Plarium
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Social/Mobile games |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Avi Shalel Gabi Shalel Illya Turpiashvili Haim Turpiashvili Ivan Vorobeychyk Michael Morgovsky Yaron Hakimi |
Number of employees | 1,000 (2016) |
| Website | www.plarium.com |
Plarium is a mobile, social, and web-based game developer, known for massively multiplayer online (MMOs) games, including Total Domination,[1] Soldiers, Inc.,[2] Sparta: War of Empires,[3] and Stormfall.[4] Founded in 2009, Plarium is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel with offices in Israel, Ukraine, UK, and the United States.[5] The company’s social games are available on Facebook, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki and Mail.Ru, and its mobile games are available on iOS and Android devices.
Plarium has previously employed BAFTA award winner, Jesper Kyd, known for his work on the video games such as Assassin's Creed and Borderlands, to compose the music for their own games.[6]
In November 2012, Plarium released Stormfall: Age of War, one of the fastest growing social games on Facebook.[7] In 2013, Facebook recognized Soldiers, Inc. as one of the top social games of the year.[8]
History
Plarium was founded in 2009 and started out by developing games for the eastern European casual gaming market, such as Farmandia on the Russian social network VKontakte. In 2011, Plarium began developing Massively Multiplayer Online strategy games, and in February of that year the company released Total Domination, reaching 20 million users.[9]
Reception
Plarium's Stormfall: Age of War has made "Top 20 Facebook apps" chart during its 2012 launch, and was one of the fastest growing Facebook apps by monthly active users at that time.[10] Facebook's Director of Game Partnerships Sean Ryan called it a "beautiful-looking game" when it launched in November 2012.[11]
In 2013, Facebook has named Soldiers, Inc. as one of the best new social games of the year.[12] VentureBeat mentioned Plarium in March 2014 as one of the standalone gaming companies prioritizing social games on the Facebook platform. Plarium players are currently averaging three sessions a day on Facebook.[13]
In 2014, Plarium was named one of Europe's most promising startups by Wired UK journalist Madhumita Venkataramanan, speculating that the company will be Israel's next billion-dollar company if it goes public in 2015.[14]
In 2014, Facebook's Director of Platform Partnerships, Julien Codorinou mentioned Plarium as one of the top global gaming companies on the Facebook platform.[15]
On November 10, 2015 Plarium has licensed characters of Alien vs. Predator from 20th Century Fox to add them to Plarium's Soldiers Inc. game.[16]
Plarium games
| Farmandia | 2010 | |
| Total Domination: Nuclear Strategy | 2011 | Browser |
| Pirates: Tides of Fortune | 2012 | Browser |
| Stormfall: Age of War | 2012 | Browser |
| Total Domination Reborn | 2013 | iOS and Android |
| Soldiers Inc. | 2013 | Browser, iOS and Android |
| Sparta: War of Empires | 2014 | Browser |
| Stormfall: Rise of Balur | 2015 | iOS and Android |
| Nords: Heroes of the North | 2015 | Browser, iOS and Android |
| Vikings: War of Clans | 2015 | iOS and Android |
Sources
- ^ Plarium aims to reproduce Facebook success with Total Domination: Reborn on iOS, Venture Beat
- ^ Where Alien vs. Predator meets Israel’s gaming industry, Times of Israel
- ^ Animation, Sound and Scoring: How Plarium Brought Sparta to Life, Gamasutra
- ^ Plarium launches new version of smash-hit Stormfall on mobile, Venture Beat
- ^ "Plarium expands to London". gamesindustry.biz. January 16, 2016.
- ^ "Jesper Kyd: Music Serves the Same Purpose Regardless of the Platform". GameSauce.org. July 18, 2014.
- ^ "Tech roundup / Plarium gaming company scores a Top 20 Facebook hit". Haaretz.com. March 15, 2013.
- ^ "Facebook Games of the Year 2013". Facebook.com. December 9, 2013.
- ^ "Russia-focused online games developer eyes new markets". Reuters.com. July 11, 2012.
- ^ "CityVille 2, Subway Surfers, Stormfall, Snapchat, Twitter and more on this week's top 20 Facebook apps growing by MAU". Inside Facebook. November 26, 2012.
- ^ "Israel's Plarium debuts graphically rich hardcore Stormfall game on Facebook (exclusive)". VentureBeat. October 31, 2013.
- ^ "Facebook names its top games of 2013". VentureBeat. October 9, 2013.
- ^ "Why one studio is still plugging away on new Facebook games". VentureBeat. March 13, 2014.
- ^ "Europe's hottest startups 2014: Tel Aviv". Wired.co.uk. August 1, 2014.
- ^ "With Hostilities Over, DLD Kicks Off in Tel Aviv". Wall Street Journal. September 16, 2014.
- ^ "'Alien vs. Predator' Coming to Facebook Game". Variety.com. September 14, 2015.