Sarlos, Defender of Justice wrote:
Here is my problem. It would not be in IGE's best interest to have no presence on this new network. Allakhazam alone is already one of the top most visited domains on the internet. Let that sink in. Consider that MMORPG players are a subset of the population at large. I find it difficult to believe that IGE would be willing to forgo advertising among such a large combined population of MMORPG fans.
Of course. And if you're proceeding from the assumption that despite Alla's statements to the contrary, that it's really really IGE buying Alla's site, then you'd be right. But that's your assumption, which brings with it it's own set of conspiratorial assumptions as well.
If you were looking to get "into the internet gaming business", you might look out across the landscape that is the various internet sites, and you might decide that it's in your interest to assemble a group of investors to create a corporation that does nothing but hold and support any of a number of different internet sites pertaining to gaming. That would include sites that provide information about games *and* sites that do things like sell online stuff. That corporation would not necessarily make a distinction between them, and would attempt to get all of them on board. They get return shares based on the profitability of each site they "own", and the sites get increased economic support and stability.
Regardless of who is behind this company, it's ludicrous to assume that there's any motive beyond profit for it. Alla's is profitable, purely because it's a site to obtain information about the games. By consolidating it with other similar sites, they can increase the profitability, both for Alla's and themselves. There is no need to leverage that into the seller sites at all. Those do great business all on their own. They don't need Alla's site to do this. They don't need to advertise on Alla's site to do this, but a parent company *might* want to make sure that they've got Alla's under contract to *not* compete with them on selling of ingame stuff.
I'd say it has far more to do with them protecting their money flow then anything else. Right now, Alla's *is* the largest site for online gaming information. There's nothing legally preventing Alla from deciding tomorrow to branch out and become a gilselling site. If you'd just invested in a holding company that sold gil, you *might* want to protect your investment by *also* investing in Alla's, just to ensure you don't end up with a competitor in a market you just invested in.
I really do think most of you are looking at this wrong. IGE and the parent company have far more to gain by keeping Alla's site sales free then otherwise. I'd suspect that if anything, this move is designed to ensure that rather then to change it.
