Category: Mobile Gaming

Kabam makes a deal with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Kabam has received backing from the e-commerce giant, which recently announced that it has invested $120 million in the California startup based out of San Francisco and has entered a partnership with the mobile gaming company to publish and distribute Kabam’s free to play mobile games.

The deal values Kabam at over $1 billion.

In recent years, Alibaba has invested in more than twenty companies that specialize in a diverse range of products and services. Since starting its investment group in Silicon Valley in October 2013, the Chinese company has already funded a minimum of ten startups, some of which include TangoMe Inc., Peel Technologies, Quixey Inc., and Lyft Inc.

Now, with their latest investment, Alibaba will be able to reach even more consumers via mobile games. Kabam has users in over 150 countries that play its many games. This partnership with the mobile gaming firm will help give Alibaba a major push into this mobile sector, where some of its competitors have already enjoyed success. For instance, in order to bring games to its users, Tencent has invested $330 million in Epic Games Inc., $231 million in Riot Game Inc., and an unknown amount in Activision Blizzard Inc.

Kent Wakeford, Kabam’s chief operating officer said about the deal that “Asia is 50% of the gaming market. It is a strategic priority for us.” Wakeford also added that choosing Alibaba “was a very competitive process” because before selecting them, Kabam had also talked to “every major player in China” including Tencent and Baidu.

Alibaba can provide Kabam with a publishing and distribution platform in the company’s target market that it desperately needs. 70% of Kabam’s consumers are on mobile and the company is tracking to achieve revenue of over $550 million this year.

Alibaba’s mobile gaming investment will result in the launch of 10 games within the next three years.

Part of the agreement Kabam made with the massive Chinese firm is to release 10 games over the course of the next three years via Alibaba. The first game is already under development and is based on “The Lord of the Rings”. The other games will be made up of a mixture of popular titles that already exist such as “Dragons of Atlantis”, “Kingdoms of Camelot” and others that could come from studios the mobile gaming company means to buy.

A new Shield tablet and controller has been designed to enhance a mobile player’s gaming experience.

Nvidia is bringing to the mobile gaming industry, what it says is the most advanced mobile processor in the world, an 8 inch Shield gaming tablet and wireless Shield controller, two pieces of impressive hardware that are not likely to disappoint.

The premium 8 inch tablet is one of the first to be specifically designed for gamers.

Nvidia’s new tablet device can play Android games that have been downloaded from Google Play or the company’s Hub app. It also has the ability to stream games directly from a PC using WiFi or 4G. What this means is that gamers can experience graphics that are close to console quality, on a mobile device.

The Shield gaming tablet is equipped with an HD 1920×1080 pixel screen and is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra K1 192 core Kepler GPU. The tech and video game company claims that the tablet uses the highest advanced mobile processer that is available on a device. In addition, the tablet can utilize the graphics card of a PC if a player is streaming games. That being said, it is important to point out that not all PC’s powered by Nvidia are compatible with this particular feature of the device.

The tablet will come with WiFi or WiFi and LTE connectivity and consumers can choose from a 16GB or 32GB model, both of which will include up to 128GB microSD support. Furthermore, the device will come with the pre-installed game, Trine2: Complete Story.

The wireless mobile gaming controller works smoothly with the tablet.

Although there are other tablet game controllers that a player could purchase, the one Nvidia has released to accompany its Shield tablet works very well with it and is reasonably priced. The company claims that between the tablet and controller there is low latency WiFi connectivity. The delay between the devices is almost non existence and is compared to the Xbox and its controller.

In addition to the controller, the mobile gaming device also comes with a cover accessory, so it can be easily propped up to achieve the ideal playing angle. Currently, the 16GB WiFi-only model can be preordered with the controller.