High 5 Games and Electrotank, Inc. announced today that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which High 5 Games will acquire substantially all of Electrotank’s assets and intellectual property. As a result of the agreement, High 5 Games will welcome the Electrotank team into the company.

“This move will allow High 5 Games to strengthen and finalize our upcoming Game Server Platform, which will allow our content to be real-time streamed to both regulated real-money gaming sites, as well as to social casino sites throughout the world,” said Anthony Singer, CEO of High 5 Games. “We are overjoyed to bring in the many talented individuals from Electrotank into High 5 Games.”

High 5 Games, a leading game creator in the casino industry, has worked with Electrotank in the past to move some of its popular land-based slot games onto Facebook’s gaming platform.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Electrotank,” said Michael Gold, CEO of Electrotank. “High 5 Games has a long history of producing highly successful content, and I am excited to see what the two companies can do together.”

Electrotank has licensed its server and platform technology to hundreds of companies during its history, and has developed games for a number of well-known clients, including Disney, MTV, Nickelodeon, Mattel, and Comedy Central. The company is recognized for its highly scalable game server, which allows for seamless concurrent play for a very high volume of players.

“We will continue to look for opportunities of this kind to improve upon our position as a premier content provider,” said Med Nadooshan, COO of High 5 Games. “High 5 Games’ growth strategy will allow the company to aggressively pursue potential new ventures and rapidly expand into untapped markets.”

Plarium, one of the world’s fastest growing developers of social and mobile games, announced a new iteration of its hard core massively multiplayer online strategy game –Total Domination: Reborn – is now available for free to iOS users worldwide. This is the first time the popular franchise has been extended to the mobile format, now for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Following its 2011 launch on major social networks, including Facebook, Total Domination has already garnered more than 30 million online users worldwide, placing Plarium among the top two hardcore game developers for Facebook.Total Domination: Reborn leverages the trademark theme of war-as-world-order to provide players an open storyline from which to strategically forge alliances, develop colonies and build empires. The new mobile version of the game is standalone, completely independent from the online version, is developed specifically for iOS and can be downloaded in the iTunes App store here.

Founded only three years ago, Plarium has seen revenues double year over year. With a staff of more than 300 and more than 84 million users online, including 3 million daily active users, the company is expanding globally to new platforms.  Total Domination: Reborn features the key engaging gameplay people have come to expect of the franchise, but designed specifically for mobile with a user interface (UI) optimized for a smaller touch screen and game balance ideal for the format.   Plarium has also invested a level of community management, never before seen in mobile gaming, with an entire staff dedicated to working with those who play Total Domination: Reborn.  Moreover, Plarium is committed to evolving and growing the game the same way it has done with the online version of the franchise.

“We have created something special at Plarium – the ability to take everything people love about our games on Facebook and social media and optimize it for mobile,” said Avi Shalel, Plarium’s Chief Executive Officer. “Plarium is committed to bringing rich and engaging original content, as seen with Total Domination, and now hardcore gamers can get a deep, robust mobile experience like never before.”

Total Domination: Reborn for mobile provides gamers a real-time strategic interface, allowing them to construct empires from the ashes of fallen civilizations. By discovering lost knowledge and researching new technologies, players can lead armies, protect their people, and wage war for control of the world’s resources. Key game features include:

• Building Forces – Study technologies, stockpile weapons, and unlock powerful colonies, while building forces from over 30 Infantry, Armor Corps, Artillery, and Air Force units.  Strengthen your troops and protect your sectors from invasions.
• Developing Strategy and Teamwork – A flexible and strategy-based format allows users to play according to their style – gamers can go it alone, or form alliances and clans with other sectors. Extra resources are earned by raiding other communities or by trading with other players.
• Immersive Storylines – A classic interface is familiar to long-time gamers, plus global in-game storyline developments introduce non-player opponents and new ways to work with or betray fellow commanders.
• Continually Enhanced Experience – Frequent updates ensure the game stays fresh by offering new units, buildings, technologies, and defensive improvements for players.

Total Domination: Reborn is available now worldwide and translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian and Turkish, and can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App store here.

King, the world’s leading cross-platform, bite-sized games company, today announces that its popular, top 10 Facebook game, Pet Rescue Saga, is now available on Mobile. The game, which has over 5 million daily players, is available on iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) and on Google Play for Android devices.

