Wednesday, April 2, 2014
By: Matthew Doucette
We just picked up xona.org. Now if we ever get rich, we can setup a Xona Games based charity website!
We have wanted xona.org for a long time, but it was registered by someone else. Eventually the owner decided to sell it and we got it a few months ago. We only just now transfered it and pointed it to our site. Hence this article.
It is interesting that we have all these domains just to stop people from setting up similar websites, relating to gaming and whatnot, under a similar name. This actually happened to us with xonagames.net. It was registered by the Juegos Magazine crew (example tweet), and it was hard to believe they chose this one because they were into gaming and they titled their site "Xona Games". We clearly dominated that space where all "Xona Games" searches on the web point to countless websites about us. Eventually they let it go (and they apologized) and then we registered that domain too. It may be a language barrier that explains it.
Here's all our "xona" related domains to date:
- xona.com (we are offered 5 figures for this domain every month or so; it's worth more)
xona.netxona.org :)xona.biz (not sure why I have this one, but I'll keep it)
And then some of our "xona games" domains, in case we ever sell xona.com:
xonagames.comxonagames.netxonagames.org
What's interesting is with our domain names and redirects a domain name like www.xonagames.com/matthewdoucette will redirect to the cleaner and shorter URL xona.com/matt. We try to have all our URLs clean. You may have noticed if you surfed around our website. (We even use our own hidden shortcuts such as xona.com/m for various spots on our site.)
And that is all!
2018-MAY-05 Update:
Not sure when, but we dropped xona.biz. It appears to have been picked up by a domain squatter so I removed the link. We also dropped decimationx.com, scorerush.com, and dualityzf.com. (Visit our games page to see these games.) All of these domains were somewhat cool to have, but ultimately it was easier on us to manage just xona.com. Even our shortcuts such as xona.com/m have been dropped. And, as with most indie studios, time is our most valuable asset; So, whatever gives us more time is best!
2020-JUL-15 Update:
We have dropped automatic renewals of all our domain names, except xona.com (and matthewdoucette.com and jasondoucette.com). The first domains to be dropped are xonagames.net and xonagames.org on August 20th, 2020. The reasoning behind this is, they do not matter and it was an unneeded expense. A search for "Xona Games" will find xona.com no problem. Domain names just do not matter anymore to viewers and customers.
Also, we are minimalists and we optimize our finances. Subscription based purchases hide their true value. Not only are they spread over time, but they are never ending. Netflix and Disney+ costs ~$275 per year, which you spend without effort or decision. Ever needed ~$300? Opportunity costs comes into play. A ~$14 CAD Netflix subscription from age 25 to 65, invested into the stock market at 10% average, becomes ~$90,000 CAD. I am not picking on Netflix and Disney+ as they are the only "TV" I currently subscribe to. But we were also subscribed to much more expensive domain names until now, and optimized them out!
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.