Main Article: Scopely
Scopely is a touchscreen entertainment network founded in 2011 based in Los Angeles. Through its developer program, Scopely partners and collaborates with elite game developers and global entertainment companies to bring industry-leading distribution and monetization technology to free to play games.
History[]
Scopely was founded in 2011 by social gaming entrepreneur, Walter Driver, former Applied Semantics co-founder, Eytan Elbaz; former lead software developer on MySpace's Developer Platform, Ankur Bulsara, and startup veteran, Eric Futoran.
In February 2013, Scopely announced the first five partner studios in its developer network. While working with one of Scopely's first partners, Scopely boosted New Zealand Studio Rocket Jump’s Mini Golf MatchUp game to over 10M downloads one month. In 2013, the Scopely grew from 30 employees to 80 and was named by Entrepreneur as one of 30 startups to watch. In 2014, Scopely brought in former Disney Executives Javier Ferreira as Chief Operating Officer and Tim O'Brien as Chief Revenue Officer.
To date, Scopely has released nine games, with Dice with Buddies and Mini Golf MatchUp being early successes. Scopely has had four consecutive #1 iPhone games on the US download chart. In 2014, Scopely announced a long-term strategic publishing partnership with Space Inch, the indie mobile developer behind Disco Bees, Make it Rain and Say the Same Thing. In March 2015, Scopely signed a multi-year partnership with Kung Fu Factory to create mobile games. In May 2015, Scopely signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Digit Games, Ireland's largest games developer.
In July 2015, Scopely brought in former General Manager at Kixeye Bernard Chen as GM & VP of Product. In September 2015, Scopely also hired esteemed analytics executive Steve Seoane as SVP, Publishing Platform.
In August 2015, Scopely ranked #9 on Inc.'s List of the 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America.
Notable Games[]
In January 2012, Scopely launched a #4 game in the App Store, Dice with Buddies. In July 2012, Scopely launched its first fully internal game which hit the #5 spot in the App Store, Jewels with Buddies. In October 2012, Scopely launched Bubble Galaxy With Buddies, which reached the number one overall app in the App Store.
In April 2013, Scopely launched Mini Golf MatchUp. The game was number one in the Apple App Store in 28 countries and the number one app on both the iPhone and the iPad in the U.S. In September 2013, Scopely launched a #1 overall app in the App Store, Wordly. Wordly was the first game with single-player mode developed by Scopely. In November 2013, Scopely launched the only officially licensed Skee-ball game, Skee-ball Arcade which reached the #1 overall App in the App Store.
In June 2014, Scopely launched Slots Vacation, a top-50 grossing game in the App Store. In July 2014, Scopely acquired Space Inch and Andy Ross’ Disco Bees and added Make it Rain to Scopley’s ad network.
In April 2015, Scopely partnered with Hasbro to launch the only officially-licensed Yahtzee game Yahtzee With Buddies on iOS, Android and the Apple Watch. Yahtzee with Buddies saw 1 million downloads in the first four days and over 10,000 downloads an hour.
In August 2015, Scopely partnered with The Walking Dead series creator Robert Kirkman and Skybound Entertainment Skybound Entertainment to create The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, the first free-to-play mobile game based on the wildly popular graphic novels. The game saw 4M downloads in a week, hit the Top 25 Grossing Chart on the Apple Store and became the 6th consecutive #1 game released by Scopely.
Awards[]
- Top 30 Startups to Watch, Entrepreneur Magazine, 2013
- Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Finalists, Ernst & Young, 2013
- Gaming Insiders 30 under 30, Gaming Insiders, 2013
- Empact100, Empact Showcase, "Largest Potential" 2013
- SoCalTech 50 Up and Comers List, 2013
- The Top 100 Startups in LA, 2015
- Scopely ranked #9 on Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Companies in America, 2015