Free-to-play mobile games maker Pocket Gems has recently surpassed 28 million downloads across their product lineup and are gearing up for a banner year. The company’s flagship title, Tap Zoo, has spent 27 of the last 31 weeks in Apple’s top 10 grossing app chart, and the company is rapidly preparing for their move to an all new corporate headquarters in The City by The Bay.
Adding to the excitement and success, Pocket Gems has also recently acquired the services of Ben Liu in the role of Chief Operating Officer. Liu arrives fresh from Playdom where he directed the largest studio in Playdom’s holdings as executive producer of top social games including the City of Wonder franchise. Liu has been tasked with directing and guiding the company as it evolves from start up to established games maker.
Adding to the unspoken seal of “You’ve Arrived,” Liu will be joined by former EA art director Jeff Hunter, former Senior Producer at Playdom Niels Hoven, and former Pogo Studio Director, Creative Director Rich Cooluris. Supporting this new group of talent, Pocket Gems has announced that they’ll also be bringing more then 20 new development staff on board.
“We are thrilled about all the top talent joining our team,” Daniel Terry, CEO, Pocket Gems, said in a statement. “As we grow our company we are dedicated to keeping our focus on handcrafting and operating the best mobile games to continue to deliver amazing experiences for our customers.”
You’ll remember that back in December of last year, Pocket Gems landed a cool $5 million from Sequoia Capital, also adding Jim Goetz to the board. Other investors included Michael Dearing, former eBay veteran and Associate Professor at the Stanford University Institute of Design, Jeff Fluhr, co-founder and former CEO of StubHub, and Omar Harmoui, founder of AdMob. It would appear that the Pocket Gem investment is starting to bear fruit, as the company’s offerings are closing in on the 30 million downloads mark, and clearly the firm is headed in the right direction with these notable talent acquisitions. Now that the company joins the ranks of giants in location, let’s see what these former giant vets can turn out for our amusement (and wallets).
“COMEDY CENTRAL and Spike TV squarely target the video game audience. Our ‘Deadliest Warrior’ gaming franchise exploded out of the gate last season,” said Yang in a statement. “With the launch of 345 Games, we are tapping into the passionate fan base of both COMEDY CENTRAL and Spike and creating an enhanced interactive experience based on our hit shows and brands.”
345 Games is a new creation from MTV Networks, although the division isn’t fully independent. The gaming arm will work closely with the Networks’ existing talent as well as supported by existing Marketing departments and channels. 345 Games plans to reach out to independent developers who are interested in producing content for the COMEDY CENTRAL and Spike brands.
As for first offerings, from the Spike TV side of things, 345 Games will build upon the existing traction developed by “Deadliest Warrior: The Game,” “Deadliest Warrior: Legends,” seeks to take the franchise in a different direction, as the new title will ditch the weapons and armor, and pits gamers against some of the deadliest warriors across the span of time. The game will feature new heroic warriors, fighting options, a more precise projectile system, more arenas, and a new campaign mode. In other words…better everything. Players will be armed with Deadliest Warrior signature weapons and combat skills are unique to each character played. “Deadliest Warrior: Legends,” is slated to be available for Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network for $10.
From the COMEDY CENTRAL side of things, 345 Games will be launching “Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon,” in conjunction with the season two launch of the animated series of the same name. The four player side scroller will capitalize on the horror-comedy series appeal, and feature an exclusive script authored by the shows writers and creators. Adding to the exclusivity, the game will feature a new character unique to the game, and feature voiceovers provided by the original cast. Similar to Deadliest Warrior, “Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon” will be available for Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network for $10.
On the other side of the coin, Disney now counts James Pitaro as a staff member. Pitaro recently joined the brain dump at Yahoo! and handed in his resignation late last month. Most recently Pitaro was heading up the development of Yahoo! Sports. He joined the team in 2001 as part of Yahoo!’s acquisition of LAUNCH Media, where he filled the role of Vice President and Head of Business Affairs for Yahoo! Music. Pitaro’s new responsibilities at Disney will include overseeing the brand’s web and social media sites and activities, included the flagship Disney.com.
eMarketer states that advertisers spent around $144 million in 2009, and the 20 percent 2010 increase is based on conservative estimates, as eMarketer themselves point out that the social games business continues it’s juggernaut growth pattern.
Hive 7 was founded in 2005, and is mainly focused on building Facebook and other social network apps. They’re best known for their popular 
“We believe that brands matter and that over time, as the social gaming industry matures, games which incorporate content from popular culture and widely respected brands will garner larger market share than those without it,” says John Pleasants, Playdom’s CEO. “Merscom has 16 years experience working with content owners and we intend to call on this experience as we move into this promising area of our industry.”
Prior to signing on the Playdom dotted line, Sobeski was a senior VP at Yahoo! where he worked on Yahoo!’s Open Strategy and Data platform, as well driving products and innovation for Yahoo!’s CEO. And while coming out of the Yahoo! campus 10 years ago might have been a golden stamp of approval, Sobeski is the man responsible for pushing Yahoo! to open its network to 3rd parties to drive social integration. Obviously, a valuable trait in today’s social gaming world, and a signal that Sobeski was already ahead of his time during his Yahoo! tenure.
“We are very confident MetroGames will become one of the world leaders in social gaming during this next wave of explosive growth in the industry. We already have more than 30 games online across Facebook and our own social gaming platform and many more to be released during 2010. We are pleased Playdom has recognized our potential and chosen to invest in us,” said Damian Harburguer, CEO of MetroGames.
“MindJolt has quickly become an ‘onramp’ to the Internet for the world’s independent game developers,” said DeWolfe, now CEO of MindJolt, in a press statement. “We’re building out the company to become the next generation platform for game developers. Our goal is to make it even easier for developers to get their games noticed and make more money from their work. At the same time we will deliver the most social and viral gaming experiences to our millions of users everywhere.”
