The economic crisis may be on everyone’s mind, but it’s apparently not affecting everyone equally. Gamefly, the NetFlix of videogaming, has purchased the gaming news site Shacknews lock, stock and barrel.

While EA recently announced 1100 job cuts, or about 11% of its workforce, Gamefly actually has plans to open a fifth center in Seattle after opening two the previous year in Tampa and Austin. Shacknews founder Steve Gibson said that Shacknews wasn’t lacking in the funds department either, but that the purchase will allow for even more expansion that just wasn’t feasible before.

While there have been several mergers and acquisitions in the past year, such as UGO Entertainment’s purchase of 1UP.com and the fabled Activision/Vivendi merger, this one is a bit unusual. A site designed to allow the renting of games that’ll be delivered to you now owns a gaming journalism site. UGO and 1UP were both enthusiast sites and Activision/Vivendi (better known as the parent company of Blizzard) really speak for themselves as to why it’d be smart money to merge, but purchasing a gaming journalism site like Shacknews just seems to stink of some bigger plan.

At the moment, however, Gamefly is playing things close to the chest. They’ve not really disclosed exactly what their plan is for the site, though they did say that Shacknews fills a need for quality content with its news, features and community. What exactly do they plan to do with this content? What need of Gamefly’s did this fulfill? We’re just going to have to wait and see, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Shacknews become the outlet for some sort of direct-download gaming.