Rightside® Opens .GAMES Domain for Gamers and Developers to Create Awesome URLs

KIRKLAND, Wash., Sept. 21, 2016 -- Domain name registry Rightside Group LTD (NASDAQ:NAME) launched the .GAMES domain extension today for a rapidly growing base of gamers and developers that want to use their domain as a meaningful, marketable way to connect with their audiences. Following the Sunrise Phase where trademark holders can preregister names, .GAMES became Rightside’s number-one performing new top level-domain (TLD), seeing applications from virtually every major studio, including Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, and Ubisoft Entertainment.

.GAMES domain names

“Whether used as a primary website address or a redirect back to a mothership brand, the shift toward new TLDs is becoming more mainstream in markets where the domain is an integral part of a website owner’s identity, branding strategy, or plans to extend marketing reach,” said Rightside CEO Taryn Naidu. “As Internet culture continues to shift toward social media, live streaming, a rapidly breaking news cycle, and gaming, our TLDs like .SOCIAL, .LIVE, .NEWS, and now .GAMES open countless opportunities to create unique IDs.”

Intersection of Passion and Business

The introduction of .GAMES domains coincides with a gaming industry spike which is expected to reach nearly $100 billion in revenue in 2016 among video games alone, in addition to tabletop games, casino gaming, and sporting events. A 2015 survey by the International Game Developers Association indicated that 42 percent of respondents felt that finding better discovery mechanisms for their games was “very important” to the growth of the gaming industry. From a domain perspective, there are more than 400,000 unique websites with “games” in their domain’s URL, promising a large addressable market for the .GAMES TLD.

Steve Jackson Games, a publisher of books, games, and magazines for game fans, sees .GAMES as an opportunity to share its passion for gaming and to creatively engage with and grow its online audience. The company redirects an exact-match domain, SteveJackson.Games, to their homepage and uses a branded link shortener, SJ.Games for social media links and print ads.

“The SJ.Games URL provides us with a useful alternative in the comic book and magazine ads we place. Every little centimeter on an ad matters so saving room is essential,” said Rhea Friesen, Marketing Director at Steve Jackson Games and tabletop game enthusiast. “As an added bonus, shorter URLs are more convenient for customers interested in our games.”

Exciting new use cases include:

• Halo.Games and Xbox.Games - Microsoft redirects to Bing search results for the Halo and Xbox series
• F1.Games and GrandPrix.Games - Formula 1 Racing
• Telltale.Games - Developer known for episodic adventure games with licenses to produce games for The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Minecraft, and Batman
• 888poker.Games - Second-largest online poker brand
• Sila.Games - Digital game download store
• MonteCarlo.Games - Casino and gaming operator Societe des Bains de Mer
• CoolMath.Games - Online game aggregator page, loosely themed around math education

Availability and Pricing
The new .GAMES domains are immediately available on a first come-first served basis via Rightside’s registrar partners at www.registrars.rocks. Starting at a suggested retail price of $15.00, .GAMES domains are a terrific value for fans and businesses.

About Rightside

Rightside® inspires and delivers new possibilities for consumers and businesses to define and present themselves online. The company, with its affiliates, is a leading provider of domain name services, offering one of the industry's most comprehensive platforms for the discovery, registration, usage, and monetization of domain names. In addition to being a new gTLD registry operator, Rightside is home to some of the most admired brands in the industry, including Enom and Name.com. Headquartered in Kirkland, WA, Rightside has offices in North America and Europe. For more information please visit www.rightside.co.

Contact
Acacia Krebs
Director, Corporate Communications
Rightside
[email protected]