InstantAction - Now With Less Beta

For you news hounds out there, you may have already noticed that we took the Beta label off of InstantAction yesterday. So, why now? I thought now might be a good time to review what we have accomplished over the last year, since the site went into public beta last March:

- Gained 1.2 MM registered users.
- Implemented a full ecommerce system; with the ability to support virtual currency, multiple currencies, multiple payment types, micro-transactions, charging based on try/buy, rent, subscriptions, and session-based.
- Gone from 3 games on launch to now 9 games, with 7 more in the works.
- Added support for Macs, including 5 games that they can play against Mac or PC players.
- Full browser support for IE, FF, Safari, and Chrome. And if anyone thinks that supporting IE7 along with everything else on the market is easy…
- Implemented Dedicated Servers around the world.
- Built Quick Join system for allowing gamers to bypass the server list and automatically find the best match for them they can get in-game quickly.


- Implemented content management system to allow web content to be updated outside of code deploys ad hoc.
- Significantly increased our network and hardware infrastructure to support the volume and continued growth of users.
- Implemented Test environment and tools to allow game developers to deploy their game builds ad hoc into an environment that replicates Production, and allows them to maintain their own private testing groups for rapid feedback on game changes.
- Significantly improved the documentation of our SDK and reduced the complexity of integration, allowing game developers to get running in days instead of weeks.
- Added major features to the SDK including Full Screen, cloud storage of preferences and configurations, game-rendered widgets in-browser, leaderboards, stat-tracking, and achievements [more to announce on this later].
- Made the site ad-supported, allowing all players to play all game levels for free.
- Contact import from Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo.
- Lots of party management features, including creating a new party, abdicating, reporting abuse, adding friends.
- Significantly improved the content download and upgrade process, allowing gamers to get playing faster than ever before [more to come on this later].
- And all of the massive changes and fixes under the hood that you would expect from supporting a site of this size and complexity.

Feature lists aside; the most important thing that we have built is a great team. We have proven our ability to take ideas from concept to delivery, and that is not always an easy task. I am really excited to share some of the new things coming out soon.

The press has been overwhelming positive. In case you missed any of it, here's are some examples:

BusinessWeek- Cliff Edwards- “Games in the Cloud?”

CNET.com- Daniel Terdiman- “InstantAction launches Web-based action game portal”

CNET.com- Dave Rosenberg- “More popular games coming to a browser near you”

FT.com- Chris Nuttall- “InstantAction makes browser a console”

Gamasutra- Chris Remo- “In-Depth: InstantAction's Browser Gaming, Facebook, iPhone Plans”

Game Daily- James Brightman- “Play Gears of War 2 in your web browser? Technically it's possible with InstantAction's new technology. We chat with GM Andy Yang about the exciting possibilities.”

GigaOm- Wagner James Au- “InstantAction Puts 3D Gaming Into Web Browsers”

MTV.com- Patrick Klepek – “InstantAction’s Tech. Could Change Games Forever”

The Mac Observer- Brad Cook- “InstantAction.com Gaming Site Out of Beta, Provides Tech to Developers”

VentureBeat- Dean Takahashi- “InstantAction enables 3-D games in web browsers”

Virtual World News- Editorial Staff- “InstantAction Launching Platform For Browser-Based 3D Gaming”

G4 TV – “Instant Action Launches Platform for Browser-Based 3D Gaming”

Register Guard – “Innovation puts gamers on the web”