Green Man Gaming

Green Man Gaming is a British-based online video game retailer. It has a multi-platform catalogue of over 6,600 games from more than 660 publishers, selling games in 195 countries; 90% of its revenue is generated outside the UK.[1] In March 2017, Green Man Gaming announced the launch of a new community platform integrated with the online store offering a forum for gamers to connect with each other, in-depth game stats, latest news and updates, reviews and the ability to watch Twitch streamers by game.[2] The company recently announced its intention to float on AIM, part of the London Stock Exchange in order to grow its customer base and drive international expansion.[3]

Green Man Gaming
Type of site
eCommerce
Available inEnglish
Founded2009
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom
Key peoplePaul Sulyok (CEO and founder)
URL
LaunchedMay 2010
Current statusActive

History

In 2009, Paul Sulyok formed Green Man Gaming with Lee Packham. Sulyok had previously been the CEO of Prize Fight, an online gaming platform, and Packham had been responsible for developing the technology behind Prize Fight. Green Man Gaming officially started trading on 10 May 2010.[4]

Packham developed and managed the initial launch of the retail platform, and was the architect of a new system and method for facilitating a Video Game Exchange for Green Man Gaming. Users who downloaded games from its "Capsule" gaming client with SecuROM DRM could then trade-in some of their digital games for credit to use against anything on the Green Man Gaming website.[5] This worked by deactivating the code required to play the game, which was then re-sold as 'pre-owned'.[6] Capsule was retired in 2016.[7]

In 2011, Green Man Gaming revealed plans to expand its service to gamers in the Czech republic, Germany, Greece and Turkey,[8] and announced alternative ways to top up account credit via a reloadable Green Man Gaming game card, powered by Rixty; the service was available and redeemable only in North America.

The latter end of 2011 saw Callum Jay join Green Man Gaming as CFO from cloud-based digital video distributor Miniweb Interactive where he was finance director and previously at Morgan Stanley Capital International and at Tomb Raider publisher, Eidos.[9][10] Tim Sawyer also joined Green Man Gaming as their EVP Operations in 2011, having previously been Head of ecommerce at MeMega Retail Ltd.[11] After a year-long sabbatical at Twitter to develop Tweet Deck's iOS, Android and Windows services, Lee Packham returned to Green Man Gaming as Co-Founder and EVP Engineering.[9]

2012 began with Green Man Gaming announcing a partnership with Gaikai to stream and play selected game demos from Gaikai's portfolio on any of Green Man Gaming's sites through any web browser or operating system.[12] In May of that year, Green Man Gaming appointed former HMV Games Category Manager, Martin Baxter to become EVP Trading.[13] Baxter was joined on the senior management team by Darren Cairns, who became EVP Marketing at Green Man Gaming, having previously spent 6 years as Head of Online Marketing, running the PlayStation EMEA Digital Business at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.[14] On 9 July 2012, Green Man Gaming announced its merger with Playfire.[15] At the time of acquisition, Playfire had more than 1.2 million users, tracking over 50,000 video games on the website allowing users to automatically track their gameplay and in-game achievements or trophies from Steam, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live.[16] At the end of July 2012, Green Man Gaming expanded its multiplatform portfolio to include selling boxed games, and now sells PC-DVD, Xbox360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4 games as well as consoles and peripherals.[17] This service is offered only in the UK.

In June 2013, Green Man Gaming launched its instant Trade-In credit and Pre-Owned game services in the UK.[18] The service offered consumers trading-in their Xbox360, Xbox One, PS3 or PS4 games instant Green Man Gaming credit, which could be used on the Green Man Gaming website before their pre-owned games are sent to the company. In August 2013 Green Man Gaming also announced partnership with CollectPlus, the UK's largest store-based parcel service.[19] For trade-ins in the UK that are £50 or over in value, customers can drop off their package of games at a nearby store. At the end of 2013, Green Man Gaming announced that its Playfire service was able to track in-game achievements/trophies and gameplay on Xbox One[20] and PlayStation.[21]

Starting January 2014, Green Man Gaming has added the Euro to its list of supported currencies, in European countries such as France and Germany. Other European countries, however, now pay using the GBP.[22]

In March 2014, CEO Paul Sulyok was named as one of the 100 most influential people working in the British video games industry by trade publication MCV.[23] Following the departure of EVP Engineering Lee Packham (who left to rejoin Multiplay, but remains a shareholder and consultant at Green Man Gaming[24]), at the end of June 2014, Chily Fachler, former IT Director of The Outdoor Group and CIO at Encore Tickets, joined Green Man Gaming as EVP Technology.[25] Green Man Gaming announced in September 2014 that it was to be the first reseller of OnLive cloud-gaming subscription services, offering monthly bundles and free trials of OnLive's Playpack and CloudLift services to launch its new partnership.[26] On 30 September 2014, Green Man Gaming launched its own publishing arm, Green Man Loaded, now known as Green Man Gaming Publishing[27] Gary Rowe, former SVP Publishing and Content at SEGA joined the label as EVP Green Man Loaded.[28][29]

In September 2015, Green Man Gaming announced that it has officially partnered with Nintendo and is now selling digital titles for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS consoles.[30] In October 2016, the company reached a similar agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment to sell digital titles for PlayStation 4 consoles through redemption keys.[31] However, by March 2019, Sony had opted to stop retail and digital sales of redemption keys across all markets, including Green Man Gaming.[32]

In March 2017, Green Man Gaming launched its first local language eCommerce website in Germany,[33] offering its customers the ability to shop in German using their preferred payment methods. The company also launched its brand new Community platform in March 2017,[34] giving gamers a new community to connect with each other, view their gameplay stats, get the latest news and watch popular Twitch streamers – all in one place.

