Kongregate create 10 million dollar indie game development program

 

This press release caught my eye and could be of interest to many of you, especially if you are looking for money or perhaps more importantly, exposure.

Kongregate, a leading online game platform, today announced the Kongregate Mobile Developers program, a $10 million fund to help independent game developers succeed in the free-to-play mobile arena. Backed by parent company GameStop, the world’s largest retailer of video games, Kongregate will offer distribution, financial assistance, consulting services and marketing support to help developers be successful in the highly competitive mobile arena.

“Developers are increasingly finding it harder to get their games discovered through the different app stores”

To support the newly created development fund, Kongregate has hired former Zynga general manager, Panayoti (Pany) Haritatos, as vice president of its new mobile division. Haritatos, who brings more than 8 years of web and mobile gaming experience to Kongregate, will lead Kongregate’s in-house game development as well as oversee the company’s mobile games unit.

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As to what the program actually does:

The Kongregate Mobile Developers program offers game creators three areas of assistance:

Financial assistance to complete your game

Qualified games that are already in development can earn cash advances to cover final build and integration expenses.

Expertise to make your game even better

Kongregate pioneered one of the first cross-game virtual currencies on the web, and has years of monetization experience that can be applied to mobile games. Kongregate will provide free consultation with game developers to ensure the best possible performance. Kongregate will also offer creative services, quality assurance, gameplay testing and competitive research to maximize game performance at launch.

Promotion to share your game with the world

Games can receive promotion across Kongregate, the newly updated GameStop iOS and Android apps and GameStop online destinations including website features, email and social media outreach that collectively reach more than 50 million hard-core gamers. Selected titles have the potential to reach millions more gamers with exposure in GameStop’s 6,600 retail stores worldwide. Kongregate will also manage paid advertising campaigns for games across third party networks, execute PR and game reviews and work with app stores to get games featured on behalf of the developer.

 

If you are interested, check out or apply at http://developers.kongregate.com/mobile.

 

Could be an interesting opportunity, especially given the promotional muscle that can be brought to bear.  As to what Kongregate’s stake is, I have no idea as of yet.  I’ve never dealt in the free web game space, but I do know a few developers who are making pretty good money, so there is certainly something there… beyond of course, the 10 million dollars.

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