Courtside Ventures’ Post

Social sports gaming is the future media business model for leagues around the world and it starts with the phone for mass adoption. Digital goods and in-app advertisements in a gaming environment will one day make up a considerable share of GenZ captured value alongside OTT or cable subscriptions ☝ #gaming #nextgenmedia

Exciting update ahead! We're thrilled to unveil our second #DemoDay via Zoom, providing #game developers, #gaming service providers, and members of the gaming ecosystem an exclusive platform to showcase their groundbreaking innovations. Following the success of our first event, which surpassed our expectations with an abundance of game developers, and buoyed by the positive feedback from participants, we've opted to host a second Demo Day. This decision ensures that all creators have the chance to showcase their products to potential investors. At this event, we've decided to widen our product and investor reach, welcoming representatives from Israel, who will join investors and developers from Europe and the United States as participants. If you're a gaming innovator poised to leave your mark, the Subscrible Demo Day is your gateway to connecting with prominent investors, paving the way for the next significant leap in the gaming industry's evolution. Mark your calendars! The event is scheduled for May 28th at 16:00 UTC. To guarantee each project receives ample attention from our esteemed investor panel, we'll be selecting only 10 participants. Applications will be accepted until noon CET on May 22. The Games Fund, Xsolla, BITKRAFT Ventures, Play Ventures, Sisu Game Ventures, Hiro Capital, would you like to join? For more information and participation follow the link: https://lnkd.in/dZNPQbF9

Game funding is back! Gaming's challenges are still here. Q1 2024 Funding for Gaming: $594m (+94% QoQ) across 124 deals (+28%) (Konvoy). Good news all around, and you can bet that a lot of the funding went into new studios created by the folks who found themselves on the industry's list of it-would-be-funny-if-it-wasn't-so-horrible insanely massive, reckless layoffs. This is also good news. More money being funneled into scrappier, more daring places. But this is only money well spent if these studios are leaning into the net-new innovations that are driving the next generation of onboarding, monetization, retention, creation, player rewards, etc. Web3 + AI + UGC. There's still tons of room for $60 premium downloads, that's never going away and nor should massive, narrative-driven set pieces and open worlds. Nor $20 indie snacks. But the top platform and also content investments in Q1 show the obvious trend: web3, the connector of AI and UGC, owned the lists. To boot, Konvoy sees a rebound this year to a new record high in gaming, a hefty jump from 2023. Some good news at a dark time when the industry is looking for its path forward. https://lnkd.in/dbG-mJXC

Valuable Q1 gaming market report from the Konvoy team! 🙏 If you're interested in where the investment money is going in gaming, check it out! Great Sunday morning read 🤓 TLDR; 2024 showing increased investment as gaming continues to grow 🚀 On trends: Bytedance (TikTok owner) seems to be divesting its game related holdings and TikTok potentially being banned in US, I wonder what the future of gaming for TikTok will look like! I'm personally very bullish on other social and entertainment platforms pushing more into gaming like we are seeing with Discord Apps, Netflix' continued investment into games, and Telegram hinting at game integrations similar to WeChat in China! Hot take: Smart TV's becoming full 'cloud gaming consoles' will be a future innovation I foresee happening. Just buy a wireless controller and play games on your TV, disrupting PC and console gamers as gaming tech moves into 'one screen' solutions! The future of gaming is looking exciting!!! 🌞 Gratitude again goes to the Konvoy team, and Jackson V. for sharing, where I initially saw the post. #gaming #reports #innovation #growth #market #entertainment #investment #fundraising #invest #money #venturecapital #venture #media #platforms #tiktok #sunday #read

In today's digital economy, mobile games play a crucial role in driving innovation, engagement, and economic growth. They aren't just about entertainment; they create jobs, foster creativity, and connect billions of people globally. As we embrace this digital transformation, the importance of mobile games continues to rise, offering endless opportunities for developers, players, and investors alike. At Leeg, we recognize this potential and are committed to revolutionizing the mobile gaming landscape in emerging markets. By providing a platform for competitive play and real-time rewards, we're not only enhancing the gaming experience but also contributing to the digital economy's growth. Join us in this exciting journey and be part of the future of mobile gaming. #MobileGames #DigitalEconomy #Innovation #Leeg #TechGrowth #FutureOfGaming #DigitalTransformation #InvestInLeeg #startup #gaming #investment

Business of games: 12 biggest funding rounds, partnerships, and trends from the last week 🕹️ Investment round-up details for June 3rd week, 245 1. Tripledot acquires Zephyr Mobile 2. Pengu creator Slay raises $5M for social gaming platform 3. Megamod raises $1.9M for user-generated content platform 4. Farworld Labs raises $1.75M for Web3 mobile gaming ecosystem 5. Narwhal Accelerator injects six-figure funding into game dev tool Magify 6. Florian Jauffrineau (ex-TapNation VP) founded a new studio, Good Games 7. Animoca invested in the seed SAFT round for Saltwater Games’ $XR token. 8. Second World Games launches Fantasy Troop and raises $3M in token presale 9. Verve Acquires Jun Group, A Mobile Video And Gaming Network, For $185 Million 10.Mystic Forge has announced the successful closure of a €2M funding round led by ForsVC and ROM Utrecht Region. 11. Digital educator Brainspark Games has raised £1.4 million from a combined angel investment and grants from Innovate UK 12. CodeDev: The Unreal Guys, a new studio based in London founded by chairman Rik Alexander, CEO Myke Parrott, and CTO Ryan Woodland Top Trends from last week: 1. Unity is "undoing so many of the missteps" made as new CEO Matthew Bromberg changes company culture. 2. NVIDIA became the world's most valuable company, with its market value hitting $3.3 trillion. 3. Squad Busters generates $28 million in first three weeks.    #gamingindustry #gamedesign #mobilegames #gamedevelopment #gamedev #videogames #gaming #useracquisition #growth #UA #revenue #data #icartic #gamedeveloper #indiedev #unity3d #madewithunity #businessofgames

