|
IGE (Internet Gaming Entertainment) is a company which trades in virtual currency and accounts for MMORPGs. One of the main dealers in virtual economy services, members of the gaming community were often critical of IGE, as its services may allow players to break rules in online games.〔(Welcome to www.gamewatchers.net )〕 During its peak time, it had offices in Los Angeles, China (Shanghai), and headquarters & customer service centre in Hong Kong〔.〕 It was reformed in 2007 by Jonathan Yantis. == History == IGE was founded in 2001 by Brock Pierce, a former child movie star,〔(Brock Pierce )〕 and Alan Debonneville. They met each other while playing Everquest and decided to form IGE. Pierce was the main investor in the company while Debonneville was managing the operations. Brock Pierce was also the co-founder of the controversial failed dot-com Digital Entertainment Network (DEN).〔(Digital Entertainment Network: Startup or Non-Starter? )〕 Media reports claim that Marc Collins-Rector is a silent partner in IGE. IGE initially used an address in the city of Marbella, Spain, where Collins-Rector and Pierce shared a villa until it was raided by Interpol in 2002.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 vnu.com )〕 In January 2004, IGE acquired its major competitor, Yantis Enterprises, then run by another secondary market figure, Jonathan Yantis,〔(IGE - About Us )〕 for $2.4 million and 37% share of the company. Yantis later sold his shares back to IGE in exchange for 22 monthly payments of $1 million due to conflicts and disagreement. IGE's parent company, RPG Holdings, purchased Allakhazam.com in November 2005,〔(May 4, 2006).(IGE Acquiring MMOG Sites ). CorpNews.com. URL accessed 5-8-06.〕 as announced in May 2006.〔(May 3, 2006).(Announcing Zam.com ). Allakhazam.com. URL accessed 5-8-06.〕 This purchase followed that of ThottBot.com. During late 2006 and 2007, Debonneville was forced out of the company. Later Debonneville sued Pierce for various reasons related to an investment made by Goldman Sachs a year earlier, which Debonneville ended winning in a settlement. IGE tried to restructure its upper management team by recruiting new executives. IGE began to lose revenue due to the frequent deletion of accounts involved in trading. In 2007, a lawsuit was filed against IGE by Antonio Hernandez for "substantially impairing and diminishing () collective enjoyment of the game." 〔 〕 During the final months of IGE leading to its reformation, the board of directors decided to sell the company to their former partner Jonathan Yantis.〔 IGE's parent company was then renamed Atlas Technology Group Inc,〔(We could view the owner domain via domaintools. )〕 which is owned by Yantis, while Brock went with Affinity Media. Affinity Media was said to be one of the parent companies of IGE, though the company no longer has any ownership stake. Affinity Media's senior vice president of business development John Maffei, noted that "we’re no longer in that business." Affinity retains control of Allakhazam.com, Thottbot.com, and has since purchased Wowhead.com. In April 2014, IGE announced a formal service agreement with virtual currency provider EpicToon.com, who confirmed they will be handling IGE's virtual currency line of business. "EpicToon and IGE®, leading MMORPG game services companies, today announced an historic formal agreement between the two companies. Under the terms of the agreement, effective immediately, all customer orders for videogame virtual currencies will be serviced by EpicToon's world class order fulfillment network while IGE® will focus its activities on market expansion and driving consumer awareness regarding available services and benefits." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「IGE」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|