g.games’ Post

🚀 What if you could take early playtest data to land a huge raise - backing a great game with an ironclad forecast... and a clear picture of how to get there? That's what Kohort did for a gaming studio - helping them raise $20M+. Our client, a mobile gaming studio based in the USA, needed to present a compelling forecast of the potential of their latest title to investors. With only six weeks (!) of playtest data initially, predicting the game’s potential to scale and its ability to generate significant revenue - through planned features and monetisation strategies - would be a substantial challenge. Enter Kohort - building up from modeling every individual segment of player cohorts, we were able to rapidly create a picture of a launch into a varied market with numerous influences, both internal and external. We equally sense-checked CPI projections and how they might fluctuate, and visualized what the future might look like - a key to convincing investors in light of tricky markets. With our constant collaboration, the studio leads could confidently speak to the impacts of risks and opportunities, provide clear forecasts and what would be needed to reach any upside scenario or safeguard from downturn cases, and together build a map for growth, actionable day-to-day. "With Kohort’s guidance, we effectively managed risks and refined our strategies, which was vital in convincing investors to contribute towards our studio's growth." ⭐ All in all; arming them to go into their Series A with confidence and prepared to execute on the opportunity - to the tune of $20M+ invested to go after a vast player market. Read the case study here - and ping me if you want to hear more at #Gamescom! https://lnkd.in/enJU9t8q #seriesA #mobilegaming #mobilegames #gamesindustry #fundraise #investment #gamesinvesting #gamingstudio #softlaunch #datatodollars #casestudy

In February, after months of steady growth, our games hit a plateau 😬 I hate how closely my mood mirrors the performance of our business. I was feeling anxious for the first time in months 😓 But I reminded myself we’ve been here before. Games always hit plateaus - and our team always breaks through them. How did we push past this winter slump? By doing, not just analyzing. Our team’s greatest strength is relentless perseverance. We’ll keep attacking the problem until we jumpstart growth. Our success is rarely the result of a single change. It’s often a series of 1% improvements that elevate our games to a new level of performance. Our efforts paid off. Not only are our games growing again, but our revenue and (profitable) user acquisition spending are at an all-time high 📈🚀 I don’t hold any illusions that our streak will be continuous. Plateaus are part of the cycle of scaling games 💯 That’s why a successful studio is more than its portfolio of titles. What differentiates a studio is its culture of perseverance and aggressive action 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

Happy to share my thoughts on the Video Games Industry with the Financial Times. There is a lot of private equity interest building in the industry. The proposed takeout of Keywords by EQT and the recent acquisition of Jagex by CVC\Haveli provides very clear evidence of this. Game studios are managing their cost bases globally and balance sheets are beginning to get into good shape after a few slower growth Years. The sector remains very well positioned as a core function of consumer entertainment spend and a growing player base globally and private equity clearly recognises this. #videogames #growingplayerbase #privateequity #mergersandacquisitions

As you may recall, last month we hosted our first Subscrible Demo Day, aimed at offering both aspiring and established #gamedevelopers a centralized platform to showcase their projects and garner feedback from potential investors. The outcome surpassed our expectations! Not only did we receive positive feedback from investors expressing keen interest in further developing this format, but we also saw a significant influx of applications from developers eager to present their products. This overwhelming response made it clear: the event resonated deeply with all stakeholders involved! Consequently, we've decided to organize a second Subscrible's Games Demo Day. This ensures that every project has the chance to showcase its unique offering and receive valuable feedback from potential #investors. We're excited to announce the second Games Demo Day by Subscrible | Your Self Publishing Mobile Games Booster, now with an expanded geographic scope, featuring #gamedevelopers and investors from Europe, the United States, and Israel. Mark your calendars for May 28th at 16:00 UTC!  Applications will be open until noon CET on May 22. Join us on this transformative journey towards cultivating a more dynamic and flourishing #gamingecosystem. Would you like to join Shima Capital, Griffin Gaming Partners, Playtika? For further details and to participate, visit: https://lnkd.in/dANWYQhu

