BigFish lands 83M in Funding for Casual Gaming
By Azam on September 12, 2008 
Big Fish Games reeled in 83M in venture funding round for downloadable casual gaming company. The casual games industry continues to grow rapidly, with an estimated 200 million game players worldwide. The market is estimated around $2 billion, and Big Fish among others want to get users hooked in on their games.
Big Fish was founded by former Real Networks game executive Paul Thelen in 2002. The company brought in Chief Executive Jeremy Lewis, a 39-year-old former Goldman Sachs managing director who joined Big Fish two years ago.
Revenues have grown rapidly at the company as a new group of consumers engage in the easy-to-learn puzzle, arcade and card games that Big Fish distributes from its own studio and more than 600 external game developers.
Popular titles include “Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate,” “Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year,” “Ranch Rush,” and “Azada: Ancient Magic.”
In 2005, the company reported revenue of $8.6 million, rising to $24.1 million in 2006 and $50.8 million last year. The company declined to provide revenue projections for this year, though the company said the business has grown at between 100 percent and 220 percent annually for the past few years. Big Fish Games expects revenue to hit historical growth levels this year.
About 1 million game downloads are recorded each day at Big Fish. Big Fish uses the “try before you buy” downloadable games business model. You can download a game from Big Fish’s and play it for free. But after an hour, you have to decide whether you want to pay $20 or move on to the next game.
Online conversion rates top those of other game distributors, with more than 2 percent of those who try a game making a purchase, Chief Executive Jeremy Lewis said.
Big Fish has been creative in marketing with creating reward programs for those who spread games in a viral fashion, sharing them with friends. Also, Big Fish Games has several social networking aspects where users can chat with each other in forums built into the site.
The company has partnerships with Activision Blizzard, which publishes some of the company’s biggest hits in retail stores, and Nintendo, which recently published “Mystery Case Files Million Air” for the Nintendo DS. The Mystery Case files was a big hit on Big Fish.
Lewis said that the company continues to experiment with new business models, and he noted that more than half of the company’s staff is dedicated to research and development. The company plans to use funds for international expansion and will explore new distribution channels for games. The company plans to enter the mobile gaming market, and it is exploring mobile distribution, including games for Apple’s iPhone.
The Seattle-based casual downloadable games company raised $83 million in a first round of financing from Balderton Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Salmon River Capital. Before the most recent funding round, Big Fish had raised $8.7 million in angel financing in 2005.
Tags : , Activision Blizzard, Balderton Capital, Big Fish Games, Casual Gaming, General Catalyst Partners, iPhone, Nintendo, Paul Thelen, Real Networks, Salmon River Capital