InstantAction, the browser-based platform that enabled gamers to play titles like Secret of Monkey Island and more recently Instant Jam, a sort of Guitar Hero that enables people to use their entire music library for songs to play, is shutting down. The company, which sprung up from the GarageGames business back in 2007, was radically overhauled when former Electronic Arts executive Lou Castle took over as CEO.
On the Torque community blog, management issued this statement: "Today, InstantAction informed employees that it will be winding down operations. While we are shutting down the InstantAction.com website and Instant Jam game, Torquepowered.com will continue to operate while InstantAction explores opportunities with potential buyers for Torque. We thank all of our past and current customers for their support."
The Torque game engine has been a popular tool for independent developers, but now its future is unclear. Hopefully a buyer will keep it alive.
Castle was a big believer in the reimagined InstantAction and the company's ability to fix the "broken" games business. The platform's technology allowed gamers to get into a game quickly with just a fraction of the giant download needed on traditional portals for retail-style games. It also had the unique feature of allowing anyone to embed a game on a website, social network, blog, etc.
Castle told IndustryGamers back in March, "We think we have the special sauce that changes this industry and truly gives somebody today a viable alternative to going to the store to buy a game. We're trying to be that disruptive technology that we haven't seen [in the industry] yet. We think between the embeddable, browsable, incremental pay and ownership... all of those things combined make a very compelling experience."
It's a sad day for InstantAction and Torque. We wish Castle and the whole team all the best. We hope to have more on this story for you soon.
