Xfire Selected by alwayson as
top 100 private company AWARD WINNER

Xfire Recognized as a Leader in Innovation and Market Potential

Menlo Park, CA — June 28, 2005— Xfire, the fastest growing online gaming platform and community, today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the Top 100 Private Company award winners. Xfire was handpicked by the AlwaysOn editorial team based on a set of five criteria – innovation, market potential, customer adoption, media buzz and investor value creation.

The AO 100 was selected from over 1,000 companies, peer-nominated by leading venture capitalists, investment bankers and industry analysts. The AO 100 consists of private companies at all stages of development, from early to late stage.

Xfire has created a large and growing global audience through a combination of innovative product launches, sponsored events with world-class professional gaming teams, partnerships with leaders in the gaming industry, and through word-of-mouth.  Xfire helps gamers see when their friends are playing online, join friends’ games with one click, IM friends while in-game, track gameplay stats, as well as automatically download game trailers, demos, patches and mods for free.

“The AO 100 companies are shaping today’s web-driven, connected environment,” said Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. “We were inundated with nominations from leading companies, many of which I hope will appear on our list next year. My congratulations to each AO 100 winner – these are the companies which we predict will have the greatest market traction, strongest innovation and most game-changing approaches this year.”

“It is an honor to be selected as one of AlwaysOn’s Top 100 private companies,” said Mike Cassidy, CEO of Xfire.  “This award recognizes our commitment to the online gaming community and our ongoing efforts to provide gamers with everything they need to make gaming easier and even more fun.”

The AO 100 will be honored at the AO2005: Innovation Summit at a VIP reception at 5.00pm on July 19, 2005 at the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California.

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About Xfire

Xfire, Inc. (www.xfire.com) is the fastest growing online gaming platform and community in the world.  Xfire helps gamers play with their friends much more easily. Xfire is also a server browser, IM, and file download system designed just for gamers. Xfire has over 1.7 million members in over 100 countries.  The company was founded by Dennis "Thresh" Fong (World Champion of Quake) and Mike Cassidy (former CEO of Direct Hit).  Xfire is funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA.

About AlwaysOn
AlwaysOn is transforming the communication business with its online blogging network, establishing it as a leader in the Open Media revolution. Borrowing from the underground traditions of blogging and social networking, AlwaysOn (http://www.alwayson-network.com/) was launched in 2003. Today, AO’s annual Summit @ Stanford and OnHollywood events, print “blogozine” and online services encourage direct collaboration between global thought leaders and technology insiders. No other media brand has dared allow such openness amongst its readers and participants. AlwaysOn, LLC, is a privately held and virtually headquartered company born out of the heart of Silicon Valley.