital video game distribution services. Games downloaded from GamersGate are released free of passive DRM validation and

, and GamersGate users have the option of transferring purchased games to other accounts. Company CEO Theo Bergquist has emphasized the need for digital distribution companies to trust consumers. Although the potential for

video game piracy Video game piracy is the unauthorized copying and distributing of video game software, and is a form of copyright infringement. It is often cited as a major problem that video game publishers face when distributing their products, due to the ease o ...

and similar abuses are present through its method, GamersGate believes that trust in consumers acts as "a source of comfort" for its customers. The company has sought to work against piracy by cultivating mutual respect between itself and its strong player community. In an article for ''Information & Communications Technology Law'', Peter Holm suggests that perhaps GamersGate's best DRM-free defense against piracy is simply that it makes the legal purchase of games easy and cheap. In addition to GamersGate's customer-friendly policies, rulings by the

Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (french: Cour de justice de l'Union européenne or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the Judiciary, judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quart ...

on the topic of digital right of first sale have clarified that lessors who indefinitely license software thereby exhaust their property rights to the software. The effect of this ruling is that European digital distribution customers may resell downloaded games on the secondary market. Because GamersGate is based in Sweden and serves French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, and Swedish customers, this ruling has significance for GamersGate's European sales.

Games

GamersGate has partnered with over 250 publishers and developers including

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

, and

Vivendi Games Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Assoc ...

among many others. GamersGate has also signed distribution agreements with numerous smaller

independent video game developer An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

s and a wide variety of international developers like the Russian

1C Company 1C Company (russian: Фирма «1С», ) is a Russian software developer, distributor and publisher based in Moscow. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, related services and video games. In Russia, 1C is c ...

, the British

Blitz Games Blitz Games Studios Limited was a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa. Founded in 1990 by the Oliver Twins, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as ''The Fairly OddParents'', ...

, the German

Crimson Cow Crimson Cow is a German video game publisher that was founded in 2002. They hold the German license for the ''Runaway'' series and the worldwide publishing rights for ''A Vampyre Story ''A Vampyre Story'' is a 2008 point-and-click adventure ga ...

and

Kalypso Media Kalypso Media Group is a German video game developer and publisher. Founded in 2006 in Worms, the group includes four companies, in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States and has studios, Realmforge Studios, Gaming Minds Studios, Clay ...

, and the French

Microïds Microids (formerly Microïds) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners (including Activisio ...

. Initially distributing only PC games, GamersGate began offering Mac games in June 2009 and later added Linux games and Android games. , the site lists over 1500 Mac titles. As GamersGate has expanded its catalog to include macOS (formerly Mac OS X) and

indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

s, it has been acknowledged as a good place to download Mac games and for new game developers to get published and to make early sales. Because it was formed as a split from a strategy game developer, the majority of the company's initial offerings were strategy war games. However, as third party developers signed on to distribute with Gamersgate, the site's offerings became increasingly eclectic. ''Rock, Paper, Shotguns

Kieron Gillen Kieron Michael Gillen (; born 30 September 1975) is a British comic book writer and former video game and music journalist. In comics, Gillen is known for ''Phonogram'' and ''The Wicked + The Divine'', both co-created with artist Jamie McKelvie ...

noted in 2008 that GamersGate's Top 10 Sales chart provided "a snapshot of a completely alien PC gaming world" with obscure but meritorious titles outperforming mainstream titles. Gillen suggested that this was evidence that "downloadable games enable niches." This pattern has lessened through the years but has never entirely disappeared. ''

New Tang Dynasty Television New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD Television) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language ...

'' drew attention to GamersGate's charts in 2014, when the free-to-play co-op game ''

Warframe ''Warframe'' is a free-to-play action role-playing third-person shooter multiplayer online game developed and published by Digital Extremes. First released for Windows personal computers in March 2013, it was later ported to PlayStation 4 in No ...

'' ranked alongside '' Castle of Illusion''. GamersGate frequently offers special deals and sales on its inventory. It has been praised by critics for its innovative bundling that, during some sales, allows purchasers to opt out of individual games enclosed within the bundle for a reduction in the bundle's price.

FreeGames and Void

E3 2011 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3 2011) was the 17th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 7, 2011, and ended on June 9, 2011, with 46,800 total attendees. E3 201 ...

, GamersGate announced that it would be offering free video games in exchange for advertisement views. Players could download a game for free but, prior to playing it, would have to watch a short advertisement selected by GamersGate's advertising partner, Blind Ferret Media. Advertisements would not be inserted during gameplay.Rossignol, Jim.
GamersGate Explain FreeGames
. ''

''. 14 June 2011. The new program, called "FreeGames", was set for beta release in mid-June 2011. Interest among gamers was so high that 10 thousand beta signups were made within the first few hours. The official start of the program was intended to be 1 September 2011 and to offer some 200 games. GamersGate CEO Theo Bergquist stated that the company's long-term goal was to offer as many of its 3000 games as possible under the FreeGames program. Bergquist's claims that this was the first program of its kind were refuted by ''

Shacknews ''Shacknews'' (originally Quakeholio, then ShugaShack) is a website that hosts news, features, editorial content and forums relating to computer games and Video game console, console games. It is currently owned by a company called Gamerhub Cont ...

