GameSpy, also known as GameSpy Industries, is a division of IGN Entertainment, and operates a network of game Web sites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy was founded in 1995 by Mark Surfas, and is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California.
The company's Web sites include the gaming portal, GameSpy.com, released in 1999; many of the "planet" Web sites devoted to popular video games, such as PlanetQuake, Planet Half-Life , PlanetUnreal ; ForumPlanet), the network's extensive message board system; and FilePlanet, arguably the largest video game file download site on the Web. GameSpy also offers online matchmaking and community software, such as GameSpy Arcade and GameSpy 3D, as well as software development kits (SDKs), 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 Arcade technology is also widely used by major game developers who incorporate it into their games (for in-game server browsing). Another program similar to GameSpy Arcade is The All-Seeing Eye. GameSpy Arcade also features the Roger Wilco 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 Teamspeak.
GameSpy is remarkable for its success in surviving the dot-com collapse and various shakeouts among the online video game market. Employees attribute the success to its unusual corporate culture (in its early days, GameSpy was perhaps most widely known for its BeatDowns -- over-the-top LAN parties) and famously wide independent streak. Surfas, the company founder, is alternately described as a visionary businessman or reviled as "Bastard," -- a nickname he created for himself -- a difficult, obstinate individual known to fire employees on a whim.
In March 2004 GameSpy Industries was purchased by IGN Entertainment for a reported $63 million, ending Surfas's involvement with the company. GameSpy and IGN still operate their own separate sites with different editorial content.
Corporate History
- 1995, Mark Surfas founds Critical Mass Communications , a Web site development company serving corporate customers.
- 1996, Surfas, an avid fan of the video game Quake, switched corporate strategies to focus on Web site development for the nascent online gaming community, launching PlanetQuake.com.
- 1997, Surfas licensed GameSpy 3D from Spy Software, and sells the corporate name "Critical Mass" to a Canadian company. Surfas changes his company's name to GameSpy Industries to match the pre-existing name of the GameSpy 3D software product.
- 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 Nullsoft's Shoutcast. GameSpy receives $3 million in additional funding from the Yucaipa Companies, an investment group headed by Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz and Southern California supermarket billionaire Ronald Burkle. The funding is intended to create synergies between GameSpy and its much larger "corporate cousins" at Scour.net and CheckOut.com. While the latter pair become infamous dot-com casualties, GameSpy emerges relatively unscathed and quickly reaches profitability.
- 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-peer applications such as Napster and Gnutella. GameSpy releases GameSpy Arcade.
- December 2000, GameSpy purchases RogerWilco , MPlayer.com and various assets from HearMe, Inc. While the MPlayer service is shut down, the RogerWilco technology is improved and incorporated into GameSpy Arcade.
- 2001, GameSpy's corporate technology business grows to include SDKs and middleware for video game consoles, such as Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox.
- March 2004, acquired by IGN Entertainment.
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