Kongregate… A History

What better way to revive our Medium account on our Sweet Sixteenth anniversary, than to take a little walk down memory lane. In the coming weeks we will be sharing new guides, how to’s, and best practices here and we hope our revived account can become a resource for anyone and everyone in the gaming industry. But today, let’s start with a brief history…

Kongregate started wayyyyy back in 2006 as “The YouTube of Games!” Or so I’ve heard over the years. Our mission back then was to give indie developers a home to showcase their games. At the time, many amazing games were being overlooked because of the larger “names” in the space. We wanted to introduce those games to an audience.

At the same time, gaming communities didn’t have a strong home and tended to devolve into toxic conversations.

So our founders, brother sister duo Jim & Emily Greer, as well as some early team members rolled up their sleeves and got to work. They created Kongregate.com. An open platform that allowed anyone, and I mean ANYONE, to upload a game and potentially find an audience. The amazing thing they created was a culture of game discovery and celebration that has been hard to find since!

Over the years Kongregate, as a company, has been acquired and then acquired again, gone into mobile game publishing, then premium game publishing, we’ve acquired our own studios once, twice, and now thrice, but our heart of game appreciation, of community engagement, and doing right by indie developers has never left us.

So where are we today? Kongregate is poised at another turning point in our company history. We’re taking that giant leap into a new industry… A controversial one at that.

Blockchain. Games.

Many have asked us why? But if you look at our core, it makes perfect sense. We have always been a home for innovation, for putting our community first, and for celebrating great games. And we believe blockchain technology is the future of all three.

Blockchain, Web3, NFTs… All the buzz words you’ve heard just describe a new technology, and the resistance to change that comes with any big innovation. Our goal is to demystify those buzzwords and show you why you should care. This new technology will give developers new, innovative ways to engage players, hand players control over their gaming experiences, and will upend the entire gaming industry. Full stop.

And we want to drive that change. Join us.

(Did I just gloss over 16 years of company history.. Yes, yes I did. But that leaves so much opportunity for you to come back and read more!)