Business of games: 6 biggest funding rounds, partnerships, and trends from the last week (investment round-up details from Feb 4th week) 1. Monumental acquires Coin Dozer publisher Game Circus 2. Yuga Labs acquires Proof Web3 digital art platform 3. GameCentric secures $1.5 million angel investment to fuel growth in MENA 4. A cohort of Swedish gaming professionals has unveiled Cult of the North, a new games studio. 5. 1SP Agency acquires Renaissance PR for "superagency" status with plans to cover games 6. XPLA secures funding from Play Ventures to foster Web3 innovation >> Highlight on game funds from 2023 vs 2022 investments: In 2023, 403 deals were made totaling $2.7 billion. This marks a 4-fold decrease in volume compared to the previous year and a 36% decrease in the number of deals. Top Trends: 1. The Nintendo Switch 2 release reportedly delayed until early 2025 2. Legends of Learning and Rovio release Angry Birds educational games #gamedevelopment #gamedesign #businessofgames

Downloads are not indicators of a game's success. Contrary to popular belief, a game's performance isn't solely defined by its download count or revenue. Numerous high-profile games consistently operate at a loss, despite impressive numbers. So why do studios invest heavily in user acquisition for these unprofitable titles? Several factors contribute to this puzzling trend. One is the persistent hope for a turnaround through live operations. Another is strategic manoeuvring to dominate market share and force competitors to bid higher. Additionally, some studios aim to inflate their company's valuation before a potential sale by showcasing impressive growth metrics. Attracting investors is also a key motivator, with high download and revenue figures serving as enticing bait. And, of course, there are instances of simple misjudgment. While there are rare exceptions where acquiring users at a loss proves strategic, it's primarily a tactic to create a facade of success for investors or stakeholders. In the long run, profit should be the ultimate measure of a game's success, not its volume. #gamingindustry #gamedevelopment #mobilegames #useracquisition #ROI #businessstrategy

This year, I will be going to the GAMA EXPO for the first time in order to meet as many professionals as possible and present to them the platform that we are developing. It's called 💡MEEPLEJACK💡. www.meeplejack.com This is the first SaaS in the tabletop gaming industry, your toolbox. This platform is global and therefore multilingual. It will offer FREE services to all professionals in order to facilitate their business. Some examples… ♥️ Publishers automatically inform distributors in real time of the availability of their games by territory, country and/or language. ♥️ Publishers automatically generate and share their product sheets & catalogs ♥️ Publishers & distributors publish their news to gamers ♥️ Designers automatically display their prototypes to publishers. ♥️ And so on I would be pleased to meet you to explain MEEPLEJACK in more detail. Do not hesitate to book an appointment with me. It will take 10 to 20 minutes, depending on your questions. Just click here: https://lnkd.in/e4vvs-5k See you there? #startup #Games #gameindustry #game

Stoke Games raises a $5.5M Seed round from BITKRAFT Ventures, Riot Games, 1Up Ventures and angels to create an innovative strategic shooter! 🎮🎉🙌 Congrats to Veigar Bouius, Jon Diesta and the Stoke team to embark on a journey to craft enduring multiplayer games that challenge and bring players together. With key contributions in gameplay innovation, system design and IP power at Blizzard Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Riot Games, Warner Bros. Games and others, they have developed some of the most successful competitive games of the last decade, incl. MultiVersus (>20M players in month 1) and League of Legends (if having a champion named after yourself isn’t a seal of approval, I don’t know what is!). It is rare to observe the velocity in playtests to find convincing validation for main assumptions only a few months into development—across both their core audience and broader player bases. With an organic drive I have never seen before, they even received their first community-created map submission in <9 months. 🚀 Why is Stoke Games uniquely positioned to become the next major genre-defining studio? 🔎 1. Audience-driven 0 to 1: With several new R&D journeys under their belt, the team is methodical in identifying and validating large-scale opportunities alongside early community building. They are deeply in touch with player preferences to reinvent a stale, outsized genre with targeted hooks. 🤝 2. A coherent team & culture: It all starts with an avenger-type squad that brings high passion every day. When in-sync with established processes based on prior experience together, you are supercharged. 🧗 3. Pushing gameplay boundaries: Without saying too much just yet, their targeted innovation for a slower-paced shooter emphasizing strategic decision-making has strong potential to capture a broad audience. 🦸 4. High IP potential: With successes utilizing the most popular games & film IPs in live service, the team is already driving remarkable characters, art style, and expansive narratives for continuously resonating mass appeal. 🕹️ 5. Unified experience: One of the first competitive games designed with seamless cross-play on major platforms in mind from the beginning. We’re very grateful for the opportunity to lead the team’s first round of founding, and put our shoulders behind the Stoke Games team alongside old and new friends. Ask Veigar to join a playtest—it’s a blast! And to sum it all up: So stoked!!! (Sorry, had to do it 🙂) Cc: Jake Perlman-Garr, Daniel Li, Ed Fries, Kelly Wallick, Joakim Achrén Forbes: https://lnkd.in/gBZmV4PX #gaming #gamingindustry #venturecapital #seed #gamedev #gamedevjobs #stokegames #bitkraft

