The gaming industry had revenues of $17 billion in the US and a total of more than $65 billion worldwide in 2011 and by 2016 it is projected to bring in $81 billion worldwide.
This kind of number has private equity and venture capital investors clamoring to find the next gaming company responsible for designing the next hit.
Grand Cru recently secured $2 million from Idinvest Partners and other investors for Supernauts an online adventure game designed for kids for a cross-platform environment.
Funding
The majority of the funding for Supernauts comes from Idinvest Partners a venture capital firm based in France with assets under management of around €3 billion. Other investors include Rick Thompson co-founder of Playdom, former Google EMEA head of mergers and acquisitions Anil Hansjee, social game expert and ex-chief of studio at Wooga Henric Suuronen as well as investors in media and the gaming industry.
Supernauts
The game will be available later in 2012 if all goes according to schedule but Grand Cru is not in a rush to introduce the game to market unless it is ready. The game is designed to appeal to younger audiences emphasizing problem solving skills instead of violence. It features a sandbox virtual world with characters which are inspired by comics and cartoons. The characters in the game are superheroes that go around a city solving problems. Each player controls the hero or heroine of their choice to overcome challenges, interact with other players and create their own games and puzzles.
Platforms
A successful game has to be accessible on virtually every platform to capture a share of the market. The increasing number of game consoles, computers and hand held devices means every environment has to be exploited by game designers. A true cross platform game will let the player enjoy the game on iOS and Android mobile phones, online, tablets and social media sites designed to allow game play. When the game is released it will be available on the web, mobile devices and Facebook at the same time.
Grand Cru
Grand Cru is based in Helsinki, Finland and it was founded in 2011 by six game-developing veterans with decades of experience between them. The team has collaborated on Habbo Hotel, Playman Sports Series and Tiki Towers. Supernaut is designed to take advantage of touch technology on smartphones and tablets such as the iPad. The size of the company allows Grand Cru to take their time in designing and testing their games until they achieve high quality products.
Mobile Platform
The technology in mobile devices is strong enough to run many graphic intensive applications such as games. This makes it possible to use mobile devices to play real-time multiplayer games with user generated content games such as Supernaut. This is the cutting edge in mobile and social gaming technology where the game is part of the gamer’s life changing and adapting to new input by the games participants.
Gaming is a crowded field but companies with innovative ideas and eye for quality and detail can always break into the field and capture a share of this lucrative market.
