Tag: kabam

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.

Kabam takes aim at mobile games with new publishing division

Kabam, a mid-sized game developer, has announced the official launch of Kabam Publishing, a new division of the company that focuses on the publishing of mobile games. Kabam has taken note of the rise in popularity of mobile games over recent years, seeing that many consumers are very interested in playing games from their smartphones and tablets. In an effort to engage these consumers, the developer has targeting the publishing business. Through Kabam Publishing, the company will be able to provide consumers with a wide range of new mobile games from various third parties.

Kabam Publishing to provide resources to third party developers

Kabam Publishing will provide third party game developers with a variety of tools and technologies that Kabam itself uses to develop new games. With these resources, developers will be able to create games for numerous platforms, such as Facebook, iOS, and Android. Kabam Publishing will have a strong focus on mobile games, so even those designed for Facebook will be accessible through mobile devices. Though Kabam Publishing is the official publishing division of Kabam, the company has been publishing third party games for some time.

Publishing unit will make promotion and distribution more efficient

Since 2012, Kabam has been publishing mobile games created by third party developers. The company boasts of 15 publishing partners, including Reality Square Games and Venan Games. Kabam Publishing encompasses the company’s publishing efforts, localizing resources and making it more efficient for the company to promote and distribute mobile games of various types.

Kabam may be a major boon for third party developers looking for a publisher

Though Kabam is relatively small in terms of development staff, the company boasts of one of the largest audiences in the mobile space. Many consumers play games from Kabam  on their smartphones and tablets, even without realizing that these games are coming from the company. Kabam’s presence in the mobile games sector may prove a boon for third party developers that are looking to align themselves with a dedicated publisher.