PR_Akamon wins top prize in ‘Who’s got Game’ for best startup in online games

Akamon wins top prize in ‘Who’s GotGame’ for best startup in online gamesThe prize was awarded at the Games Beat 2012 trade fair in San Francisco, aninternational reference event for the videogames industryThe judges emphasized Akamon’s capability to identify untapped marketopportunities before applying a combination of innovative distribution,discipline and executionBarcelona, 12 July 2012 – Akamon Entertainment, the leading international online socialgaming company specializing in traditional games, has won the top prize for best startup inonline games in the world at Games Beat 2012, one of the main meeting points for thevideogames industry and investors in the sector.The judges, among whom were big names from the gaming industry such as Michael Chang,senior director for corporate development at Electronic Arts, Eric Goldberg, managing directorat Crossover Technologies, Ann Burkett, CEO for Games Dojos Accelerator and GordonBellamy, executive director at IDGA, were impressed with how ‘Akamon identified anuntapped market opportunity spanning two geographies, and then applied a rare combinationof distribution innovation, discipline in attacking the opportunity and execution.’ Furthermore,the judges recognized that ‘the initial commercial results suggest that the company canbecome a big fish in a pond with defensible barriers to entry.’Winning the top prize in this international competition is a milestone for the social gamingcompany. In the words of Vincenç Martí, Akamon CEO, ‘to win this competition, which is aworld-wide reference in the gaming industry, and furthermore being the only non-Americancompany amongst the six finalists with executives who have worked with the leadinginternational online gaming companies, reinforces Akamon’s corporate strategy and its policyfor expansion and diversification of channels, while maintaining the shared liquidity andstrength of our global gaming community as one of our hallmarks.”

The finalists included Izelis, founded by former Facebook and Zynga employees who have apassion for traditional games; Loki Studios, a mobile games studio founded by gamers fromStanford; Playmous, publisher and marketer of mobile games; Replay Games, founded byindustry veterans this company recently raised more than 600,000 dollars in its Kickstartercampaign; and Use It Better, a company dedicated to analyzing user experience.The ‘Who’s Got Game’ prize allows Akamon to participate in the next edition of ‘Game DojosAccelerator’, the most recognized accelerator of gaming companies in Silicon Valley, and givesthe company an unbeatable position in front of an audience of investors such as SequoiaCapital, game developers such as Zynga and leading experts in the field of the online gamingand entertainment industry.The prize coincides with the first anniversary of Akamon, founded in July 2011. In its first year,the company, which started out with the Spanish portal Mundijuegos.com, has launched otherlocal portals in Brazil, France and Italy and has established itself on Facebook, with one of itsgames becoming the most played in its category on the social network. Furthermore, thecompany has launched five new games and increased its registered users from 5 to 7 million,as well as closing collaboration deals with leaders in the online social gaming sector in Europeand Latin America.Vicenç Martí represented Akamon in the presentation of candidates at the Games Beat 2012,highlighting the company’s belief ‘in the type of game and regions that are being underserved,namely social and mobile games for southern Europe and Latin America’, and emphasizingAkamon’s commitment to offering a wide range of games adapted to the regional rules of eachmarket and accessible via different channels – local portals, partners’ portals in which itoperates with a white label, social networks, and mobile platforms.***About AkamonAkamon Entertainment Limited is an online social gaming company specialising in traditionalgames, operating in the south of Europe and Latin America via local portals, those of partnersthat are leaders in the online field and Facebook. With its development team based in Valenciaand its business intelligence team in Barcelona, Akamon has a total of 40 employees who arehighly specialised in the online sector.Akamon’s portfolio consists of traditional casino-based local games, such as Tute, Tarot,Roulette, Parcheesi, Poker and Dominoes. All the games incorporate social features and giveplayers the opportunity to be part of a global gaming community where they are onlinetogether and share their gaming experience, whether it be via Akamon’s international portals,

those of its partners or Facebook. Currently, nine of the games are on Facebook and thecompany is working to introduce three new games onto the social network each month, withthe goal of broadening the gaming community and so offering an even better online socialexperience.***For more information, visit http://akamon.com or contact:Georgina Rifé i Domènech – 902 999 343press@akamon.com / Twitter: @AkamonLTD

PR_Akamon wins top prize in ‘Who’s got Game’ for best startup in online games

by Akamon Entertainment on Jul 12, 2012

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

PR_Akamon wins top prize in ‘Who’s got Game’ for best startup in online games Document Transcript