Griffin Gaming Partners Portfolio Highlights: August 2024

Second Dinner

Second Dinner's Marvel Snap Gains Entry to China

• Marvel Snap received approval for release in China under the distribution of NetEase, allowing the popular mobile and PC card game to enter the world’s largest gaming market.

• This approval is part of a batch of 15 foreign titles that have successfully passed China’s regulatory process, marking a significant milestone for the game’s expansion into a highly competitive market.

Discord

Discord & Playroom Release Case Study on Multiplayer AI Game Development

• Playroom’s Death by AI scaled to nearly 7 million users within weeks of launching on Discord, generating 1.2 billion AI tokens and hosting thousands of daily sessions.

• During its first week, over 70% of play sessions had three or more friends, facilitated by Discord’s Embedded App SDK, which eliminates the need for manual game installations.

• Playroom leveraged Discord’s Monetization APIs to implement a flexible payment system, including subscriptions, one-time purchases, and in-game credits.

Discord Adds Several Popular Titles to Quests

• Discord rolled out Quests for fan-favorite games like Valorant, The Sims 4, GTA Online, World of Warcraft, and Genshin Impact, offering a range of exclusive rewards. These include the Los Santos avatar decoration in GTA Online, a unique pet in World of Warcraft, and premium currency in Genshin Impact, among others.

• Since its April launch, Quests have redefined personalized ads by transforming them into engaging challenges. Users can now earn rewards by streaming specific games to friends or completing targeted in-game tasks, driving increased engagement, and fostering a stronger sense of community within the platform.

Spyke Games

Spyke Games Debuts Blitz Busters: A Unique Offline Puzzle Adventure on iOS and Android

• Spyke Games has officially launched Blitz Busters on iOS and Android, blending 3D puzzles, match-3 mechanics, and mahjong elements. The game is playable offline, with no internet connection required.

• In Blitz Busters, players race against the clock to find and match 3D items on complex boards. Progressing through the levels unlocks a meta loop where players build and complete cities from around the world.

Overwolf 🔜 DMEXCO

Overwolf Partners with Krafton to Bring Official Mods into Life Simulation Game inZOI

• Overwolf and Krafton have partnered to introduce an official modding program for inZOI, a life simulation game built on Unreal Engine 5.

• Unlike other life simulation games, inZOI features photorealistic visuals and unique gameplay elements, including Karma, where players' actions influence their future lives, City Edit for managing weather and customizing city billboards, and Group Activities that allow players to enjoy daily life together.

• Overwolf officially launched its Sims 4 hub in November 2022. Today, Sims 4 is the platform’s third most popular game with over 50,000 UGC projects and 1 billion downloads.

Frost Giant Studios, Inc.

Frost Giant Studios Opens Early Access for Stormgate

• Frost Giant Studios officially launched Stormgate in Early Access, available on Windows PC through Steam and NVIDIA's GeForce Now cloud gaming platform. The Early Access trailer is available for viewing here.

• The Early Access release features three distinct army factions and offers four primary game modes: Campaign, Competitive, Cooperative, and Custom Games.

• Stormgate also introduced modern enhancements to make the RTS genre more accessible, including the "BuddyBot." This AI-powered assistant helps players of all skill levels by managing in-game economy and base-building, streamlining gameplay by reducing the number of required actions.

Supersocial Inc.

Supersocial & Bandai Namco Beta Launch Pac-Man Simulator on Roblox

• Supersocial and Bandai Namco Entertainment America announced the beta launch of Pac-Man Simulator on Roblox, marking the iconic Pac-Man IP's debut on the platform.

• Pac-Man Simulator reimagines the classic arcade game for a new generation of players, allowing Roblox users to build teams, consume power-enhancing dots, collect various Pac-Man skins, and battle Ghosts to unlock new areas and earn exclusive rewards.

Nexus

Nexus Enhances Hi-Rez’s Support-a-Creator Program for SMITE 1 and the Upcoming SMITE 2

• Nexus has consolidated creator storefronts into a single webshop, allowing players to support their favorite creators more easily using creator codes.

• This update creates a seamless experience where players can purchase in-game items and support content creators from one unified destination, while creators can focus on promoting their codes within the centralized SMITE storefront without the hassle of managing separate stores.

Eloelo

Eloelo Surpasses May 2024 Revenue in Three Days & Launches Special Reward Program

• Eloelo surpassed its entire May 2024 revenue in just three days, driven entirely by the exchange of virtual gifts on the platform.

• To celebrate India's Independence Day, Eloelo introduced a special reward program, offering bonus diamonds to the first 100,000 users purchasing diamond packs. These diamonds can be used to engage with creators through activities like creator battles, sending gifts, and stickers.

Harmony Games Inc.

Harmony Games Deploys a Custom Backend for Domino Adventures Using AWS

• Harmony Games built a fully custom game backend utilizing AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) for its upcoming mobile game, Domino Adventures. The AWS Game Backend Framework provided a scalable serverless solution, streamlining features like player authentication, game state, and data storage.

• Leveraging the open-source AWS framework, Harmony efficiently deployed and tailored its infrastructure to meet specific game needs, fast-tracking development ahead of the beta launch planned for Q3 2024 and the global release in 2025.

Mysten Labs

Animoca Brands-Backed DARKTIMES Selects Mysten Labs’ Sui as its Blockchain Platform

• Developed in partnership with Blowfish Studios, DARKTIMES, a free-to-play Nordic-inspired medieval brawler royale, selected Sui as its blockchain platform of choice.

• The game will debut its first playtest at Korea Blockchain Week, followed by an alpha launch to select users later this year.

• Additionally, Mysten Labs partnered with ZAN, focusing on supporting Sui’s KYC infrastructure and RPC node services. ZAN will provide KYC services for Sui projects and enhance the blockchain’s scalability in the APAC region by launching RPC node services.

Chamo Games

Chamo Games Makes Its Public Debut

• Chamo Games launched publicly with the unveiling of its new website, teasing its upcoming non-lethal FPS title Project Mercury for PC and consoles.

• The studio is in the final stages of preparing its first playable build and plans to host monthly playtests thereafter. Interested players and content creators can sign up for early access opportunities here.

Gunzilla Games

Gunzilla Games Completes First Playtest for Off The Grid on PS5

• The Off The Grid playtest on PS5 attracted over 30,000 players, marking a successful debut for the upcoming battle royale title. The playtest showcased the game’s mix of narrative-driven missions and traditional battle royale mechanics, providing valuable player feedback ahead of the full release.

• Hosted on Gunzilla’s gaming subnet, Gunz, which is powered by the Layer-1 Avalanche blockchain, the playtest generated nearly 400,000 transactions during the testing period, demonstrating strong engagement on the platform.