Kabam
| Kabam | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Employees | 650 (2013) |
| URL | www.kabam.com |
Kabam (formerly Watercooler, Inc.) is an interactive entertainment company that develops and publishes massively multiplayer social games (MMSG’s), including Kingdoms of Camelot. Before expanding into gaming, Kabam established itself as a social applications developer with entertainment and sports communities totaling more than 60 million users. Founded in 2006, Kabam has offices in San Francisco and Redwood City, Calif., Austin, Texas, Beijing, China, Saarbrücken, Germany and Luxembourg.
Kabam makes "free-to-play" games for social networking services, its own web site, and other game sites. The company focuses on developing "real games," or games with gameplay mechanics akin to more traditional MMOs. In late 2009, Kabam launched Kingdoms of Camelot, one of the first successful strategy games on Facebook but now the number of players is constantly shrinking (about 60.000).[1]
History
Founded in 2006 by Kevin Chou, Michael Li, Holly Liu, and Wayne Chan, the company originally focused on building community apps for sports and entertainment fans, amassing more than 25 million users on Facebook and other social networks.[2]
In October 2009, Kabam, then Watercooler, secured $5.5 million in Series B funding from Betfair, the world’s largest Internet betting exchange, and Canaan Partners, which participated in the company’s Series A funding in 2007.[3] Kabam appointed Andrew Sheppard as President to manage its worldwide studio operations.[4]
On October 22, 2010, Kabam acquired WonderHill.
On December 20, 2011 Kabam acquired Gravity Bear, creator of the Battle Punks social game on Facebook.[5]
On June 19, 2012, Kabam acquired Wild Shadow Studios, developers of Realm of the Mad God.[6]
On January 27, 2012, Kabam acquired Fearless Studios, a company founded by ex-LucasArts employees.[7]
On September 19, 2012, CEO Chou announced that Kabam is considering an IPO.[8]
On December 3, 2013, Kabam acquired Balanced Worlds [9]
On January 15, 2013, Kabam acquired Exploding Barrel Games [10]
On November 4th, 2013, Kabam shut down servers for the popular game Imperium Galactic Wars http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-10-04-job-losses-as-kabam-closes-imperium-galactic-war
Games and platforms
- Kingdoms of Camelot - Facebook, stand-alone
- Dragons of Atlantis - Facebook, stand-alone
- Imperium Galactic war - stand-alone
- Yitien - stand-alone
- Pirates: Tides of Fortune - stand-alone
- Castlot - stand-alone
- Shadowland Online - stand-alone
- DDTank2 - stand-alone
- Ministry of War - stand-alone
- Clash of The Dragons - stand-alone
- Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon - iOS & Android
- Edgeworld - Facebook, stand-alone
- Crystal Saga-stand-alone
- The Godfather: Five Families - Facebook, stand-alone, kongregate
- Thirst of Night - stand-alone
- Final Eden - stand-alone
- Glory of Rome - Facebook,
- Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North - iOS and Android
- Realm Of The Mad God - realmofthemadgod.com, Kongregate, Steam, stand-alone
- Global Warfare - Facebook
- Trojan War - stand-alone
- Arcane Empires - iOS, Android
- Wartune - Facebook, stand-alone
- Clash Of The Dragons - stand-alone
- The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth - Android and iOS
- The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age - Facebook & Kabam.com
- Fast & Furious 6: The Game - iOS & Android
External links
Sources
- ^ "Playdom Reaches Out to Strategy Gamers with Verdonia". Inside Social Games. June 16, 2010.
- ^ "Sports fantasty social startup Watercooler raises $5.5M". San Jose Business Journal. October 26, 2009.
- ^ "Watercooler raises $5.5M to expand social fantasy sports game business". VentureBeat. October 25, 2009.
- ^ "Kabam Crunch Base profile". CrunchBase. January 10, 2010.
- ^ "Kabam buys Battle Punks social game creator Gravity Bear". VentureBeat. March 29, 2012.
- ^ "Kabam acquires Realm of the Mad God developer". Gamasutra. June 19, 2012.
- ^ "Kabam acquires game studio Fearless Studios led by ex-Star Wars game developers". VentureBeat. January 27, 2012.
- ^ "Kabam Weighs IPO as Game Maker Expands Beyond Facebook". Bloomberg. September 19, 2012.
- ^ "Kabam acquires Balanced Worlds game studio".
- ^ "Kabam Expands Global Studios, Acquires Exploding Barrel Games".
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IsptQgNkvTkvWJSfVZw8xXkOGoYDKrm1NBpPwHnVxRw/mobilebasic?pli=1