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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Take-Two Interactive is in talks to sell its adtech division Chartboost.</li><li>The sale aligns with Take-Two's focus on premium or "AAA'' gaming assets.</li></ul>Take-Two Interactive, the video games giant behind franchises like "NBA 2K24" and "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/grand-theft-auto-6-release-date-set-for-fall-2025-2024-5">Grand Theft Auto</a>," is in talks to sell its adtech division Chartboost.The company plans to offload Chartboost to streamline its focus on premium or "AAA'' gaming, according to multiple people familiar with the process. These people asked for anonymity to protect their business relationships; their identities are known to Business Insider.Adtech companies AppLovin and LoopMe have emerged as potential buyers for the Chartboost assets, the people said. Chartboost's acquisition talks with these companies are not finalized and could still change or fall apart.Take-Two declined to comment. AppLovin and LoopMe did not respond to requests for comment.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gta-6-release-date-pc-console-take-two-ceo-2024-6">Take-Two</a> acquired Chartboost through its 2022 $12.7 billion purchase of the mobile gaming company <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/take-two-interactive-to-buy-zynga-in-12-7-bln-deal-1031090582">Zynga</a>. Zynga had only <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-pick-7-mobile-ad-firms-as-acquisition-targets-2021-2021-4">bought Chartboost</a> a year earlier for approximately $250 million. Zynga has built popular gaming franchises like "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/classic-board-games-play-online-download-mobile-multiplayer">Words With Friends</a>," "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/farmville-leaving-facebook-by-end-of-2020-zynga-2020-9">FarmVille</a>," and "Two Dots."Chartboost offers technology that helps mobile app developers earn money from their apps and acquire new users through mobile ads. When acquiring Chartboost, Zynga <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2022/01/17/self-control-why-zynga-bought-chartboost-then-was-bought-by-take-two/?sh=45e1c6df3b67">previously said </a>it had gained more control over how its games made money and could retain more ad revenue, versus outsourcing to a third-party vendor, where it would have to pay additional fees.Zynga began telling advertising customers recently that it intended to offload campaigns booked and managed through Chartboost to rival AppLovin, a person familiar with the matter said. AppLovin has expressed an interest in acquiring some of Chartboost's assets, two separate sources said. Those include its demand-side platform, which advertisers use to place their ad buys, and its mediation technology, which helps advertisers identify the best value ad networks for their campaigns.AppLovin has been one of the adtech sector's soaraway successes, and its stock is up more than 343% this year. It has a market capitalization of almost $58 billion, putting it on a par with industry darling <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-trade-desk-adtech-ad-cookies-uid-2024-2">The Trade Desk</a>, with a market cap of around $61 billion at the time of writing.AppLovin offers a similar, but larger, business to Chartboost — offering developers adtech to make money from their mobile games and find new users. It's also expanded its offering beyond apps to areas like streaming TV advertising.Elsewhere, the UK-based <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mayfair-equity-partners-acquire-majority-stake-loopme-2022-1">private-equity-owned adtech company LoopMe</a> has looked at acquiring Chartboost's ad exchange as it plans to expand its footprint in the US and bolster the sell-side of its business. Maggie Mesa, Chartboost's former senior vice president of global supply and partnerships, will shortly join LoopMe to steer these efforts, said two people familiar with the matter.LoopMe, which took a majority investment from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mayfair-equity-partners-acquire-majority-stake-loopme-2022-1">Mayfair Equity Partners</a> in 2022, told BI then that it planned to pursue acquisitions and a possible initial public offering.Take-Two has indicated in recent earnings calls that while advertising remains important to its mobile gaming assets, the company is more focused on deriving revenue directly from consumers.In its most-recent quarter, Take-Two said its mobile segment increased net bookings by mid-single digits and that this was partially offset by declines in its hyper-casual portfolio — games that tend to rely more on advertising.Adtech deal activity has picked up over this year. There were 58 adtech transactions by the end of the third quarter, according to investment bank LUMA Partners, up 49% on the same period in 2023. LUMA Partners said the deal flow largely reflected sector consolidation as companies merged to gain scale or enter new geographies and markets.

