Funding for Social Games

Angela sent the press release for this—it appears that Kongregate, the video game uploading site, is getting into the game business, so to speak. The company, it seems, is branching out from its online community status and is now funding game development projects.

In a press release from Business Wire, Kongregate’s new plan, called the Premium Development Program, will begin to fund the development of games that will eventually be uploaded on the site.

From the release:
“’We’ve set out to find and sponsor some of the most talented small studio and indie developers today,’ said Jim Greer, CEO and co-founder of Kongregate. ‘These original and exclusive Flash games will build on the compelling social
and community-based experiences already available on Kongregate, but
on a larger scale.’”

According to the release, five games will be released early in 2008. Developers will also be able to retain the rights to their games and “share in a percentage of Kongregate’s revenue.”

Tags: game design, Kongregate, social networking sites, Flash games