Video games retailer GameStop is pledging $10 million to help independent mobile game developers refine and distribute their creations.

The program is being run through Kongregate, the web game distribution platform GameStop purchased in 2010. Kongregate will offer developers financial services, consultation to improve their product and marketing support. Most importantly, it will offer developers a distribution platform across Kongregate (which has 15 million monthly unique visitors), GameStop's mobile apps, the company's website and its more than 6,000 stores.

Kongregate is bringing on former Zynga general manger Panayoti Haritatos as the vice president of the mobile division. Haritatos was the founder and CEO of indie studio Urbansquall, which was purchased by Zynga in 2009.

“Developers are increasingly finding it harder to get their games discovered through the different app stores,” said Haritatos. “I personally faced these challenges in 2009 while managing my own game studio. Utilizing the Kongregate platform made my games successful, which ultimately led to my studio being acquired by Zynga.”

Some of the other services available for developers include quality assurance testing, PR and marketing, assistance with in-game monetization, and financial assistance for those in the final stages of development.

Interested developers should apply on Kongregate.

Image courtesy of Flickr, StockMonkeys.com