Gaming giant Take-Two is in talks to sell its Chartboost adtech division

<ul><li>Studio Sirah plans on developing games that feature Indian mythological and historical content.</li><li>Its first title is ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’, a card battler game.</li><li>The startup plans on bringing more such games with Indian content to the global audience.</li></ul>Bengaluru-based Studio Sirah plans to bring the Indian mythological world into gaming with its first title ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’, a card battling game. To develop its first title, Studio Sirah raised $830,000 in a round of funding led by Lumikai, an Indian gaming-focused venture capital fund. The startup also plans on releasing more titles in the future that will be inspired by Indian mythologies and history. Studio Sirah was founded by two brothers, Prateek Shah and Abhaas Shah who grew up playing games such as Contra, Age of Empires, Civilization, and Hearthstone. The gaming studio was founded with an aim to bring games that feature Indian content for not just the Indian audience but the global community as well. Studio Sirah will focus on developing mid-core games which are games that have a hardcore theme but can be played in a short time. “We didn’t see any good Indian content that we would like to play as gamers. There are a lot of hypercasual and casual games, but these are not the games that appeal to us,” Abhaas Shah was quoted as saying by VentureBeat. Abhaas also highlighted how the Indian mythologies are still very popular in the country through TV shows. With its games, Studio Sirah hopes to bring a modernised version of these stories to gamers globally. The game Kurukshetra: Ascension will be the first title from Studio Sirah, and it will be a card battler based on the epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. In these kinds of games, the central theme is card battling. “Earn hundreds of unique cards and outplay your opponents in thrilling online duels. Battle mythical monsters and ancient gods in a legendary campaign of ascension where your decisions determine the fate of the universe,” reads the game’s description on the website. The game will also feature fictionalised stories and characters with the focus on “strategic gameplay, immersive art, and a deep progression system.” It will also have heavy themes of philosophical and religious thought. Kurukshetra: Ascension will be available on both mobile and PC when it launches. It is available for pre-registration now on Studio Sirah’s official website. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/tim-cooks-last-major-product-launch-as-apple-ceo-could-be-ar-glasses/articleshow/85760766.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Apple CEO Tim Cook’s last major product launch could be AR glasses</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/apple-is-expected-to-release-its-latest-flagship-iphone-13-series-in-september-/slidelist/85758235.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">iPhone 13 series: Everything we know so far</a>

Bengaluru based Studio Sirah raises $830,000 to develop India-first mobile games — ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’ will be the first title

<ul class="summary-list"><li>ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant which owns TikTok, is courting European developers as it looks to mobile games as a means to bolster its growing popularity.</li><li>At a gaming conference in London on Monday, a ByteDance exec dropped hints about the firm's thinking on a casual gaming platform akin to the instantly playable games available on Facebook or Snapchat. </li><li>ByteDance is already known to be working on standalone games, but industry sources said the firm was mulling integrating casual gaming directly into TikTok.</li><li>Industry sources added that ByteDance is also looking to acquire UK studios. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant which owns viral video app TikTok, is courting European game developers and tech providers as it looks to move more seriously into mobile gaming.The Chinese firm sent a number of executives to the Pocket Gamer Connects conference in London on Monday, an annual gathering of mobile game developers, publishers, and investors.All sought meetings with local developers, publishers, and technology providers, according to listings in a private networking tool seen by Business Insider.Several of the ByteDance gaming executives listed as attending the conference were only hired in 2020, signalling a ramp-up in games hiring.ByteDance's senior overseas director of business, Tom van Dam, spoke to an audience of developers about the rise of hypercasual games - low-commitment mobile games mostly funded by ads. Although van Dam wouldn't comment directly on ByteDance's plans, he hinted that the company was thinking about an instant games-style platform.Instant games refer to lightweight games that can be opened directly inside another app.Snap Games allow games to run inside Snapchat, while Facebook Instant Games lets people play inside the News Feed or the Messenger app. Currently there is no way to play instant games inside TikTok.Van Dam said during the talk on Monday: "I think the platforms that have been involved in instant gaming have not done a very good job unlocking the power of the platforms to use … This was years ago, people have had time. Let's do it a little bit better, and a little bit faster."Asked whether TikTok would launch an instant games platform, van Dam declined to comment. Industry sources with knowledge of the matter said ByteDance was considering integrating such a platform into its hyper-popular video app TikTok, meaning app users could play lightweight casual games inside the app.They also confirmed ByteDance was planning to launch standalone mobile games.Van Dam dropped another hint in a discussion about Chinese regulatory issues that make it difficult for Western developers to bring their games to China. A government crackdown means that game companies require licenses to launch, for example, if they require in-app purchases or other money-making mechanisms.Van Dam said the restriction doesn't apply to ad-funded "hypercasual" games. "That barrier that exists for traditional developers with [in-app purchases] and having to get a license and a partner locally to do it for them, that barrier is not there, or less there," he said.Western developers should, he suggested, focus on the hypercasual gaming market. "Then the problem becomes, how do you acquire enough traffic and monetize effectively ... You probably want to find a partner who can drive traffic for you," he said.Although van Dam added that he wasn't there "to do advertisement" for ByteDance, it's clear that ByteDance could help developers market their mobile games to a mass audience through any of its popular apps.<a href="https://www.appannie.com/en/go/state-of-mobile-2019/">According to an App Annie</a> report from 2019, mobile games account for three-quarters of all consumer spend on app stores, with Chinese and US gamers leading the away. According to the report, Chinese consumers spent almost $30 billion on mobile games in 2018. US consumers spent about half that amount.It is, perhaps, little wonder that Chinese tech giants such as Tencent and ByteDance want a slice of those revenues with their own in-app games, which wouldn't require <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/tencent-wechat-mini-program-push-takes-aim-at-apple-and-google.html">directing users and revenues off their services</a> to app stores owned by Apple and Google. ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/brand-investment-esports?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=videogames&amp;itm_campaign=brand-investment-esports"></a>

