Product Overview: FireFly Studio, Unknown Worlds, Digital Legends and KobGames
Weekly digests 43 & 44 have brought us new M&A deals.
Let’s look at some of the biggest products from the perspective of core & meta gameplay, and monetization mechanics.
Devolver diversifying their PC portfolio, Activision Blizzard enriching midcore mobile portfolio. Meanwhile, Krafton enters the big segment of PC-simulators.
Dodge Roll, Nerial, FireFly Studio, Unknown Worlds (PC&Console games)
US-based PC game developer Unknown Worlds has 5 released games on Steam (>$103M total revenue since 2006) – action and adventure games in a natural setting.
Their biggest game is Subnautica (>$80M total revenue) is a first-person adventure with simulation mechanics.
— Core gameplay is swimming in the ocean using underwater equipment and weaponry. Players explore new locations, animals, collect artifacts to research in the submarine. Also, some of the animals are predators which the player should kill using weaponry.
— Meta gameplay is the crafting of equipment and weaponry for swimming.
— Monetization is based on a paid model where the original price is $29.99. Plus, retained players can buy DLCs with an original soundtrack for $3.99.
UK-based PC game developer FireFly Studio (>$42M total revenue since October 2001) is known for its Stronghold series. The main revenue driver is their Stronghold Crusader 2 (>$20M total revenue since 2014) – core strategy in a medieval setting.
— Core gameplay is a castle city builder where players create farming, military, and science buildings.
— Meta gameplay is tactics-based RTS battles against other players. Players use armies that they create in military buildings, and science to upgrade their characteristics.
— Monetization is based on a paid model where the original price is $79.99. Plus, retained players can buy DLCs with PvE campaigns for $9.99.
US-based PC game developer Dodge Roll (>$28M total revenue since December 2014) has the main revenue driver Enter the Gungeon (>$20M total revenue) – core pc action game mainly distributed on Steam.
— Core gameplay is top-down roguelike action where players move and shoot demons in different dungeons. Once in a while, they battle with a boss.
— Meta game play is looting the weaponry to beat different demons.
— Monetization is based on a paid model where the original price is $14.99. Plus, retained players can buy DLCs with a comics book for $1, and an original soundtrack for $0.5
UK-based PC&Mobile game developer Nerial (>$800K total revenue since July 2015) has been known for their Reigns series. The biggest of them is Reigns (>$500K since 2016).
— Core gameplay is a choices-based puzzle where players choose what to do with incoming cards (accept / ignore).
— Meta gameplay rpg-based adventures where players need to have the right card-deck to complete quests.
— Monetization is based on a paid model where the original price is $9.99. Plus, retained players can buy DLCs with an original soundtrack for $1.99.
Digital Legends, KobGames (Mobile games)
Spain-based mobile game developer Digital Legends has their biggest game Respawnables ($11M total revenue since March 2014) – a core shooter with 15% of the audience coming from the US, and another 22% from Brazil, Thailand, Canada, and France.
— Core gameplay is a third-person PvP shooter game. Players can choose one of two modes: battle royale with 5 players on the map (1 vs all), or classic 5×5 (team vs team).
— Meta gameplay is PvE missions to gain resources and upgrade equipment, weaponry. This allows for better character damage, defense, and quickness.
— Monetization is based on a hard currency which players buy to purchase weaponry and equipment.
Russian-based KobGames (>70M total installs since 2020) has 2 biggest hypercasual games Smashers.io, Cookie Carver with 40% of audience coming from Brazil, India and Indonesia.
- Smashers.io (34M installs) – hypercasual arcade game with action mechanics.
— Core gameplay is a top-down .io-arena where players beat other characters to grow their character.
— Meta gameplay is simple skins & weapons customization.
— Monetization is interstitial ads after each level and rewarded ads to get premium skins.
- Cookie Carver (30M installs) – hypercasual action game.
— Core gameplay is top-down action with game modes based on the popular Netflix series “Squid game”: physics puzzle, arcade races, jumping runners, and hide’n’seek arenas.
— Monetization is interstitial ads after each level.
Written by Artur Davydenko,
Venture Partner at Flyer One Ventures, CRO at HoneyLab
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