Uniregistry, a domain name registration services company, today announced the launch of the .game domain extension to the internet. .game is a new domain extension aimed at the gaming community.
The company claims that almost all of the leading gaming brands acquired their .game domains by the first day of the launch. For e.g., Blizzard Entertainment registered .game domains for its complete line of games; it acquired Warcraft, Starcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo and Heroes of the Storm domain names during the early trademark registration period, and then it picked up Overwatch.game for its brand new Overwatch multiplayer game of heroes on launch day. Likewise, Activision registered for Call of Duty, Take-Two Interactive registered for Grand Theft Auto, Microsoft registered for Minecraft, Riot Games registered for League of Legends, and Square Enix registered for Final Fantasy. Most major gaming companies acquired .game domains for each of their gaming brands.
“We’re excited to bring .game to the internet,” said Frank Schilling, Managing Director of Uniregistry, “and we are especially pleased to see the early adoption of the name by the world’s leading gaming companies. The broad-based support of .game by the companies that make the world’s most exciting and immersive form of entertainment is deeply gratifying.”
Amanda Fessenden, Director of Registry Business Operations for Uniregistry, noted that registration of a new domain name is just the first step in building an online business. “While we are excited to see existing gaming companies acquire their .game domain names, we are even more excited by what will come next – the creation of websites, marketing campaigns, and games themselves built on these great domains.”
Companies that make platforms for the gaming industry acquired .game names in time for the launch. Apple purchased iPad.game, AppleWatch.game and AppleTV.game, while Microsoft acquired Xbox.game and Sony Interactive registered PlayStation.game.
This week’s launch of .game follows an Early Access Period, during which domains like VR.game, play.game, i.game and board.game were registered. First day registrations included chess.game, mmorpg.game, and tabletop.game.
Schilling noted that each of these high value early registrations could become a category-defining business. “Quality domain names are the ultimate online game where winning players improve their corporations and lives as they play,” said Schilling. “.game domain names are where the art of marketing intersects with computer science and the technology of the Web. This is a land rush moment in time.”