MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Midverse Studios, founded by mobile/social gaming industry veterans Rizwan Virk and Mitch Liu, introduces its new mobile games initiative, INVEST+PUBLISH. In this new “Global Launch” program, Midverse capitalizes on the company’s unique position as pioneers in user acquisition and mobile game development. This new program will identify new innovative mobile developers and help them bring their apps to the global market.
"The mobile gaming eco-system has become very crowded, and for emerging developers to reach their full potential, they need help - not just financial, but also strategic - and existing mobile publishers aren't doing the job,” said Mitch Liu, co-founder and president, Midverse Studios. “The traditional publisher-developer model focuses on short-term one game ROI and not on long-term studio success.”
For the INVEST+PUBLISH program Midverse is looking for innovative mobile game studios, whose games have potential to leverage existing well known Hollywood and new original intellectual property. Partners for the INVEST+PUBLISH program begin a strategic relationship with Midverse Studios. This program includes three components:
- Strategic investment in the developer
- Multi-game publishing deal, leveraging Midverse cross-promotion technology
- Assistance in licensing Hollywood properties to match with their games
"Both Imaginary Games, with their original IP, and Disruptor Beam, with their major licenses including Game of Thrones and Star Trek, are doing incredibly innovative things with mobile content,” said Rizwan Virk, co-founder and CEO, Midverse Studios. “We look forward to making more announcements along these lines as we onboard more INVEST+PUBLISH partners in the near future.”
Midverse announced the first two developers to be part of the INVEST+PUBLISH program, Disruptor Beam and Imaginary Games.
Disruptor Beam
Based in the Boston area, Disruptor Beam (www.distruptorbeam.com) is an award-winning game company best known for its hit social and mobile game Game of Thrones Ascent, which is based on the popular HBO Series and has amassed more than 6 million players. The company is currently working on its second major title, Star Trek Timelines.
As part of the program, Midverse invested in the company, will be joining its Board of Directors, and established a multi-game publishing relationship with the company.
"As one of the members of the INVEST+PUBLISH program, we’re looking forward to working with Midverse Studios, a partnership that will complement our community-centric approach to mobile game development,” said Jon Radoff, CEO and founder, Disruptor Beam. “We value Midverse’s expertise, which goes beyond just development insight to also user acquisition and retention. Our first major game, Game of Thrones Ascent, has already been hugely successful on mobile platforms, but we are looking to expand our reach even further with future games and with Midverse’s counsel.”
Imaginary Games, Inc.
Based in Vancouver, BC, Imaginary Games, Inc. (https://www.facebook.com/imaginarygames) is an award-winning studio that has created a set of unique characters for its upcoming collectible card game, Afterland. The characters represent a supernatural carnival, a combination of creepy gothic and playful horror, and have earned Imaginary Games many fans worldwide, even before the game has been released. Imaginary Games was recently awarded a grant by the Canada Media Fund for “development of innovative, interactive digital media content.”
As part of the program, Midverse invested in the company, will be joining its Board of Directors, and established a multi-game publishing relationship with Imaginary Games, Inc.
"Midverse is an excellent partner for Imaginary Games because of their deep expertise in user acquisition and strategic positioning for visibility on mobile,” said Chris Powell, co-founder, Imaginary Games. “With their business focus and our creativity, we’re looking forward to partnering together through INVEST+PUBLISH to navigate through the publishing process as we bring Afterland to market.”
For more information about INVEST+PUBLISH, game developers can check out the Midverse Studios website at www.midversestudios.com, or e-mail partners@midversestudios.com.
About Midverse Studios
Based in Mountain View, Calif., Midverse Studios was founded by Rizwan Virk and Mitch Liu, industry experts who were an integral part of the TapJoy founding team and developed one of the first successful free-to-play mobile games, Tap Fish, Gameview Studios was acquired by Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA. Midverse is funded by top-tier Silicon Valley venture capitalists and angel investors such as IDG Ventures and Signia Ventures. For more information, visit http://www.midversestudios.com/.