“Pet Rescue Saga is one of King’s most-played games. It has strong puzzle challenge and a great story where players work to save cuddly dogs, cats and birds from dangerous scenarios,” said Riccardo Zacconi, CEO and co-founder of King. “Just like with our popular cross-platform game Candy Crush Saga, players will now be able to play Pet Rescue Saga anywhere, anytime and ensure their leaderboards, scores and progress is synchronized, regardless of device.”

Pet Rescue Saga Screenshot

Pet Rescue Saga launches on mobile with over 72 levels featuring more than 10 cute, animated pets in dire need of help from all kinds of threats across a fantastic Saga land that includes both fairytale and urban landscapes. Boosters allow gamers to clear columns or individual blocks in various ways to save enough pets and advance through each episode, which includes 5-10 different types of puzzle levels.

Pet Rescue Saga’s mobile features include:

• Synced with Facebook: Players can continue their progress, unlock new levels and access leaderboards in both the Facebook and mobile versions
• Ability to unlock helpful charms and boosters to benefit players’ journey through the Saga
• 72 exciting levels and several modes for players to test their pet-saving skills against time limits, a limited number of moves and any threats
• Sharp, vivid retina display and 3-D visuals
• Built-in online connectivity to see friends who are also playing

Pet Rescue Saga for iOS and Google Play is free and available now. To play, please click here for iOS or for Android go here.

This week we look at German developer Kamicat. Based in both Germany and Spain, this developer has one game on Facebook right now, Kamicat Football 2013.  They told us that they’re working on  bringing out Mobile games too so watch this space.  Let’s see what else they had to say:

Developer Name: Kamicat GmbH

Where founded and office/s location/s: Berlin, Hannover (Germany) and Barcelona (Spain)

Founded by: Cyoshi Crucial GmbH, Human Nayebzadeh, Fabian Wolff, Lars Mohrmann, Christoph Reisner

Founded in: 2011

Funding: yes

Acquisitions: no

Number of employees: 10

Number of games published: 1

List of games published: Kamicat Football 2013

Describe what you do in one sentence: Developer of cool Social Football/Soccer Games

Where games are published: Facebook, soon Mobile

Working with publisher: no

Acting as a publisher: no

Publishing games in which languages: English, German, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, French and Italian

Kamicat Football 2013 Screenshot

Game genre/s: Sports

User demographics (gender): mainly male

User demographics (location): South America, Europe

Best-selling virtual item: Recovery Energy (0,10 US$)

Most expensive virtual item: KamiCash Package (150 US$)

What do you see as the current most exciting trend in the industry: Mobile Gambling

We’ve been running the “Who is Who” series for a while now. So we decided to check out some of the developers we profiled in the past to see how they have progressed since we last spoke. Today we look at MegaZebra who we profiled here in 2012 and they informed us of what they’re up to now and what future developments they’re excited about. MegaZebra is a German developer based in Munich with two major titles out on Facebook with their next big hit “Poker Royale” on Facebook now.  We spoke to Co-founder Henning Kosmack and this is what he told us:

Developer Name: MegaZebra GmbH

Where founded and office/s location/s: Champions League City of Munich

Founded by: Mark Gazecki, Christian Meister, Steffen Rusitschka, Hennning Kosmack

Founded in: 2008

Funding: Couple of million

Mahjong Trails Screenshot

Acquisitions: nope

Number of employees: 30

Number of games published: 2 major titles out there, one coming soon

List of games published: Mahjong Trails and Solitaire Castle. Next up is Poker Royale

Describe what you do in one sentence: Not only are both of our games leaders in their respective category on Facebook, they also shaped their genres, which is what we strive to continue doing for those two, but also for the new titles we are working on.

Where games are published: Facebook

Working with publisher: nope

Acting as a publisher: yes, if the games are kick-ass

Publishing games in which languages: EFIGS, plus Turkish and Brazilian Portuguese

Game genre/s: Arcade-Casual titles for now, but got some juicy stuff in the pipeline

Solitaire Castle Screenshot

User demographics: Female

User demographics: Tier 1 countries

Best-selling virtual item: Extra cards in Solitaire Castle

Most expensive virtual item: The magic microwave in up-coming game Suburbia

What do you see as the current most exciting trend in the industry: The most exciting trend is that some people think “social” is dead, while the complete opposite is true. Social Games have changed one gaming category after the other, starting with arcade/casual and simulation games, now it’s casino and mobile, with mid- and hard-core next. This journey is still only 1% finished and we are excited about this road trip.

