Banned
09-30-2010, 07:12 AM
http://mo.statesman.com/business/spacetime-studios-wins-venture-backing-for-multiplayer-mobile-945805.html?cxtype=rss_ece_frontpage
A groundbreaking game for mobile devices has attracted some big attention to a small Austin development studio, including financial backing from a venture fund that also has invested in Twitter Inc.
Earlier this year, Spacetime Studios debuted a "World of Warcraft"-style game for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad that people can play together online.
Spacetime CEO Gary Gattis and his co-founders were banking that "Pocket Legends" would garner some attention.
They were right. It has attracted hundreds of thousands of players and shot up the App Store charts, becoming one of the top role-playing games for the devices.
"We have people in Singapore and Australia and Portugal and Austin" all playing together, Gattis said. "Some people play five hours a day, seven hours a day. It's crazy."
Spacetime also won financial backing from Insight Venture Partners , a New York venture capital firm that counts former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin on its advisory board.
Insight, which has raised more than $3 billion since its inception in 1995, focuses on growth-stage software and other Internet businesses, said managing director Nikitas Koutoupes.
Koutoupes said his firm interviews several thousand businesses a year, trying to find
10 or 15 worth investing in.
"What attracted us, at first, is there's basically nothing else like it out there at the moment," he said.
Koutoupes is a fan of the game, which he describes as an "engrossing" experience.
"I'm always anticipating what the next hour will look like," he said. "As a form of entertainment, that's hard to replicate."
Koutoupes and Gattis both declined to disclose the amount invested in the company, but Gattis and his partners are using the money to expand their operation.
In the next few months, the studio intends to release versions of "Pocket Legends" for Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system, as well as Windows . That will make it possible for users on a variety of devices to play together — another first.
"We think these guys have a great shot at getting this done in a way that's never been done before," Koutoupes said.
Next year, the studio plans to license the technology behind "Pocket Legends," allowing other developers to create their own games.
That technology is the company's "secret sauce," because it will allow many players to play together, seamlessly, from all over the world, Gattis said.
Multiplayer online games "are going to come to mobile devices," he said. "They're here now, but they're going to come strongly. There's revenue to be made ... it's the wild, wild West all over again."
"We want to be at the center of that web," he added.
Gattis' company was created as a development team working on a project for game publisher NCsoft Corp. But when the plug was pulled on the project, they scaled down to a self-funded group of six.
Spacetime has since grown to about 10 people, Gattis said, and the company expects to hire 20 more in the next year.
"We've been building a fire with wood, but now it's time to throw gas on it and see what we can do," he said.
bgaar@statesman.com; 912-5932
Now that's awesome possum. ;)
A groundbreaking game for mobile devices has attracted some big attention to a small Austin development studio, including financial backing from a venture fund that also has invested in Twitter Inc.
Earlier this year, Spacetime Studios debuted a "World of Warcraft"-style game for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad that people can play together online.
Spacetime CEO Gary Gattis and his co-founders were banking that "Pocket Legends" would garner some attention.
They were right. It has attracted hundreds of thousands of players and shot up the App Store charts, becoming one of the top role-playing games for the devices.
"We have people in Singapore and Australia and Portugal and Austin" all playing together, Gattis said. "Some people play five hours a day, seven hours a day. It's crazy."
Spacetime also won financial backing from Insight Venture Partners , a New York venture capital firm that counts former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin on its advisory board.
Insight, which has raised more than $3 billion since its inception in 1995, focuses on growth-stage software and other Internet businesses, said managing director Nikitas Koutoupes.
Koutoupes said his firm interviews several thousand businesses a year, trying to find
10 or 15 worth investing in.
"What attracted us, at first, is there's basically nothing else like it out there at the moment," he said.
Koutoupes is a fan of the game, which he describes as an "engrossing" experience.
"I'm always anticipating what the next hour will look like," he said. "As a form of entertainment, that's hard to replicate."
Koutoupes and Gattis both declined to disclose the amount invested in the company, but Gattis and his partners are using the money to expand their operation.
In the next few months, the studio intends to release versions of "Pocket Legends" for Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system, as well as Windows . That will make it possible for users on a variety of devices to play together — another first.
"We think these guys have a great shot at getting this done in a way that's never been done before," Koutoupes said.
Next year, the studio plans to license the technology behind "Pocket Legends," allowing other developers to create their own games.
That technology is the company's "secret sauce," because it will allow many players to play together, seamlessly, from all over the world, Gattis said.
Multiplayer online games "are going to come to mobile devices," he said. "They're here now, but they're going to come strongly. There's revenue to be made ... it's the wild, wild West all over again."
"We want to be at the center of that web," he added.
Gattis' company was created as a development team working on a project for game publisher NCsoft Corp. But when the plug was pulled on the project, they scaled down to a self-funded group of six.
Spacetime has since grown to about 10 people, Gattis said, and the company expects to hire 20 more in the next year.
"We've been building a fire with wood, but now it's time to throw gas on it and see what we can do," he said.
bgaar@statesman.com; 912-5932
Now that's awesome possum. ;)