ndiantelevision.com Team

(17 August 2006 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: AOL has acquired GameDaily, one of the Internet’s leading independent video game publications, from Gigex, Inc, but did not disclose the financial terms.

As part of the agreement, AOL will acquire both the GameDaily consumer website (http://www.gamedaily.com) and the industry-leading newsletter, (http://Biz.GameDaily.com).

GameDaily will become the flagship video games brand within the AOL Games network, and will be united with content and community features currently found on the AOL Video Games website (http://www.aol.com/videogames), informs an official release.

In addition, the AOL Video Games editorial team will be integrated into the GameDaily editorial staff to create the new GameDaily editorial team. The GameDaily Biz newsletter team will also operate under the newly combined AOL Video Games-GameDaily editorial team. Additionally, certain GameDaily content partnership agreements will be transitioned to AOL.

“Video game sites have become a valuable resource for advertisers wishing to reach the young male audience, and GameDaily is a brand that resonates with these highly sought after consumers,” said AOL Games VP and GM Ralph Rivera. “We look forward to continuing to serve this audience, maximizing GameDaily content with AOL’s community features, and further expanding the AOL Games community.”

“Video games are now a vital piece of the entertainment landscape along with music, video and online communities,” said Gigex Inc CEO Mark Friedler. “We're thrilled to combine our experience delivering top-notch consumer content and leading business news with AOL’s tremendous reach to provide a new level of innovative entertainment content to online consumers everywhere.”

According to the release, in addition to GameDaily.com, the AOL Games network also includes AOL Games (http://www.aol.com/games), destination for casual and downloadable games from leading publishers; AOL Video Games (http://www.aol.com/videogames), gamers’ leading online resource for video game news, previews, cheats and original programming such as the interactive Inside the Game feature; and the recently acquired Games.com, an extension of AOL Games’ best-of-breed casual games available at one of the most popular URLs among web users seeking games content.

GameDaily is AOL’s fourth announced acquisition of 2006, following the acquisition of Userplane last week, Lightningcast, Inc. in May, and Truveo, Inc. in January. Other recent corporate acquisitions in 2005 by AOL include Music Now, LLC, Weblogs, Inc., Xdrive, Inc. and Wildseed, Ltd.