The browser game Goodgame Big Farm was only released in fall 2012 and the title adopts its own strategy for the competitive free farm games market. Instead of micro-management and click fests, it focuses on strategy, a consistent plot line and competition, either alone or together with other players. The approach of the Hamburg based developer Goodgame Studios has proven fruitful, and the ten millionth player was recently welcomed to the game.

“Reaching over ten million players in just over half a year – many outsiders didn’t think Goodgame Big Farm was capable of doing that,” says Dr. Christian Wawrzinek, as COO also responsible for game development at Goodgame Studios. “We were certain of the game’s potential ourselves, as it had been developed by a talented and very experienced team. So we are very happy to have reached this milestone so quickly, but we are not surprised.”

The regular and extensive updates that have accompanied the game since its launch are a key factor in Goodgame Big Farm’s success. For example, the beginning of the year saw the introduction of second and third farms as additions to the main farms, where players can plant a broad variety of crops and produce products. The latest update has also implemented themed events, which take players on big adventures where they complete a broad variety of tasks, ensuring Goodgame Big Farm keeps offering fresh challenges for everyone, fans and new players alike.

AppLift Expands Leading Position in Mobile Games Marketing & Monetization

The mobile games marketing platform AppLift raises $13 million (€10M) from venture capital and growth equity firm Prime Ventures in series A funding round. AppLift will use the funds to further invest in its marketing and monetization platform and accelerates the global expansion with new offices and key personnel. One year after launch, AppLift is partnering with more than 80 mobile game publishers such as King, Wooga and Kabam and 500+ media partners like RTL and Closer. As a result AppLift delivers up to 1M high-quality installs per month for top mobile game publishers. Within 2013 AppLift plans to hire 50 additional engineers, product specialists and business development professionals.

Founded by HitFox Group, Kaya Taner and Tim Koschella AppLift has quickly made a name for itself by delivering quality game players at scale. Media partners benefit from the opportunity to monetize in a non-intrusive and user-friendly way and receive eCPMs of up to $75. Headquartered in Berlin, AppLift has additional offices in San Francisco, Seoul and Paris. HitFox was already active in the space of user acquisition with the portfolio company ad2games at the time when AppLift launched. The previously established game publisher relations and technology leveraged AppLift’s fast start.

Serial entrepreneur and HitFox Group CEO Jan Beckers says, ”The strong market position of AppLift is based on a world-class team, cutting-edge technology, a sustainable approach to partner relationships and an unwavering focus on flawless execution. With the new funding AppLift has everything required to become one of Berlin’s biggest success stories.”

Kaya Taner, Co-Founder and CEO at AppLift adds, “Prime Ventures’ entrepreneurial mindset is a perfect fit for us. We met them, got along immediately and agreed on a deal within five weeks. HitFox Group gave AppLift a great initial push into the market. Now Prime is the perfect addition to expand and strengthen our position internationally.”

Prime Ventures Partner Roel de Hoop comments, “AppLift’s team, technology platform and the synergies created through the HitFox Group and its portfolio companies quickly brought them ahead in the market. The closer we looked at AppLift, the more impressed we were. We saw the opportunity to invest in a leader within the fast-growing $10 billion mobile games market.”

Shane Horneij, Director of Performance Marketing at King states, “It’s great to see that AppLift has secured $13 million in this round of funding. They have been a great partner in driving large volumes of installs across Android and iOS while maintaining high quality users. We look forward to launching more titles with their team in the future.”

Akamon Entertainment, leading social gaming company in southern Europe and Latin America has closed the first round of investment at 2.8 million euros, with which Axon Partners Group and Bonsai Venture Capital have become shareholders in the company.

The capital injection, one of the largest in first round finance in the online sector in Spain, will allow Akamon to strengthen investment in customer acquisition, enter new international markets and promote the launch of new games for mobile devices, as well as to continue investing in R&D and new products, and recruiting top talent in both the product and business areas.

