Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Swedish Game Tech Companies at E3 2009
1. Swedish Game Tech
A selection of Swedish Game Tech Companies at
E3 in LA 2009
Web: investict.org
Contact: rich.stamm@isa.se
http://investict.org
2. Avalanche Studios Christofer Sundberg
cs@avalanchestudios.se
page 1 Mobile: + 46702442469
http://www.avalanchestudios.se
Avalanche Studios is a games developer During the spring of 2009 we launched
based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company theHunter (www.thehunter.com), which is a
was founded in 2003 by Christofer Sundberg digitally distributed hunting simulator tied to a
and Linus Blomberg. The company is focused social network developed by Emote Games
on development of original IPs based on Ltd. The game is the first alternative business
Avalanche Studios proprietary technology (the model for Avalanche Studios and has proven
Avalanche Engine). The company has to be very successful.
successfully placed original IP projects valued
over $80M with leading publishers over the last We have also secured a major Hollywood
five years, including the 2003 hit Just Cause license which we develop in co-operation with
(www.justcausegame.com). A sequel is a major media group. This project is co-funded
currently in development at the studio. by our licensing partner and we are currently
evaluating different options for this project. The
Even though we've done successful business project will be developed alongside an
we need to create a serious value in the upcoming 2012 movie.
company and are looking for different ways to
fund projects internally and develop new
businessmodels to become even more
profitable and to be able to invest in R&D of
our technology.
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3. Christofer Sundberg
Avalanche Studios cs@avalanchestudios.se
page 2 Mobile: + 46702442469
http://www.avalanchestudios.se
Avalanche Studios was founded in 2003 by
Christofer Sundberg and Linus Blomberg. The
company is a privately held company based in
Stockholm, Sweden and is owned by the two
founders (30%+30%), Mr Blombergs brother
Viktor Blomberg (30%) and Christofer
Sundbergs father Hans Sundberg (10%).
The company has increased it's revenue from
€960k in 2003 to €9.5M in 2007 and showed a
reasonably high profit every year in relation to
the revenue.
Given the current business climate, we don't
expect to show a high profit for our next
financial year. The business is during 2009
focused on further optimizing the organization,
develop new business models and focus on
R&D of the Avalanche Engine.
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4. David Gunnarsson
Division by Zero david.gunnarsson@symbioteq.se
Mobile: + 46702357170
http://jdome.com/
Immersive screen utilising back projection. Development since 2006. One national patent
Main mass-market application inncludes the approved concerning screen, global patent
gaming segment. B2B market potential application concerning stand filed. First round
includes a variety of similation applications. financing secured thorugh local venture capital
(Uppsala Seed Capital).
Significant market potential as a stand alone
product, marketed to the installed base of
home projector; as a bundled product with
projector (ongoing discussions with main
projector manufacturers); and for simulation
applications such as military and commercial
training.
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5. Dr. Mahiar Hamedi
Donya Labs mahiar@donyalabs.com
Mobile: +46734069775
http://www.donyalabs.com
INTRO THE CHALLENGE
Donya Labs is a developer of software for the 3D CAD models are fundamental to the design and
compression of 3D graphic data. The company’s production of a vast number of products used by
proprietary technology is the most advanced solution nearly everyone on a daily basis. As the Product
for 3D data reduction and repair, and its automated Lifecycle Management (PLM) process has emerged
remeshing technology is believed to be the first such and a range of tasks beyond initial design has arisen,
technology to be commercially available. The demands placed on these models have become more
company's flagship product, Simplygon, repairs and complex. More specifically, 3D CAD models are often
reduces the size of 3D models and creates highly too large to be used for functions such as on-line
optimized level-of-detail objects. It is in used by distribution, simulation, visualization, and
customers including Boeing, CCP Games, Disney, collaboration. As a consequence, the PLM industry
Electronic Arts, Evolution Studios, Panasonic, and requires a means to optimize the size and other
Sony. characteristics of these files on a function-specific
basis.
The 3D game development industry faces a similar
challenge. Complex, original 3D game content is
labor intensive and expensive to create. Once
created, however, this content needs to be replicated,
scaled and configured to suit a range of different
visualization requirements, platforms, and
applications. Historically, this work has been
performed in a largely manual fashion, which is quite
costly and inefficient.
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6. Dr. Mahiar Hamedi
Donya Labs mahiar@donyalabs.com
Mobile: +46734069775
http://www.donyalabs.com
DONYA PRODUCTS REPRESENTATIVE CUSTOMER CASES
Donya addresses these challenges with its proprietary Boeing Phantom Works recently licensed Simplygon,
technology for intelligent optimization and size Donya Lab’s software solution for optimization of 3D
reduction of 3D models. This technology is the basis graphics. Phantom Works, Boeing’s advanced R&D
for the company's flagship product, Donya Simplygon. unit, will use Simplygon to optimize CAD models to
Simplygon is the most powerful available software facilitate real-time visualization.
technology for optimization of 3D polygon mesh
models, including high–quality polygon reduction and Texas-based National Oilwell Varco, the world’s
polygon repair features. The product incorporates largest producer of equipment for oil and gas
Donya’s proprietary algorithms for silhouette production, uses Simplygon to manage its 3D CAD
preservation and polygon remeshing. Simplygon can models. The company is able to optimize its models in
be used for automatic creation of 3D models or hours with Simplygon versus weeks when done
scenes that are highly optimized for simulation, or manually, and achieve better accuracy at the same
rendering on any software or hardware platform. time.