China's ByteDance is courting European game developers, and sources say it's mulling a casual games platform for TikTok to rival Facebook and Snapchat

<ul><li>StepSetGo was born when one of the founders joked about losing the enthusiasm to workout in the gym every day and pay a hefty amount of money for it. </li><li>They thought to themselves that roles should be reversed and consumers should be paid for working out and achieving their targets. </li><li>Two years later, StepSetGo has added 7 million users on its app and is known for its rewards. </li><li>We catch up with Shivjeet Ghatge, CEO and Co-founder, StepSetGo to further understand the idea behind the app, discuss the challenges of COVID-19, future of the fitness industry and his goals for 2021. </li></ul>StepSetGo, as the name suggests, started out to encourage people to step out and take a walk. However, the COVID-19-induced nation-wide lockdown threw a real curveball on their way and it was time for them to get creative and relook at their approach. Shortly, with some creative ideas and quick execution, the lockdown proved to be a blessing in disguise for the brand. The user engagement (social triggers and gamification triggers) of the application peaked and its user base jumped from 5 million to 7 million after the lockdown. However, the starting of the lockdown, like many other businesses, was the lowest point for StepSetGo. Shivjeet Ghatge, CEO and Co-founder, StepSetGo, shared, “Since our core concept revolved around movement which was not restricted, at the start of the lockdown we didn’t see too much of a spike. In fact, what we did see was a slight decline in the number of total steps taken by our users, which was bound to happen. However, when we rejigged our systems, to adapt to the new circumstances we were all facing, things changed. Once we made that very subtle tweak, we did see quite an uptick in our traction and the number of time users were spending on the application almost doubled. On their strategy behind transitioning from an outdoor app to indoor fitness app, Ghatge added, “It was a two-fold strategy. First, we switched the coin multiplier to reward users more for walking indoors rather than outdoors. Next, we created an ecosystem of games as well as heightened incentivisation. Example; turbo time, which happens a few times a day gives users a chance to earn more coins for every 1000 steps. We also introduced hyper-casual games that unlock more chances by walking.” It all started with a joke StepSetGo was born when the founders thought to themselves, “Why am I paying the gym so much? Getting fit is so hard, the gym should reward me for going!” This joke was the inception of StepSetGo. They thought getting fit was hard enough and finding the motivation to walk into a gym every day is an uphill task. It also requires a lot of patience to see the end result one is aiming for. So, the founders asked themselves what is it that every Indian loves. They came up with a simple solution, “Why not reward users, provide additional motivation and make it fun? We knew there was potential here and went for it, all guns blazing!" Every 1000 steps a user takes is rewarded with 1 SSG Coin. These SSG Coins can be collected over time to claim products and discounts in the in-app Bazaar. Three months into the launch of the app, it had seen 650,000 downloads with no marketing. That’s when the founders knew they had a winner and kept walking. “What has worked for us from the get-go has been ‘word of mouth’ publicity. The freshness and uniqueness of the idea along with the fact that the app works as a highly effective motivation game are what has really helped drive our organic growth, especially through our users. Therefore, so far we haven’t found the need to make heavy investments in marketing,” said Ghatge. In September 2020, StepSetGo entered the top 50 free apps under the Indian 'all' category and reached the second spot in India under the 'health and fitness' category. It also won the Atma Nirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge under the health and fitness category which accelerated the 2-year-old app’s growth and brought it to the forefront. However, for Ghatge, consumer feedback was the biggest win. “For us, the true achievement was the number of users who wrote to us on the goals and targets achieved as well as weight-loss success stories, which we’ve even put up (a few) on the StepSetGo website,” said he. Customer feedback and word-of-mouth helped StepSetGo reach its goal and going forward, it will continue spending on digital mediums to expand its user base. Telling us about the app's first campaign and how PM Modi’s mention helped the app gain organic users, Ghatge said, “Our first-ever marketing campaign was released just recently in November 2020 in time for Diwali. #SSGKeSaathChal was a playful campaign boosted solely through social media channels to just remind people to stay healthy, active and make every step count during the festive season. Finally, not