Cloud gaming specialists Gamestream has been bought by Netgem in a transaction which the French entertainment and technology firm says moves it “from the status of distributor-integrator to that of operator of the gaming offer.”
Specialising in “high performance and low latency streaming,” Gamestream enables ISPs to offer over 100 games to users via existing devices and without the need for a separate console.
The two firms already had a partnership under which Gamestream was offered on the Netgem TV boxes used by ISPs to offer TV services to their broadband customers.
Netgem has acquired all of Gamestream’s assets, including customer contracts, video game publisher contracts, technology and brands, plus a team of specialists with competencies in all aspects of the video games market.
It says the takeover will allow it “to deploy even more widely its immersive TV content offers, thanks to a proprietary Cloud Gaming solution already tested in real conditions with Tier 1 telecom operators in Europe, Asia and Africa-Middle East.”
Additionally, it expands Netgem footprint in emerging markets, with established commercial relationships with several leading telecom operators such as JIO in India, Telkom Indonesia, ETISALAT (UAE) and Sonatel (part of Orange group, Senegal).
Mathias Hautefort, Netgem’s CEO, said: “The takeover of Gamestream’s activities, its talents and the associated proprietary technologies is a new step towards positioning ourselves in the fast-growing “Entertainment tech” market.
“It will strengthen the capacity of Netgem’s teams to offer turnkey, technological and multi-content solutions, innovative and economical, and to deploy them quickly with our own resources for our operator customers.
“It will also allow Netgem to provide video game publishers with new distribution channels, particularly in emerging countries.
“Digital entertainment includes more and more bridges between content, TV, cinema, video games, and Netgem is able to provide operators with the means to reinvent TV and video games – at an affordable price – for the greater good of their customers”.