Comments on: Viacom buys X-Fire

By: J.

J. — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 06:38:58 +0000

The third co-founder was actually somebody else. Adam came in during the summer of 2004.

By: hpoeng

hpoeng — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 01:34:31 +0000

while i can't speak about whether the valuation is accurate, i do think Viacom made a good decision to purchase X-fire. They provide a service that's been invaluable to tens of million of gamers by allowing friends to not only see where other friends are playing but also on which server the friends are on. Then joining that friend on that particular server is as easy as clicking on a hyperlink which automatically launches the game and connects to the server listed.

With competitive gaming on the rise, as indicated by USA Networks signing a broadcast deal with Major League gaming, coupled with all the youth oriented content that Viacom owns (MTV, VH1, Comedy Central) there is strong potential for cross-promotion and growth.

By: ric

ric — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 20:32:31 +0000

My god! Who are we kidding!?!? One can argue that Facebook has a key market segment (18-24 year olds) "by the balls" so to speak--but X-Fire!? Unbelievable! Viacom probably thinks they've purchased a "Facebook" for gaming, with the added benefit of an IM platform. X-Fire

X-Fire, technical faults aside, does not have 1/10 of the market segment power that Facebook has.

Om, this isn't a consolation prize for Viacom. Think of it as the little cookie that comes with your espresso after a 3-course meal. No real nutritional value, but a nice aftertaste…

By: chris sivori

chris sivori — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:56:18 +0000

That's at least 10 times more than the company is worth. Reminds me of MP3Spy, et al. in the late 90's.