to forget when the Honorable Prime Minister mentions you on Maan ki Baat, no form of marketing could work better than that. From a future perspective as well, we won’t be doing traditional forms of advertising, we believe we can do much better-targeted advertising through online means when we start allocating a dedicated ad budget.” Trends in 2021 Customer sentiment is still fairly divided in the market. There is one set of people that have adapted to the concept of online fitness and then there are the traditional fitness followers who have been waiting to get back to the gym and resume their sessions. As a result, many fitness brands have dabbled with hybrid models that cater to both kinds of cohorts. Ghatge said that it is too early to comment on StepSetGo’s hybrid model’s execution but did agree that hybrid is the future of the fitness industry. He said, “Hybrid is very much the future. The lockdown saw a large chunk of new audiences who had every excuse in the book to not commit to a fitness regimen, suddenly taking the leap due to heightened accessibility (made possible through the virtual fitness boom) and time availability.” However, to sustain this surge in interest, Ghatge said that the fitness apps will have to evolve through collaborations that give more choice to the user. “For most people, convenience is key when it comes to fitness. So, the solution will need to be user-centric, giving them the option of maximum flexibility when it comes to making a fitness choice. For something like this, what could be a possibility is two-three (offline and online) different players coming together to provide this holistic solution. One thing is for sure, each player must have a focused offering. So when multiple players do come together, each one can set a defining functionality that compliments the other, which will inevitably help with growth, acquisition and carving a niche for themselves,” said Ghatge. Vision StepSetGo’s vision is to create an all-encompassing tracking ecosystem that goes well beyond just walking. Elaborating on his goals, Ghatge said, “It's our ambition to be able to map and monitor all physical activity our current and potential users could possibly explore. So whether it's a home workout, kickboxing class at your local fitness centre or Yoga in the park, StepSetGo will be able to track, monitor and reward you for progress made.” StepSetGo would also focus on improving its technology, which Ghatge says, is the app’s core strength. “We are working on using the front camera to authenticate different movements. Internationally we have seen some innovative fitness products like the game on the Nintendo Switch called the Ring Fit Adventure or The Mirror to name a few. We will be moving towards trying to integrate more and more fun and engaging options to motivate people to stick to their fitness goals. And more importantly, you can be sure that all these activities will be gamified and socially integrated inside the StepSetGo ecosystem to keep users motivated,” shared Ghatge. StepSetGo is also looking to close its first investment round and push out all the features that are currently in development. Ghatge said, “These developments will let users record and compete on a lot of other metrics apart from walking. Apart from that, our vision to create an all-encompassing fitness monitoring, tracking and rewarding ecosystem so that no matter what the fitness requirement of a user, StepSetGo will provide a solution and reward that activity. With COVID, as the whole country became more health-conscious and ‘immunity’ became the talk of town, StepSetGo is aiming to grow its revenue by 10x in 2021. “Looking at the market and the enthusiasm towards fitness, we aim to grow by 10x,” Ghatge signed off.

You Searched For "hypercasual games" and got 4 results

Gaming giant Take-Two is in talks to sell its Chartboost adtech division

Lara O'Reilly

Bengaluru based Studio Sirah raises $830,000 to develop India-first mobile games — ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’ will be the first title

Marcia Sekhose

China's ByteDance is courting European game developers, and sources say it's mulling a casual games platform for TikTok to rival Facebook and Snapchat

Shona Ghosh

StepSetGo aims to grow its revenue by 10X in 2021

Karuna Sharma

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You Searched For "hypercasual games" and got 4 results

Gaming giant Take-Two is in talks to sell its Chartboost adtech division

Lara O&apos;Reilly

Bengaluru based Studio Sirah raises $830,000 to develop India-first mobile games — ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’ will be the first title

Marcia Sekhose

China's ByteDance is courting European game developers, and sources say it's mulling a casual games platform for TikTok to rival Facebook and Snapchat

Shona Ghosh

StepSetGo aims to grow its revenue by 10X in 2021

Karuna Sharma

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Buying Guides

Lara O'Reilly