Presenting GR8 Tech, Main Stage Sponsor of the upcoming Prague Gaming & TECH Summit, and their CTO Artur Ashyrov, who will be speaking at the Summit in an exclusive 1on1 session about Engineering Excellence. 👇 Read more details from Artur himself in this interview highlighting GR8 Tech's innovative strategy, and secure your spot to meet him in person in Prague! 🙏 Thank you Artur and GR8 Team for this insightful interview! #praguegt #prague2024 #sponsors #interview #hipthers #igaming #engineering

 Uniting the Gaming Community: A New Era of Collaboration The gaming landscape is fragmented, with players scattered across various leagues and platforms. At Destruction Labz, we're aiming to bridge this divide and create a unified space for gamers and brands to connect. Our platform (One Shot) will offer a streamlined framework that makes it easy for major brands to enter the gaming world and engage with players in unprecedented ways. With the growing trend of gaming companies opening up their ecosystems to creators, the potential for brand visibility and player monetization has never been higher. We're committed to becoming the go-to platform for gamers to showcase their skills, build their brands, and connect with like-minded individuals. Let's unite the gaming community and create a more vibrant, collaborative ecosystem. #Gaming #Community #Startup

Live Aware #Labs Secures $4.8M to Revolutionize #Gamer Insights with AI-Powered Feedback Platform Live Aware Labs announced today that it has closed a $4.8 million seed funding round. Transcend led the round, with a16z Games Speedrun, Lifelike Capital and several angel investors participating. The company plans to use the funding to build out its community feedback platform, which is currently in use at several gaming studios and allows them to capture and analyze player feedback at scale. Live Aware’s AI-powered platform not only compiles feedback data, but also provides actionable insights for developers. According to Live Aware, this helps developers build an engaged community of gamers through the whole development process, as well as understand what their community thinks and wants. It also improves game quality as it can incorporate feedback through the whole process, from early development to post-launch operations and requires zero integration. Sean Vesce, Live Aware CEO, told GamesBeat in an interview, “At its core, Live Aware is all about empowering game developers to truly understand and act on player feedback at scale. In an industry where the alignment of developer vision and player expectations is crucial, we’re providing a tool that can make a real difference in creating market-defining #games. It’s about building with your audience, not in spite of them.” Improving a game’s chances of success Live Aware is planning to build out its platform’s tools for developers, including the expansion of its sources of information and multiplayer insights, as well as integrating newer technologies. “Ultimately, our goal is to empower developers of all sizes to create amazing games that truly resonate with their audiences, and this funding is going to help us accelerate that mission.” Andrew Sheppard, general partner at Transcend, said in a statement, “Live Aware’s real-time feedback platform is transforming how developers improve game quality and speed up production. Their innovative approach to capturing player insights and vision for revolutionizing game development best practices aligns perfectly with our mission to support the boldest entrepreneurs shaping the future of gaming. With early traction from leading studios already in hand, we believe Live Aware will play a key role in helping studios build more engaging, successful titles.” According to Vesce, Live Aware is also evolving to include other sources of information: “We’re integrating data from multiple channels – not just player commentary, but conversations from places like Discord, results from surveys and more to provide a holistic view of player experiences.

Business of games: 11 biggest funding rounds, partnerships, and trends from the last week 🕹️ Investment round-up details for June last week 1. King purchases AI firm Peltarion 2. Atari buys Surgeon Simulator from TinyBuild 3. Redacted raises $10M for Web3 entertainment ecosystem 4. New studio 2weeks to focus on prototyping and bite-sized games 5. CyberAgent has struck a deal to acquire NitroPlus for $104.1 million 6. LinQ raises $2.3 million in seed funding to publish real-money games 7. Pullup Entertainment acquires minority stakes in Uppercut and Rundisc 8. Scaffold secures $1.5 million to support game startups in Canada’s Alberta 9. Nodwin to acquire German gaming company Freaks 4U for Rs 271 Cr ($32.6 million) 10. OV Entertainment Group acquires co-development studio Kokku and tech firm 3OGS 11. K-ID raises $45M as series A, to help game devs speedrun the child safety compliance puzzle Top trending news from last week: 1. BAFTA bringing in experts for initial votes on Game Design and Technical awards 2. Netmarble is migrating its Marblex platform to Immutable 3. Embracer clears $300m in debt 4. Rockstar turned down making GTA and Red Dead Redemption films, transmedia turned down   #gamingindustry #gamedesign #mobilegames #gamedevelopment #gamedev #videogames #gaming #useracquisition #growth #UA #revenue #data #icartic #gamedeveloper #indiedev #unity3d #madewithunity #businessofgames #gamefunds