As we reach the holiday season its always a good chance to look back on the year and take stock of our successes - and failures - and see what can be learned and put in practice next time around the Sun. 2023 for me was certainly a roller coaster of highs and lows, one I’ve been fortunate enough to share with wonderful friends and colleagues who went above and beyond. On the high side - with the amazing group at Airship Syndicate, and DE’s EP team, we took Wayfinder through a TGA announcement, four beta tests, PAX, Summer Game Fest, Gamescom and launched the game into Early Access in August. I always believe that ANYONE who releases a game into the World has achieved an incredible success against many odds. Developing games is not easy. Developing live service games is even harder. Watching the team push that button on August 15th and the game go live across the globe was the result of over four years incredibly hard work. The response from our players, even after we tested their patience, was fantastic. People love the World of Evenor. If you’ve not played it, well Eventide has fallen . . there's no better time than now!! I also spent a great deal of 2023 working with other developers on new and exciting ideas, giving feedback, hearing pitches, and encouraging them however I could. A huge part of my job has always been “not signing projects” (it happens more than signing them), but the core part of that process is helping guide developers to a place where somebody will. More of that in 2024. I traveled an awful lot. I gave my first talk in a long while at Reboot Develop in Dubrovnik, giving a brief history of 35 years in games, what can be learned, how we can move our medium forward. I spent time in Finland, Sweden, England, Canada, Germany and took the most amazing trip to Shenzhen and the Li River as part of Tencent’s Global Leadership Offsite. On the low side - well it was a year of contraction in the industry and that touched most of us in some way, directly or indirectly. I could wax lyrical about the many reasons for it, but honesty there isn’t an easy way of discussing such a broad issue here. The struggles Wayfinder had at launch personally hit very hard. Launching live service games is never easy. Things can and will go wrong. I’m immensely proud of the entire team at Airship and DE EP for the insane amount of work to right the ship and move onward. There’s a power in unity. No matter how high the stress, to see that group working together to find solutions at a rapid rate was inspiring. But there were some dark moments right there. As for 2024. Well I go into it with a new vigor, a new vision and a new determination to do great things. To drive talented teams and individuals to new heights, to use my experience and knowledge to create new worlds, new challenges and bring more entertainment to people across the globe. I’ll let on more about that in the New Year, there’s a blue moon rising. Happy Holidays one and all.

Can a game that failed in web2 succeed in web3? This JRPG originally backed by Riot Games, Tencent, and NetEase thinks they can hack it. Manasis Refrain is a JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) that shutdown in Sept 2022 According to pitchbook they raised 4 undisclosed funding rounds between 2018 and 2023 — after the servers shutdown! The investors included: • Riot Games • Tencent Investment • NetEase Capital • Kaiser(China) Investment Their CEO also worked at Tencent as a project manager for 3 years. Before founding Inutan Studio, he was the GM of game for Youku Tudou (One of China's leading video hosting co's). From a new release in 2015 during his time there: "Since venturing into mobile gaming, Youku Tudou now jointly operates over 1,500 games with over 150 mobile game operators and has already driven a total of over 200 million mobile game downloads." ✅ Funding ✅ Strong team ❌ Successful game With the teams experience and new funding, do you think web3 elements can revive a dead web2 game?