Highlights

Mobile games revenue growth remains higher than pre-pandemic levels (link)

• One year into the COVID-19 crisis, mobile game revenue growth is still higher than it was pre-pandemic, according to Sensor Tower’s latest report
• Downloads fell back to January 2020 levels as early as June, “as consumers looked for new ways to entertain themselves,” the report indicated
• Downloads for hyper-casual games, which were previously booming, fell during the pandemic

Crash Bandicoot: On the Run caps off first week with 27M downloads (link)

• The US was the largest market for installs, with Brazil and Mexico securing second and third place respectively
• In comparison, both Pokémon GO and King’s most recent big-name release, Candy Crush Friends Saga, amassed 10M downloads within their first seven days of being live
• A positive side-effect of Crash’s success on mobile has been an increase in sales for Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time on console, alongside the game’s launch on Nintendo Switch and further digital promotion

League of Legends: Wild Rift does 3M installs on Americas debut (link)

• League of Legends: Wild Rift has generated 2.9M installs as its open beta launched across the Americas
• The game generated $285,000 in player spending on March 29^th, the debut in the Americas

M&A and Capital Raising

CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot maker Dapper Labs raises $305M (link)

• Dapper Labs, the maker of blockchain-based digital collectibles CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot, has raised $305M in a new round of funding led by Coatue, with additional participation from The Chernin Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Venrock, USV, and Version One
• Dapper Labs is also the creator of the Flow blockchain network, an alternative to the Ethereum cryptocurrency network
• The funds will help scale the Dapper Labs team to continue work on NBA Top Shot, expanding the platform to other sports, and helping a new generation of creators develop engaging experiences using blockchain technology, including NFTs

Manticore Games raises $100M for user-generated games in the ‘multiverse’ (link)

• The Company offers Core, a platform using Epic’s Unreal Engine with tools that make it easier for players to create their own games
• The round was led by XN, with additional participation from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, London Venture Partners (LVP), Benchmark, Bitkraft’s new Opportunity Fund, Correlation Ventures, and Epic Games
• The California-based Company will use the funding to expand its teams, broaden the product, and invest in creators and the ecosystem

Enjin raises $18.9M to launch NFT blockchain on Polkadot (link)

• Enjin, the creator of the ERC-1155 nonfungible token (NFT) standard, sold out its $18.9M private sale for Efinity, a next-generation NFT blockchain made for games, apps, enterprises, and creators, built on Polkadot
• The round was led by Crypto.com Capital, DFG Group, and Hashed, with additional participation from Hypersphere, BlockTower, Blockchain.com Ventures, Fenbushi, Iconium, HashKey, Arrington XRP Capital, and DeFi Alliance among others
• While transactions on Ethereum process at a rate of 15 per second, Efinity is set to process transactions every 6 seconds and will use proof of stake to scale to 1,000 transactions per second

Lowkey raises $7M to capture your gameplay moments (link)

• Lowkey has raised $7M in funding for its platform with video editing tools that helps gamers post short snippets on social media
• Casual users and top esports teams in the nation use Lowkey to record, edit, share, and watch highlights from their PC gameplay
• Lowkey recently launched a new mobile app that allows players to use simple creative tools to inject their personality and transform the raw clips into entertaining short videos

AR outfit Blippar secures $5M in pre-Series A funding (link)

• AR tech specialist Blippar has raised $5M in funding in a round led by Chroma Ventures and West Coast Capital
• The Company will use the money to further its position in the augmented reality market and accelerate its growth across the US, Europe and Asia

Graffiti Games raises $1.5M for indie game publishing (link)

• Vancouver-based Graffiti Games has raised $1.5M for indie game publishing
• The funding will help the publisher launch titles such as Blue Fire from Argentina’s Robi Studios
• Graffiti Games has published 10 games with 23 different platform versions

Others

Niantic makes AR demo game Codename: Urban Legends for 5G networks (link)

• Built on the Niantic platform that runs games like Ingress and Pokémon Go, Codename: Urban Legends is a demo of large-scale multiplayer on 5G networks
• The demo is part of Niantic’s Planet-Scale AR Alliance, which aims to develop social augmented reality applications for the future broadband networks
• Telstra has also joined the Niantic Planet-Scale AR Alliance, a group working toward persistent shared AR experiences that create new ways for people to interact and play together in the real world

CD Projekt Red will expand to work on multiple games (link)

• CD Projekt Red has released a new strategy outline to its investors, noting a commitment to work on multiple AAA games and expansions at the same time starting in 2022
• The Company also noted that its future marketing campaigns for games will be shorter and occur closer to release
• CD Projekt Red plans to add more online features to its future games while reassuring that it will remain committed to single-player RPGs like The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077

Niantic teases image of gaming headset (link)

• Niantic is getting into hardware, with CEO John Hanke tweeting an image of what appears to be a pair of glasses that include speakers
• The Company was also a supporter of Google’s Glass technology when it was fully owned by the search engine giant

Supersonic Studios expands to bring hypercasual to China (link)

• IronSource’s publishing solution arm Supersonic has expanded with a new office in China
• Since launching its publishing arm just over a year ago, IronSource has published 22 hyper-casual games, of which 15 have hit the top 10 in the US, according to Supersonic GM Nadav Ashkenazy

Supercell announces trio of new Clash games – Clash Mini, Clash Quest and Clash Heroes (link)

• Supercell has announced three completely new additions to the ‘Clash’ universe in the form Clash Mini, Clash Quest and Clash Heroes
• Each game promises distinctly different gameplay from any previous title as highlighted in the video reveal
• It appears Clash Quest has a match-3 ‘Puzzles and Dragons’ or ‘Legend of Solgard’ style feel to it, Clash Mini seems inspired by the ‘auto chess’ genre, whilst Clash Heroes is a full on action-RPG set in the Clash world

Gaming Public Multiples