Akamon offers online social traditional and casino games via its own websites and those of its partners, Facebook and mobile devices. It operates in southern Europe and Latin America, with an innovative internationalisation strategy based on incorporating into its portfolio local games from each new market it enters. The company currently has a total of 70 employees and plans to recruit a further 20 before the end of the year.

Akamon closed 2012 with revenues of US$8.5 million and a positive EBITDA and expects to close 2013 with US$16 million. This growth is the result of launching new games for mobile devices, entering new markets such as Colombia and Mexico and new white-label agreements with international partners.

In the words of Vicenç Martí, Akamon CEO, “We are delighted that two fund companies of such caliber as Axon Partners Group and Bonsai have joined the project, bringing a profound knowledge of the Latin American market and an unparalleled track record of success with Internet companies respectively.”

With the inclusion of the new partners, Akamon shareholders are: Bonsai Venture Capital, Axon Partners Group, Grupo ITNet, Exelweiss, and Carlos Blanco and Vicenç Martí – co-founders and Executive Chairman and CEO respectively. The control of the company continues to be in the hands of the founders and Carlos Blanco remains majority shareholder.

Game Insight, a world leader in free-to-play mobile and social games, has announced a partnership with GAMEVIL for distribution of Game Insight titles in Korea. The distribution deal kicks off this week with the chart-topping hit game Airport City, now available to download for free on Android devices in the T store.

In the course of the last two years, Game Insight has put major focus on bringing original, exciting titles to new markets around the globe. In this latest partnership, the company is delivering more of its signature titles to a new Korean audience through powerhouse publishing partner GAMEVIL.

“GAMEVIL is excited to welcome Game Insight and its titles into our network, bringing fresh, exciting, and engaging free-to-play titles to our audience,” said Brian Oh, Business Development Director at GAMEVIL. “This is a great opportunity for both companies to expand their portfolios and audiences in the Korean Android market.”

The first title released in this partnership is Airport City, offering an exciting two-tiered take on classic city-building strategy. Players will need to keep a close watch as they manage a fledgling airport striving for greatness, all the while building a city full of support staff for the airport itself. As such, players are tasked with building terminals, landing strips, and hangars to house seven different classes of passenger planes that earn cold, hard cash from passenger airfare. Turning their attention to the neighboring city, players will have access to more than 50 types of housing, shopping, and utility buildings to offer amenities to hungry and tired travelers.

“Airport City is one of the most recognized Game Insight brands on the market today,” said Darya Trushkina, Sr. VP of Business Development at Game Insight. “Working with a world-renowned publisher and superstar partner like GAMEVIL means big things for our brand and our titles, and helps us continue to grow our games worldwide by sharing them with even more new players in new markets. We’re thrilled to bring our best and brightest free-to-play titles to Korea with GAMEVIL.”

Game Insight currently boasts more than 30 successful mobile and social titles available on all major platforms, already available in more than 100 countries worldwide. These titles span internally developed original IPs, born of 15 development studios within Game Insight’s network, as well as several third-party developed titles published under the Game Insight banner. As the company continues to grow globally, key partnerships and distribution deals are critical to its strategy for this year and beyond. As part of its “think global, act local” stance on international distribution, Game Insight fully localizes all titles in new regions. Extended localization includes, but isn’t limited to, full language translations, special culturally themed content and, in some cases, even a complete re-design of the game.

This week we profile Miniclip, a game developer with over 100 million game plays per month. The company develops online, mobile and social games and you can play them across many platforms. Social Games Observer contacted them to learn a little more about them:

Developer Name: Miniclip

Where founded and office/s location/s: Founded in London, headquartered in Switzerland. Offices in London, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy and the US.

Founded by: Robert Small and Tihan Presbie

Funding: Self-funded

Number of employees: 146 (as of April 29^th)

Number of games published: Over 1000

Describe what you do in one sentence: Provide great games for anyone, anytime, anywhere

Where games are published: Miniclip.com, Mobile, Facebook

Game genre/s: Action/Sports/Social/MMO/Multiplayer/Arcade/Puzzle/Racing

8 Ball Pool

User demographics: Male and Female

User demographics: Worldwide, with big presence in US, Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia

Best-selling virtual item: Pool Coins in 8 Ball Pool by Miniclip

Most expensive virtual item: Platinum Cue in 8 Ball Pool by Miniclip

What do you see as the current most exciting trend in the industry: cross platform game experiences