GameStop Buys Majority Stake in Video Game Digital Distributor Jolt

In an effort to plan for the future world of digital distribution, video game retail chain, GameStop, purchased a majority interest in U.K. based Jolt. The company distributes gaming news as well as developing and publishing free-to-play license-based titles and browser based MMOs such as Playboy Manager, the Legends of Zork, Trukz, and Utopia Kingdoms.

GameStop’s Tony Bartel, Executive VP of Merchandising and Marketing, commented on the acquisition:

“Jolt will allow us to test digital distribution … We like the business model of being able to take IP from publishers, and then help them sell it when they port it to the browser space.”

GameStop GM, Chris Petrovic, added the following in a statement published by Game Informer on November 4th (and later pulled offline):

“Acquiring Jolt is significant building block in our digital business strategy … This is further evidence of our commitment to building a world-class digital business platform.”

“Going forward, our vision for Jolt is that it will continue its focus on working with our game publisher partners to create online games for game titles and brands that aren’t currently being exploited by the publishers themselves and then leveraging our global retail footprint to offer those games to GameStop’s customers,”

The terms of the deal allow Jolt, which employs 25 people, to remain in their Ireland headquarters, with a financial commitment from GameStop to fund two to three years of development at the tune of 22.4 and 29.8 million dollars.