# GameStorm

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{{Short description|Online gaming service}}
{{No footnotes|date=December 2019}}{{For|GameStorm, the gaming convention in Oregon|GameStorm (convention)}}

'''GameStorm''' was an [online gaming](/source/online_game) service founded by [Kesmai](/source/Kesmai) corporation in November 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gamestorm.com/company/press/1997_11_21a.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19990209020159/http://gamestorm.com/company/press/1997_11_21a.html|title=Kesmai Launches GameStorm|website=gamestorm.com|archivedate=February 9, 1999|date=November 21, 1997|accessdate=May 1, 2022}}</ref> It offered several online video games at a flat monthly fee of $10 per month,<ref name=NGen40>{{cite magazine |first=Christian |last=Svensson |title=Joyriding |magazine=[Next Generation](/source/Next_Generation_(magazine)) |issue=40|publisher=[Imagine Media](/source/Imagine_Media) |date=April 1998|page=30}}</ref> a relatively radical payment system in the age of pay-by-hour online gaming. Both Kesmai and GameStorm were sold to [Electronic Arts](/source/Electronic_Arts) in 1999, and shut down by Electronic Arts in 2001.

The impetus for the creation of GameStorm was [AOL](/source/AOL) giving promotional control of AOL's Games channel to AOL subsidiary WorldPlay, a move which drastically changed the competition for the AOL market, resulting in a nearly 90% drop in revenue for Kesmai.<ref name=NGen40/> Kesmai president Chris Holden said that nine months after this maneuver by AOL, "we still have more games on AOL than anyone, including WorldPlay. The problem is they are buried under WorldPlay's brand, and the control has been given over to WorldPlay."<ref name=NGen40/> GameStorm was founded as a [joint venture](/source/joint_venture) with [Heat.net](/source/Heat.net) and Engage, with users granted access to services by all three companies.<ref name=NGen40/>

GameStorm featured games developed by Kesmai, such as ''[Air Warrior](/source/Air_Warrior_(video_game))'', ''[Multiplayer Battletech: Solaris](/source/Multiplayer_Battletech%3A_Solaris)'', Stellar Emperor and ''[Legends of Kesmai](/source/Legends_of_Kesmai)'', along with games developed by several other companies. Legends of Kesmai was the 2d graphical version of Kesmai's groundbreaking [Islands of Kesmai](/source/Islands_of_Kesmai) [MUD](/source/Multi-user_dungeon) from 1985, and may be regarded as an important step in the genre leap from MUDs to MMORPGs. GameStorm's payment method was massively popular for the emerging persistent online gaming genres that rewarded players for time invested, but were too expensive for many people to pay $2/hour for on AOL or other gaming services. [Mythic Entertainment](/source/Mythic_Entertainment) (Now EA-Mythic), widely known for the [Dark Age of Camelot](/source/Dark_Age_of_Camelot) [MMORPG](/source/MMORPG), was one of Gamestorms major developers. Mythic offered several licensed RPG and persistent non-RPG games to Gamestorm's library, including ''[Dragon's Gate](/source/Dragon's_Gate)''. ''Starship Troopers Online'', ''[Magestorm](/source/Magestorm)'', ''[Aliens Online](/source/Aliens_Online)'', ''Splatterball'', ''Godzilla Online'', ''Silent Death Online'', ''[Darkness Falls](/source/Darkness_Falls_(computer_game))'', and ''[Darkness Falls: The Crusade](/source/Darkness_Falls%3A_The_Crusade)''.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.mpbt3025.com/ The MultiPlayer BattleTech Archive]
* http://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/interviews/legendsofkesmai.htm
* http://angelsofwrath.net
* http://www.legendsofkesmai.com

Category:Online video game services
Category:Video game publishers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [GameStorm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStorm) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStorm?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.