Simplygon SDK provides a tool- and format agnostic Swedish game-developer SimBin used Simplygon
means of incorporating the Simplygon technology into during the production of its award-winning racing
existing toolchains. Through the use of the Simplygon games GTR 2 and Race-WTCC. SimBin used
SDK, a range of tasks can be performed, including: Simplygon for automated level-of-detail creation for all
-Pipeline integration of its 3D models in the production pipeline.
-Batch optimization
-Run-time level-of-detail CCP Games, the developer of one of the world’s
-Automatic level-of-detail processing largest online gaming communities, used Simplygon
-Desktop applications for the production of the next generation of its primary
-Additional 3D formats product Eve Online.
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7. Dr. Mahiar Hamedi
Donya Labs mahiar@donyalabs.com
Mobile: +46734069775
http://www.donyalabs.com
ROADMAP Dr. Mahiar Hamedi was previously an electronics
The company is working on a range of extensions and engineer at Altitun and holds a PhD from Linkoping
enhancements to the Simplygon product. These University in Applied Physics. Ulrik Lindahl was
include: previously CTO of Liquid Media, lead programmer at
-Faster GPU-optimized reduction algorithms Refraction Games, and engine architect at O2 Media.
-Further texture reduction Koshiar Hamedi was previously a designer at Sentral
-Extensions to other selected reduction functions in Gothenberg Sweden and holds a degree in design
-Integration of Simplygon into game engines from Univ. Gothenberg. Martin Ekdahl holds an MS in
-Improved optimization of complex CAD models Business from Linkoping Univ. School of Mgmt.
-Extension of automated integration inside PLM
chains Together the owners own more than 75% of the
shares and swedish VC firm Rendera owns 25%. The
The company also has ideas for new products for company currently employs 8 people.
tasks including general optimization of the entire 3D DONYA IP
visualization process. Donya has applied for three patents, of which one has
been granted. The first patent, entitled quot;Creation and
COMPANY INFORMATION rendering of hierarchical digital multimedia data,quot; has
Donya is based it Linkoping, Sweden. The company’s been granted and covers subsequent simplification of
technology was conceived in 2004 by Dr. Mahiar grouped 3D objects. The second patent application
Hamedi, currently VP Technology, and Ulrik Lindahl, covers a method for semi-automatic optimization of
CTO. Together with Martin Ekdahl, Donya’s CEO, and meshes using a pointing device and a graphical
Koshiar Hamedi, VP of Product, they formed the display. The third patent application covers a method
company in 2005 and incorporated in late 2006. for automatic bounded simplification of 3D data.
Donya also has trademarks on quot;Donyaquot;, quot;Simplygonquot;,
and quot;Polypenquot;.
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8. Martin Walfisz
Planeto martin@planeto.com
Mobile: +46705371910
http://www.planeto.com
R. Planeto offers a never-before-seen type of online Mr Robertsson is a highly experienced software
gaming experience to a mass-market audience. By engineer with a passion for agile development
combining simple, traditional gameplay mechanics, methodologies and open source solutions. He has
with a unique and addictive gameplay element, the over 12 years experience leading and working with
company attracts a larger number of customers, and software architecture groups at large corporations, with
retains them for a longer period of time, than its online focus on performance, scalability and high-availability
gaming services. applications. Mr Robertsson leads all technology and
Planeto will be publicly launched in the winter of product development efforts at Planeto.
2009/10.
Planeto is a newly started company, founded by Mr Planeto needs approximately USD 1 million to build
Martin Walfisz and Mr Magnus Robertsson. and launch its first online game, and ensure positive
Mr Walfisz is an accomplished entrepreneur and cash-flow. The game is expected to be publicly
executive manager. In 1997 he founded Massive available in the winter of 2009/10.
Entertainment, one of the world's premiere computer
game developers The target revenue in the first 12 months after launch
(http://www.massive.se/massive/about-the-studio/). He is estimated between USD 3 to 6 million. The
served as the President of the company during 12 operating costs are estimated at approximately 20% of
years; from inception until the company had well over the revenue.
100 employees. In November 2008 Massive
Entertainment was acquired by Ubisoft Entertainment,
the world's third largest video game publisher. Mr
Walfisz left Massive Entertainment in April 2009 to
focus on the success of Planeto.
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9. Tarsier Studios Mattias Nygren
mattias@tarsier.se
Mobile: + 46707480200
http://www.tarsier.se
Tarsier Studios AB is a game developer based in Company:
the southeast of Sweden. 14 People
The company was founded in 2006, 14 man Privately owned (many of the employees are shareholders)
strong and recently released the title quot;Rag Doll
Kung Fu: Fists Of Plasticquot; on PlayStation Network
for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
(SCEE).
Tarsier Studios has been working as a
subcontractor for different publishers and studios
before quot;Rag Dollquot;, partly providing technical
solutions but first and foremost by producing Top
of the line art assets for which the studio has a
very strong reputation.
The biggest client right now and for the
immediate future is SCEE and with a very strong
relationship Tarsier Studios AB is in a unique
position to be on the forefront and help drive new
development on SONY Platforms.
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