In April 2017, Green Man Gaming appointed former Take-Two CEO,[35] Paul Eibeler, to its Board as an Advisor and hired Sam Bennett, ex-Sony Entertainment, EA and Activision Community Manager and Customer Engagement Head, as EVP to lead its newly formed Customer Experience and Communications team.

Green Man Gaming announced an extension of its current publishing program in January 2020 as its Digital Partners Program, allowing any developer to take advantage of a menu of publishing support options through the company, as well as metrics that the company has obtained through its storefront. One of the first titles published through the program was GTFO.[36]

Published games
YearTitleDeveloperGenre(s)Platform
2015Black & White BushidoGood Catch GamesAction / MultiplayerMicrosoft Windows / OS X
QuellFallen Tree GamesPuzzleMicrosoft Windows
Quell Memento
Quell Reflect
Idol HandsPocket GamesStrategyMicrosoft Windows / OS X / Linux
KeeblesBurnt FuseAction / PhysicsMicrosoft Windows / OS X
Switch Galaxy UltraAtomicom LimitedRacingMicrosoft Windows / OS X / linux
Eternel StepOnce More With GustoAction / AdventureMicrosoft Windows / OS X / Linux
2016Square's RouteBlack Death Apps LimitedPuzzleMicrosoft Windows / OS X
GlitchrunnersTorque StudiosAction / MultiplayerMicrosoft Windows / OS X
The Black DeathSyrin StudiosSurvivalMicrosoft Windows
2017Aporia: Beyond The ValleyInvestigate NorthAdventure / PuzzleMicrosoft Windows
PeregrinDomino Digital LimitedAdventure / PuzzleMicrosoft Windows / OS X
War Tech fightersDrakkar DevAction / MechMicrosoft Windows
2018Stable OrbitCodalynSimulationMicrosoft Windows / OS X / Linux
Stormworks: Build And RescueSunfire SoftwareSandbox / BuildingMicrosoft Windows / OS X
2019ShockRodsStainless GamesAction / MultiplayerMicrosoft Windows
TBABefore The BloodEnter YesActionMicrosoft Windows

Controversy

In 2015, there were accusations of unauthorised keys being provided by Green Man Gaming, however this was publicly refuted.[37] The company responded that in an effort to meet the demand from their customers for all types of games Green Man Gaming will occasionally need to use authorised third party vendors to offer keys for games from publishers that they are unable to work directly with due to different commercial reasons. The company insists that all revenue goes back to the publishers, with Green Man Gaming absorbing the cost of any discounts they offer.[38][39] Following this, in November 2015, the company placed information on each game's store page on their site to identify the source of the redemption keys, either through Green Man Gaming directly from the publisher, or through an authorised third-party reseller, in addition to when users can expect delivery of keys for pre-orders.[40]

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References
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  2. "Green Man Gaming launches Community Platform". Gamesindustry.biz.
  3. "Online games retailer Green Man plans IPO on Aim". Financial Times.
  4. "Green Man Gaming finally goes live".
  5. "Edge Magazine - GamesRadar+".
  6. "Green Man Gaming: Gian Luzio Interview - Critical Gamer". www.criticalgamer.co.uk.
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  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Executive Team". www.greenmangaming.com.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Green Man Gaming latest to join Gaikai".
  13. "Green Man Gaming appoints HMV's Martin Baxter".
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Playfire Acquired By European Games Retailer Green Man Gaming – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com.
  16. Petitte, Omri (9 July 2012). "Green Man Gaming merges with gaming social network Playfire". VentureBeat. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  17. "Green Man Gaming to sell boxed PC and console games".
  18. "UK retailer Green Man Gaming launches new trade-in service offering instant credit".
  19. "Latest news - PayPoint". www.paypoint.co.uk.
  20. "Playfire now tracking Xbox One - This Is Xbox". 10 December 2013.
  21. "Playfire now tracking PS4".
  22. "Green Man Gaming Blog -". Green Man Gaming Blog.
  23. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. "Chily Fachler joins Green Man Gaming as EVP for Tech".
  26. "OnLive, Green Man Gaming unveil partnership". 25 September 2014.
  27. "Steam competitor Green Man Gaming launches its own publishing arm, Green Man Loaded". 30 September 2014.
  28. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. "Green Man Gaming Publishing". www.greenmangaming.com.
  30. "Green Man Gaming to sell Nintendo digital games in the U.K." 23 September 2015.
  31. Pagat, Mat (6 October 2016). "Digital PS4 Games Are Now Sold on Green Man Gaming". GameSpot. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  32. Orland, Kyle (26 March 2020). "Sony stops selling digital game codes at physical retailers". Ars Technica. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  33. "Green Man Gaming launches retail website in Germany".
  34. "Green Man Gaming launches Community Platform". n4g.com.
  35. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 April 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  36. "Green Man Gaming's new program simplifies the publishing process". Venture Beat. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  37. Hussain, Tamoor (18 November 2015). "Green Man Gaming Denies It Sells "Grey Market" Game Keys".
  38. Nutt, Christian (17 November 2015). "Green Man Gaming called into question over Black Ops III keys". Gamasutra. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  39. Hussain, Tamoor (16 November 2015). "Green Man Gaming Denies It Sells "Grey Market" Game Keys". GameSpot. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  40. Purchase, Robert (18 November 2015). "Green Man Gaming will now tell you where game keys come from". Eurogamer. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
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