Alice O'Conner, who pointed to a similar failed experiment by

in 2007. However, in the following weeks GamersGate's beta run proved to be a success. GamersGate officially launched the follow-up program to FreeGames, christened "Void", on 28 May 2012. Like FreeGames, the service allowed customers with an account to download certain games for free in exchange for watching a few short advertisements. At release, nearly 100 games were available in the Void catalogue. The company ended the Void service in January 2013.

Market share

As one of the earliest digital distribution services, GamersGate saw rapid expansion in its earlier years with over 100 percent in growth from launch through 2009. Contemporaneously, GamersGate's parent company, Paradox Interactive, saw digital distribution overtake retail sales. In January 2011, it reported that GamersGate digital downloads accounted for 70 percent of Paradox's total revenue, which had grown over 1000 percent since 2001. By July of the same year, Paradox reported that 90 percent of its sales were digital (through both Steam and GamersGate). The total market share of digital downloads going to GamersGate, however, is considerably smaller than its major competitor, Steam. It has also faced competition from newer companies like

and from contemporaries like

and

Direct2Drive Direct2Drive (commonly D2D) is an online game store offering PC games via direct download. On May 25, 2011, GameFly acquired Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment, Inc. and renamed the service to GameFly Digital.Stardock Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS/ ...

in December 2009 indicated that Steam controlled at least 70 percent of the market with the other big players (Direct2Drive, GamersGate, and Impulse) competing over the remaining 30 percent. Stardock's claim that Impulse controlled 10 percent of the market was vocally disputed by both Direct2Drive and GamersGate, with GamersGate's Theo Bergquist arguing that "in many, many cases we know that GamersGate sell as many units as Steam for the mid-size segment of titles." Luke Plunkett, writing for ''

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'', noted that "none of this bickering involves serious competing with Steam, leading us to believe that the PC scene's pecking order is Steam first, daylight second, and these guys jostling over the last spot on the podium."Plunkett, Luke.
PC Download Stores Arguing Over Who Comes After Steam
. ''

''. 1 December 2009. A July 2010 study conducted by

NPD Group The NPD Group, Inc. (NPD; formerly National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.) is an American market research company founded on September 28, 1966, and based in Port Washington, New York. In 2017, NPD ranked as the 8th largest mar ...

failed to list GamersGate among the top 5 digital distribution companies. However, this study was disputed by both GamersGate and Impulse (which also failed to rank).

Localization and expansion

Launched on the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

from Stockholm, Sweden in 2006, GamersGate has expanded internationally both online and offline. One of its first expansions took place in September 2010 when it opened an online branch within

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. Starting with the Swedish site, se.gamersgate.com, Gamersgate launched localized websites throughout Europe in late 2010 and early 2011. Specific versions of GamersGate were made for French, German, Italian, Polish, and Spanish language customers. The following year, GamersGate announced that, due to a 50 percent growth in sales from the previous year and in anticipation of its upcoming Void advertising program, it would be opening a physical shop and office in New York in 2012.

Competition with other distributors

GamersGate has been in active competition with digital distributors including Steam, Impulse, Direct2Drive, and to a lesser extent OnLive, and Origin. Notably, GamersGate has gained a reputation for sharp criticism of Steam which in 2011 Theo Bergquist suggested was "peaking". Although market statistics convincingly show Steam to be the most dominant player in the digital distribution market, Bergquist argues that this is strictly due to the fact that the market is currently oriented toward the

hardcore gamer A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who Player (game), plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning ...

subculture. Bergquist predicts that Steam will lose market share as the market widens in the future and that GamersGate, with its considerably less cumbersome client-free and DRM-free system, is well positioned to grow rapidly. Disagreement over Steam's embracing of DRM technologies has led GamersGate and others to boycott the distribution of popular titles like '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'' that contain software such as IWNET, a player matchmaking service that works through Steam and therefore requires a Steam client and account. Describing games containing such software as

Trojan horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

s, GamersGate and other digital distributors have refused to carry certain games that mandate the installation of client software. GamersGate's criticism of Impulse has also received extensive coverage in the gaming press. As early as 2009, GamersGate criticized Impulse owner Stardock's analysis of its share of the digital download market as misleadingly self-aggrandizing. A series of back and forth comments between the companies prompted ''Kotakus Luke Plunkett to describe GamersGate, Impulse, and Direct2Drive as "guys jostling over the last spot on the podium". Criticism was again levied by GamersGate against Impulse in April 2011 in response to GameStop's acquisition of Impulse from Stardock. GamersGate's Theo Bergquist questioned the wisdom of the purchase, describing Impulse as Steam's "lesser talented stepchild" and summarizing GameStop's press release as "we will do whatever we can to not be the next

Blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

". GamersGate specifically pointed to shortcomings in Impulse's technological capacities, describing the service as "outdated" and archaic. In response, Stardock CEO Bradley Wardell suggested that the comments from GamersGate were more likely revelatory of GamersGate's financial situation and that perhaps the company wasn't operating as profitably as it claimed.Jenkins, David.
Stardock hits back at GamersGate criticisms
. ''Gamesindustry.biz''. 14 April 2011.

References

External links

* {{Software digital distribution platforms Online retailers of Sweden Internet properties established in 2006 Online-only retailers of video games Companies based in Stockholm