The growth of the game portfolio of Windows Phone is truly remarkable. Ever since it had overtaken BlackBerry in the smartphone race since last year, many gaming companies had decided to give the platform a chance and develop version of their amazing titles for WP. Aside from long-time developers like EA and Gameloft, newer companies like Kiloo, Rovio, and Imangi Studios had also made users happy by bringing their games to WP. Now, another company is planning to jump over soon, as Kabam promises to bring their awesome titles to Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Windows software.
Let’s find out more from the press release below:
JUNE 4, 2014 – SAN FRANCISCO – Kabam, the leader in the western world for free-to-play games for traditional players, today announced a new, broad-reaching agreement to bring its hit franchise games to Microsoft’s rapidly expanding Windows device ecosystem.
As part of the deal, Kabam will deliver its lineup of hit games to Windows tablets and phones over the next year, including Fast & Furious 6: The Game, Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon and The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth. Moving forward, Windows users will be able to play future Kabam games in the same timeframe as other platforms.
“Kabam’s goal is to be the free-to-play games leader across all mobile platforms,” said Kent Wakeford, chief operating officer of Kabam. “Collaborating with Microsoft to put Kabam games on Microsoft mobile devices is a further step toward Kabam’s platform ubiquity.”
Windows Phone is a top three smartphone operating system and, according to IDC, the fastest growing platform among the leading operating systems with 91 percent year-over-year gain in 2013. According to IDC’s mobile phone forecast, Windows Phone stands to grow the fastest among the leading smartphone operating systems with a predicted compound annual growth rate for 2013-2018 of 28.1 percent, driven by a strong Nokia device portfolio as well as the addition of nine new Windows Phone partners.
“Kabam is a leader in free-to-play games with a strong record of delivering game experiences that people love,” said Steven Guggenheimer, corporate vice president and chief evangelist, Developer eXperience and evangelism, Microsoft Corp. “Bringing its existing franchise games as well as future hit titles makes the Windows ecosystem even more robust. In return Kabam will enjoy unmatched monetization opportunities, such as our industry-leading 61 carrier billing connections in 36 markets.”
“Kabam is eager to take advantage of the increasing popularity of Windows devices,” said Kabam Senior Vice President of Business Development Mike DeLaet. “By combining unique Microsoft technologies and merchandising opportunities with our robust games, Kabam and Microsoft will drive new types of innovation that will attract new gamers globally.”
Terms of the partnership are not disclosed. However, the companies said Microsoft will feature all new Kabam games and major updates, and Kabam will include the Windows Store badge alongside other platform partners in its marketing and promotion of Kabam games.
Kabam has experienced massive growth since its founding as a games company a little more than four years ago. The company now has more than 800 employees in offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Kabam generated more than $360 million in revenue in 2013, a 100 percent growth over 2012.
AUTHOR’S VIEWS
I’m very much excited about the arrival of Kabam games to Windows Phone and Windows. We heard that Fast & Furious 6: The Game, Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon and The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth are really wonderful titles that it is currently downloaded by many iOS and Android users. And since Microsoft is dedicated to give the best to their users, I’m sure the collaboration between them and Kabam will be a fruitful one. I just hope that Kabam had already analyzed the current situation with WP and will develop versions of their games for lower RAM devices, which actually comprises more than half of the total number of sold WP devices.
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