Gathering of Developers, Inc. (shortened as G.O.D. or GodGames, and branded as Gathering between 2003 and 2004) was an American

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ( ...

based in New York City. Founded by Mike Wilson and associates in January 1998 and originally based in

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, the company was acquired by

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...

in May 2000. Between May 2000 and March 2001, Gathering of Developers also operated a

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, On Deck Interactive, which acted as their

mass market The term "mass market" refers to a market for goods produced on a large scale for a significant number of end consumers. The mass market differs from the niche market in that the former focuses on consumers with a wide variety of backgrounds with ...

label. In August 2001, Take-Two Interactive closed Gathering of Developers' Dallas headquarters and moved the label in-house, to New York City. The label was shut down in September 2004, with all assets consumed by

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History

Gathering of Developers was announced by Mike Wilson in 1997, with the official opening scheduled for January 1998. Wilson had previously been the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Ion Storm Ion Storm, L.P. was an American video game developer founded by video game industry veterans John Romero and Tom Hall, both formerly of id Software. Despite an impressive pedigree and high expectations, the company only produced one commercial ...

, a

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

. Wilson's stated vision for the company was to have a video games publisher run by experienced developers rather than marketeers and conventional businessmen. The opening of the company took place on January 13, 1998. Co-founders included Harry Miller, Jim Bloom, Rick Stults and Doug Myres. The same month, video game developer

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became an

equity partner A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

of Gathering of Developers, through which their

vice-president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

, Brett Combs, took a seat on the publisher's

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. Other founding partners included

Edge of Reality Edge of Reality, Ltd. was an American video game developer founded in 1998 and based in Austin, Texas that developed video games for the Nintendo 64, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles. It also had games in development for PlaySt ...

3D Realms 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...

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 ...

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, and

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. By February 1998, the company had struck an investment deal with Pennsylvania Merchants Group. On June 1, 1998, video game publisher

announced a "subsistantial non-equity investment" in Gathering of Developers, wherein Take-Two Interactive would distribute games published by Gathering of Developers. Take-Two Interactive later went on to acquire a 20% stake in the company by February 1999. Also in February 1999, Gathering of Developers co-founded the

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, which was to premier

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, and also co-hosted and funded the 1999 edition of it. In May 1999, Gathering of Developers signed an agreement with

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to distribute eight of their games on the

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platform. During the

Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...

trade shows, Gathering of Developers offered free

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, live music and beer to the nearly 10,000 attendees that would cross the street into their parking lot, dubbed the "Promised Lot". At the 2001 edition of the event, Gathering of Developers' booth displayed

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dressed up as schoolgirls to promote their adult content. On May 1, 2000, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired Gathering of Developers. The deal was signed mainly due to Gathering of Developers' financial instability. On May 4, 2000, Take-Two Interactive and Gathering of Developers launched On Deck Interactive as a publishing label for games with "a consumer friendly price point and a

appeal". Following the departure of On Deck Interactive's CEO Robert Westmoreland, the label was shut down again on March 5, 2001, with all of its upcoming games shifted to Gathering of Developers. On May 3, 2001, Gathering of Developers co-founder Myres unexpectedly died of an

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. In his honor, Gathering of Developers announced the "Doug Myres Substance Award" in June that year, which would be handed out at the July 2001 edition of the

Cyberathlete Professional League The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was founded by Angel Munoz on June 27, 1997, in Dallas, Texas. The CPL is considered the ...

, with a donation to the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center made in the recipient's name. Gathering of Developers' Dallas offices were closed down by Take-Two Interactive in August 2001, with all operations relocated to Take-Two Interactive's headquarters in New York City. All staff were laid off or left the company, most of which were then hired by SubstanceTV, a new venture previously launched by Wilson and Myres. By February 2003, Gathering of Developers had been shortened to Gathering. On September 9, 2004, following poor financial results in Take-Two Interactive's Q3 2004

fiscal quarter A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ju ...

, Gathering of Developers was folded into

, Take-Two Interactive's budget range publishing label.

Games published

References

{{Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive divisions and subsidiaries Defunct companies based in Texas Video game companies established in 1998 Video game companies disestablished in 2004 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game publishers 1998 establishments in Texas 2004 disestablishments in Texas