Independent gaming studios have built quite a presence in Los Angeles. Many are well-backed by venture capital firms, so here's a breakdown of the best funded indie game studios in LA in recent years(since 2010).
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Founded by Bitcoin and digital gambling entrepreneur Brock Peirce, Playsino is a social and casino gaming company. The company publishes a number of classic casino games with a social media twist, including Bingo World, Playsino Poker, and Solitaire & Friends. As an internet gambling company Playsino is at the cutting edge of a new space, an industry that is constantly evolving and often constrained by state and federal regulations.
To grow its user base the company has been partnering with legacy casinos to market its games. Legacy casinos have seen declining participation in gambling amongst younger demographics and are keen to get involved in the digital economy. The company expects to have 75 to 100 casino partners by the end of 2014.
Total Funding: $2.5 million
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Many people forget about Cie Games because it’s all the way down in Long Beach, but the gaming studio has been hugely successful. At the center of Cie Games success are two racing games: Car Town Streets and Racing Rivals. Car Town Streets has done so well in fact that it has drawn in over 46 million players. And in addition to being a well-designed game it cleverly incorporates car brands, allowing Cie Games to set up licensing deals with car companies. Those branded content arrangements have helped Cie Games rake in a lot of cash.
Others took note of Cie Games success and this past July the company was bought for $100 million by publically traded mobile gaming company Glu Mobile; also known as the maker of the highly successful ‘Kim Kardashian: Hollwood’ game.
Total Funding: $3 million
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Industrial Toys set out to be a mobile studio that designed games for core gamers- that special type of gamer between hardcore and casual. Its first game Midnight Star is a free-to-play science fiction first person shooter for your phone or tablet.
Industrial Toys is co-founded by Alex Soropian, who also co-founded gaming studio Bungie, the company behind Halo. Unsurprisingly, there is quite a resemblance between Midnight Star and Halo. The game is expected to have several expansion releases soon. To accompany its first game Industrial Toys also released a graphic novel called Midnight Rises.
Total Funding: $5 million
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Nix Hydra is co-founded by Lina Chen and Naomi Ladizinsky because there was a “missing voice” in the gaming industry. Though there were a few games and apps aimed at young females, there were even fewer gaming studios founded by females, so Nix Hydra was created to fill that gap. But the company doesn’t just aspire to be a gaming studio with a bow on top, it also comes with a lot of personality. It wants to be “the place where people who like eccentric, pop and irreverent things gather,” said CEO and co-founder Lina Chen to Built in LA in an earlier interview.
Their debut game Egg Baby has been downloaded over 10 million times and fits the eccentric description quite well. The app strikes the perfect balance between cute and peculiar. Egg Baby’s success led to a $5 million investment from venture capital firm Foundry Group. Nix Hydra will be using the funding to produce two new games.
Total Funding: $5.6 million
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Scopely is perhaps one of the most well known gaming studios in Los Angeles. Consistently at the top of the apps stores, Scopely has not only perfected the art of making its signature arcade style games, but it also has perfected the process of launching them. Last year, the company’s former chief business officer Andy Klienman told us once a game is ready they prime all marketing initiatives to go-off at once, much like a movie launch. The effect is devastating and Scopely’s $8.5 million raise speaks to how their process impressed investors.
As part of that launch process Scopely has an audience of dedicated fans that it can tests games on, and send new releases to. These fans know Scopely’s last game was good and so they are eager to download the next one. That kind of loyalty gets the ball rolling; once a new game has momentum it’s hard to stop. Some of Scopely’s games include Disco Bees, Dice with Buddies, Skee-Ball Arcade, Slots Vacation, Mini-Golf Matchup and Bubble Galaxy.
Total Funding: $8.5 million
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TapZen’s first game launched this summer and is called ‘This Means War.’ The game is a birds-eye view battle strategy game that is free-to-play and is designed for the iPad, though you can play it on your iPhone too. After getting more user feedback from ‘This Means War’ TapZen has plans upcoming for three more games.
And with a $10 million seed fund from Zynga and then a $8 million round raised in June 2014, TapZen is by far and away the best funded gaming studio in Los Angeles. Surprisingly TapZen runs a fairly lean company with only 22 employees. After working at more employee heavy gaming companies CEO Mike Verdu told the Wallstreet Journal that he had an epiphany. “You do not need hundreds of people to create millions of dollars in value.”
Total Funding: $18 million
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