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Joystiq

Turner to sell GameTap, Time Warner reveals [update]

by James Ransom-Wiley on Aug 6th 2008 11:30AM

Time Warner released its second-quarter 2008 financial report this morning, which included a brief mention of an $18 million write-off attributed to a "noncash impairment of GameTap." Say what? The report claims the write-off is based on "Turner's decision to sell its online video game business," leaving it at that. Say what!

We've put a call into GameTap for ~~more~~ any information. Stay tuned.

Update: A Turner spokesperson tells us, "There is considerable marketplace interest in the GameTap business and brand. We are considering various strategic options but have reached no final agreement as yet. When there is a resolution, we will announce it."

[Via Gamasutra]

Source

Tags: breakingnews, gametap, time-warner, turner

Reader Comments (21)

Better get those GameTap exclusives into the Steam lifeboats!

What SHOULD happen is Apple should buy them and use them for AppleTV in particular...try and get that thing going again.
Not many people like playing games infront of their PC in general, especially games that are mostly console ports, since I don't think THAT many people overall own a PC gamepad.

My Pc monitor is my TV and I own a wireless gamepad.

PC RULES FOOLS!

That's a great idea, but the windows arm might piss people off.

ie: it's like running itunes, but with extremely limited features for macs.

Its shocking how businesses continue to frown upon divisions that make no money.

You can buy all the games from amazon or ebay as fast as you can finish them online for the same cost.

GameTap Blows.

Does this mean that GameTap is shutting down? I'm not too good with all this business talk... If so, at least we'll still have GOG.

Wow, just checked out gog.com. It looks pretty damn awesome. I can't wait to see it when it launches. I hope some companies take a look at it, wake up and do something with their old games. (I'm looking at you Lucasarts)

But anyway, I've liked the Gametap free client. Played through some good stuff with it, but I never got around to paying for gold.

It seems they want to sell the business, not shut it down.

While I'm in favor of selling gametap if it means that the service will go on to bigger and better things, what scares me that that other companies may not be so willing to give some of their content away for free.

Gamefly should buy them and make them their "Instant Rent" feature a-la Netflix. I know I'd certainly like more value for my subscription fee.

We should have seen this coming back when they laid-off the Game Tap editorial staff. I hope they don't kick off Sam & Max!

I tired the service for a few months earlier this year and the thing is NOT worth it. There was so much filler in the catalogue and many of the higher end stuff was buggy as hell. Things would lock up and/or crash on you. I tried playing the free Grimm episode but the performance was horrible and controls were laggy, so I lowered the settings to see if that improved matters and it ended looking like something the Nintendo 64 crapped out. I completely unistalled the Gametap client and said goodbye to the horribly annoying ads that blare like a wailing banshee. Never again....never again.

Some of the games don't work well unless you've set the download manager to download the full game instead of just the bare minimum. An example: Riven. When I tried to play Riven with the minimum game data, the game was practically UNFUNCTIONAL; once I had downloaded the data that GameTap deemed 'unnecessary' (facepalm.jpg), the game was running like clockwork!

Also, you DO know there's a mute button on the top-right corner of the home screen, right?

I hope Gamefly stays afloat. A great service with no real competition paying developers/publishers for having a great catalog.

I bought my mom a subscription for Christmas and she loved it.

So this means they're getting bought by Valve, right? ;)

I remember reading on Gamespot.com that Turner was going to start an online video game retailing application ala Steam & Netflix, and I thought to myself "Turner doesn't have a clue what they're doing, that's why they do film and television, not video games. They won't last a month."

well, they proved me wrong.

It's a good opportunity for any company that wants to get their foot in the door towards becoming a platform, whether web-based, mobile-based, or developing a new console

Owning GameTap would be a good start

so since AOLtimewarner own gametap and joystiq, if they offload gametap does that mean no more coverage of it here?

I've been a gold member for nearly a year and have no regrets. I would be disappointed if they close up. Hopefully someone who really wants to push the service buys them.

Xbox live?

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Breaking News

Turner to sell GameTap, Time Warner reveals [update]

Reader Comments (21)

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 11:34AM FredFredrickson said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 11:36AM samfish said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 12:02PM Shagittarius said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 5:45PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 11:53AM Duke said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 12:01PM Shagittarius said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 12:12PM MagikOvenMit said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 12:51PM AwesomeTown said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 12:55PM Duke said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 1:02PM (Unverified) said

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Posted: Aug 6th 2008 3:10PM ScottG13 said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 3:42PM AnthonyGalindo said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 4:02PM rocko213 said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 4:39PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 6:57PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 6th 2008 7:33PM mogamer said

Posted: Aug 7th 2008 9:12AM Eric H said

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