Shockwave (game portal)

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Not to be confused with Adobe Shockwave.
Shockwave
TypePrivate[1][2]
IndustryVideo games
FoundedAugust 2, 1999; 22 years ago (1999-08-02)
Headquarters
225 Bush Street, Suite 1200 [2][3] San Francisco, California
,
U.S.
Key people
Dave Williams, Senior Vice President,[4] Mika Salmi (CEO)[2]
OwnerAddicting Games, Inc
Number of employees
25–100[2]
ParentAddicting Games, Inc
Websitewww.shockwave.com

Shockwave.com or shockwave is an online and offline video games distributor and game portal, based in San Francisco, California, United States.[3] It hosts over 400 games[5] in a range of genres including puzzle, action, strategy, racing, sport, jigsaw, adventure, multiplayer games, and downloadable games.[6] Peter Glover, Vice President, describes Shockwave as a "United Artists of the Web" or a site that helps independent game developers publish their web games.[7] As of September 2010, it ranked # 2,245 on Alexa and # 1,023 in the U.S web traffic.[1]

From 2012 to 2014, Shockwave was under the NickMom brand serving as NickMom's game section. In 2014, Defy Media acquired all of Viacom's game properties, and Shockwave.com became a stand-alone entity again.[8] Viacom acquired a small stake of Defy. A new owner is Addicting Games, Inc, due to Defy's collapse.

History[]

In February 1998, Macromedia launched the website ShockRave,[9][10][11] featuring various interactive games and cartoons.[11][12][13] The website's purpose was to showcase projects that developers had created using Macromedia's animation software.[11][14][15]

Shockwave.com was announced on May 24, 1999,[16] as an expansion and replacement of ShockRave.[17] Shockwave.com was formed to promote Macromedia's Shockwave and Flash players, both of which the new website would require.[16] At the time, 100 million people around the world had Shockwave and Flash installed on their computers.[18] Shockwave.com was formed as a separate but wholly owned business within Macromedia, with its own finances. Its CEO was Stephen Fields, a former executive for Disney Interactive Studios.[18][19][20] Fields hoped to eventually turn Shockwave.com into a specialty cable channel. The majority of the website's revenue would come from advertising.[18]

Shockwave.com was launched on August 2, 1999. The website included cartoons, games such as Centipede and Missile Command, an MP3 directory, and a program for creating animated greeting cards.[21][22] The website offered two user control tools: the free Shockwave Remote, and the $19.95 Shockmachine. The latter option gave consumers additional options, such as being able to download and save an unlimited amount of content from the website. Some games and cartoons could only be accessed with a purchase of Shockmachine.[22] The company, also known as Shockwave.com, was based in San Francisco and had 50 employees.[15] Lawrence Levy, a former chief financial officer for Pixar, became Shockwave's chief executive of entertainment in mid-2000.[23]

Shockwave.com merged with and formed Atom Entertainment in 2001. Later, on August 9, 2006, Viacom acquired the company for $200 million.[24][25] As the result of the acquisition, AtomFilms.com and Addicting Clips.com expanded MTV Network's online video library. On January 31, 2009 , a subsidiary of Shockwave closed its business.[26] In 2014, Defy Media took over Shockwave.com.

Audiences[]

In August 2008, Shockwave had 4.8 million unique visitors, according to ComScore Media Metrix.[4] Mika Salmi said Shockwave as casual gaming site whose target market is parents and moms,[27] with its customers mostly women from age 18 to 49 years old.[4] This is a different audience than it had in 2002, when the company was freshly merged with Atom. At that time, Shockwave's audience ranged in age from 10 to 39 and was about evenly divided by gender.[28]

Club Shockwave[]

On March 24, 2009 Shockwave launched a premium service called Club Shockwave. The service allows members to play a number of exclusive games, download titles, and enter for a chance to win cash prizes.[5]

Shockwave Cash[]

At the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle, Dave Williams, senior vice president of the Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games Group introduced Shockwave Cash, a virtual currency that could be used to buy virtual goods in several titles, such as Hungry Hungry Hippy, Let’s Get Grillin’, and Sara’s Super Spa Me.[29] The Shockwave Cash feature has been discontinued, but users are still allowed to use any earned or purchased Shockwave Cash.[30]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Shockwave.com Site Info. Alexa.com (2010-11-25). Retrieved on 2010-12-14.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d AtomShockwave, San Francisco, CA, Employee Directory, Company Information & Locations. Jigsaw.com (2010-11-01). Retrieved on 2010-12-14.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Contact Us. Shockwave. Retrieved on 2010-12-14.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Viacom. Viacom. Retrieved on 2010-12-14.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Introduces New Premium Online Gaming Service – Club Shockwave
  6. ^ Nickelodeon reveals new-look Shockwave portal | Casual games | News by. Casualgaming.biz. Retrieved on 2010-12-14.
  7. ^ Beyond Downloads Exploring Advertising Options with Real, MSN, Shockwave
  8. ^ Shaw, Lucas (9 June 2014). "Defy Media Sells Minority Stake to Viacom in Exchange for Its Gaming Companies". TheWrap.
  9. ^ "Macromedia adds entertainment site". San Francisco Examiner. February 18, 1998. Retrieved January 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Allen, Jules (March 2, 1998). "Site Seeing". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c Evenson, Laura (July 20, 1998). "A New Dimension in Music Videos / MTV gets a run for its money with interactive videos". SFGate. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  12. ^ "Internet Hour". Hartford Courant. March 12, 1998. Retrieved January 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Glaser, Mark (September 17, 1998). "Technology Brings Snoopy, Dilbert and More Into Animated Cyberspace". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  14. ^ Evangelista, Benny (May 24, 1999). "Macromedia Will Unveil a Shocker / Online entertainment firm to be launched". SFGate. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Crawford, Kate (August 3, 1999). "Star power to drive new multimedia game site". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 21, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b "Shockwave.com announces online entertainment center". Associated Press. May 24, 1999. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  17. ^ Georgianis, Maria V. (May 26, 1999). "Macromedia Sees Shockwave.com Posting $15 Million in Sales for Year". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b c Akin, David (June 4, 1999). "Shockwave is ready to roll on Internet". National Post. Retrieved January 21, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Spinning Off Shockwave". Wired. May 24, 1999. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  20. ^ Graser, Marc (May 25, 1999). "Disney vet plugs in at Macromedia". Variety. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  21. ^ "Shockwave Opens Its Virtual Doors". San Jose Mercury News. August 2, 1999. Retrieved January 21, 2020 – via NewsLibrary. Shockwave.com, a new online entertainment center, is opening for business today. […] Highlights include an MP3 music directory, animated greeting cards, episodic comics, popular cartoons such as South Park and Dilbert and games such as Missile Command and Centipede.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b Crouch, Cameron (August 4, 1999). "Remote control the Net on Shockwave.com". CNN. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  23. ^ Grover, Ronald (November 5, 2000). "Electrifying Shockwave". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  24. ^ Viacom-s MTV Networks Agrees To Acquire Atom, Pay-Per-Click Analyst, 23 September 2008
  25. ^ Viacom Buys Shockwave maker com Archived 2010-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ Shockwave Closes, Japan Loses One of Its Biggest Casual Gaming Sites
  27. ^ Viacom Gets Vertical
  28. ^ AtomShockwave Corp.: Short movie supplier | Labor & Employment > Human Resources & Personnel Management from. AllBusiness.com. Retrieved on 2010-12-14.
  29. ^ Shockwave Catches the Virtual Goods Wave with Newest Games
  30. ^ "Shockwave - Shockwave Cash Help". Shockwave.com. Retrieved 2016-08-18.

External links[]

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