GameFly is an American online video game rental subscription service that specializes in providing games for game consoles and handheld game consoles such as: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, GameCube, Xbox, Wii U, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS, PSP, and Playstation Vita.
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 15, 2002 |
| Founders | David Hodess (CEO & President) Sean Spector (Co-Founder & VP of Business development and Marketing) Jung Suh (Co-Founder & VP of Content and Strategic Alliances) |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Website | gamefly |
The business model of GameFly is similar to the DVD-by-mail subscription service Netflix and Blockbuster online. In 2009 GameFly filed a lawsuit against U.S. Postal Service for favoring Netflix and Blockbuster by sorting their DVDs for free.[1] GameFly sends games to subscribers for a monthly fee. Over 8,000 titles are available.
In May 2018, EA announced that they acquired cloud gaming technology assets and personnel from GameFly (including its Israeli outpost).[2]
History
In May 2002, Sean Spector and Jung Suh partnered with founding CEO Toby Lenk to start GameFly. GameFly later received venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital.[3] In February 2009, GameFly acquired the gaming news and community site Shacknews, along with its download and streaming video sites.[4] It was reported in February 2011 that GameFly had acquired MobyGames.[5] Despite filing plans in February 2010 for an initial public offering, GameFly remains a privately owned company as of 2017.[6] GameFly shut down the streaming service on August 31, 2018.
Purchase of Direct2Drive
In 2011, Gamefly announced that they had acquired Direct2Drive, an online distribution service previously owned by IGN. Direct2Drive later merged with GameFly; subscribers that had both D2D and GameFly accounts were migrated to a single account.
Shortly after the merger, GameFly introduced a new "GameFly Client", which combined the services previously offered by Direct2Drive and GameFly individually; the client came out of beta on November 8, 2012, and allows direct download and installation of PC games, as well as the rental of games without visiting the GameFly website itself.
As of April 2014, GameFly has since sold Direct2Drive to Taiwanese company AtGames.[7]
Advertising
When GameFly's very first advertisements came out on TV, it became quite nice and funny for people who watched them on Youtube. Many of these advertisements depict real people, mostly men, throwing big tantrums and destroying most of the house as they do so, probably because they are very mentally unstable and VERY DUMB. One of those ads had a scene of a man throwing his television out of the window. They also threw these tantrums because they had either died in-game while playing or they had been defeated by a villain or a boss battle in that game. The editor of this page, CanadianPS3, who lives in London of Ontario, Canada, hence his name, has stated that he would give out his own custom and nice nickname for whenever somebody is throwing a tantrum; he will therefore call it, the GameFly Tantrum, named after the destructive nature of the gamers in these ads whose names are unknown. He has also stated that they throw tantrums whose nature is extremely the exact same one as the tantrums Caillou throws; Caillou has been stated by other Canadian moms as "stupid and mentally rabid", they have stated, since that character from Quebec is famous for his whiny and pathetic nature. He's even stated that Caillou himself was born out of the black magic of a minor psycho, with black magic being strictly forbidden in Islamic law; he states that the one who did it was Helene Desputeaux herself, the woman who created the books that Caillou is based on.
However, the information above that has to do with Caillou is marked in italics so the editor of this page could be able to be nice and honest to whoever notices.
References
- ^ Postal Service must stop favoring Netflix DVDs over GameFly ones, says appeals court
- ^ "Electronic Arts Acquires Cloud Gaming Technology & Talent | EA Press Room". ea.newshq.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
- ^ "Gamefly - How it works".
- ^ Morris, Chris (February 4, 2009). "GameFly 'Shacks' Up". Forbes. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
- ^ Kyle Orland (2011-02-07). "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
- ^ Matt Krantz (2013-04-10). "Ask Matt: Did GameFly ever go public?". USA Today. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
- ^ Nutt, Christian. "Direct2Drive is back under new owner: GameFly Digital is no more". Retrieved 2017-04-05.