Manifesto Games was an

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retailer of downloadable computer games, specializing in independently developed games aimed at hardcore gamers. It was founded in October 2005 by

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959), sometimes known under the pseudonym Designer X, is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wargames, role-playing ...

and Johnny L. Wilson, former editor of ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'', and is based in

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. The company was announced September 29, 2005. Costikyan was the company's CEO while Wilson was executive vice president for community and content. On June 23, 2009, Costikyan announced that Manifesto was closing its doors, citing the 2008-2009 economic downturn, a lack of venture capital, and problems successfully marketing the company as a destination for independent games. According to Manifesto Games' manifesto, the company aimed to avoid the narrowness of conventional retail channels by selling a large number of games (taking advantage of

The Long Tail In statistics and business, a long tail of some distributions of numbers is the portion of the distribution having many occurrences far from the "head" or central part of the distribution. The distribution could involve popularities, random n ...

), and allow developers to experiment technically and artistically. An example of Manifesto Games' willingness to take risks is its support of '' Super Columbine Massacre RPG!''. Review and free download link for '' Super Columbine Massacre RPG!''. The Manifesto Games website was originally designed in ironic imitation of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in its early years; some of its content still reflects this choice.

Play This Thing

Initially, Manifesto Games also provided reviews of indie games, including games it does not sell, and discussion forums. In September 2007, Manifesto Games created a new game review website, Play This Thing. A team of reviewers including

and

Emily Short Emily Short is an interactive fiction (IF) writer. From 2020 to 2023, she was creative director of Failbetter Games, the studio behind ''Fallen London'' and its spinoffs. She is known for her debut game ''Galatea (computer game), Galatea'' (200 ...

posted one review per day at the website, covering independent, alternative reality and 'big urban' games, interactive fiction, and mods. Most of the games reviewed had no relation to Manifesto Games. The site carried reviews of non-computer games on "Tabletop Tuesdays". The site was shut down in 2014.

References

External links

ManifestoGames.comGame Keys
Video game companies of the United States Online-only retailers of video games Video game companies established in 2005 Companies based in New York City {{US-videogame-company-stub