When it comes to game companies in Montreal, Canada, people often think of large AAA console game developers such as Ubisoft, EA, Take-Two, etc., but in this hot land of games, there are also "big players" in the field of mobile casual games.
On March 16, Prominent game publisher Tilt Point announced that it would acquire Budge Studios, a developer based in Montreal, Canada, focused on children's entertainment and educational games.
According to the official introduction, Budge Studios is famous for popular IP games, and has launched a number of game products focusing on the children's market such as "Barbie", "Transformers", "Hello Kitty" and so on.
To date, Budge Studios' app has been downloaded more than 1.25 billion times, with tens of millions of monthly active users and over 300,000 subscribers. According to the official website, more than 600 million children around the world are playing their games.
The exact amount of the acquisition has not been announced, and after the completion of the acquisition, Budge Studios will continue to operate independently, while the two sides will leverage their respective strengths to complement each other's businesses and better cooperate with major brands.
David Lipes, CEO of Budge Studios, said: "Joining the Tilt Point family is an exciting and huge opportunity for Budge" and "with this acquisition, we will continue to operate independently to develop the best creative content and gain access to more globally recognized IP while bringing our games to more children around the world." ”
With more than ten years of experience endorsement, the field of children's entertainment has given birth to a big player
In terms of seniority, Budge Studios is definitely an established game company.
According to public information, Budge Studios was founded in 2010 by David Lipes, Michael Elman, and Noemie Dupuy. It's worth mentioning that this is not the first company the trio founded, and before that, they also founded Wave Generation, a studio that produces audio for other games.
However, at that time, the release of Apple's iPad and the emergence of the App Store allowed them to see the opportunity to develop their own games, so they devoted themselves to game development and chose a special track: children's entertainment.
Source: Budge Studios website
Perhaps to be on the safe side, InitialLy, Budge Studios mainly developed games for some of the biggest names, such as they developed a game based on "It's a Small World" for Disney, and then they also developed games for IP such as "Dora The Explorer" and "SpongeBob SquarePants". With these products, Budge Studios has made a name for itself in the industry.
In an interview with the Montreal Gazette in 2014, the three founders said that they had not even been exposed to VCs in the early days of entrepreneurship, and only rely on the investment of three founders and loans from three Canadian banks, they began to make profits from the first year of their establishment, and their income increased by 2336% in the three years after their establishment, and the size of their employees increased from 30 to 60.
As the company grew in size, Budge Studios began to expand its business, such as doubling the number of new games produced each year, or signing a partnership agreement with Global Eagle Entertainment to make the company's entertainment applications available in airlines' inflight entertainment systems.
Since its establishment, Budge Studios has successfully established itself in the industry by relying on a steady development path, and now it has become one of the world's largest developers of children's entertainment and education applications.
During this period, Budge Studios was also favored by capital, accepting three investments from BDC Capital in Canada, the last of which was announced in March 2021, although the specific transaction amount was not disclosed.
Popular IP as the core, business model with the times
Although the amount of the transaction in this acquisition is still not disclosed, from the proud data of Budge Studios' monthly active users and 600 million users, GameLook speculates that the gold content of this transaction will not be low.
In fact, you can also get a glimpse of The Products of Buge Studios. According to data from overseas data analytics platform Apptopia, the monthly downloads of the company's products are staggering, with a total of 27 million downloads in the past 30 days, which is 9.29% less than the previous month.
In addition, budge Studios' head products are not inferior in terms of gold absorption capacity, such as barbie Dreamhouse Adventures Android and iOS in March this year's flow of $1.5714 million, while paw Patrol Rescue World, launched last year, reached $550,000 in March.
Next, GameLook will focus on a brief introduction to the top 5 products in The Revenue and Downloads of Bridge Studios.
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures is a game based on the TV series of the same name launched by YTV and Netflix, which was officially released worldwide on August 4, 2018.
Overall, the game is a business simulation game with certain puzzle elements, and it is highly suitable for some of the settings in the original game, such as players can dress themselves in the game, decorate the room, bake food, and so on.
According to Sensor Tower, the game has an estimated 1.5 million downloads and $1.5714 million in rollover for March 2022.
PAW Patrol Rescue World
PAW Patrol Rescue World is a game based on the well-known anime PAW Patrol, which was officially released worldwide on July 26, 2021.
Officially, this game is designed for preschool and kindergarten children, the gameplay is very simple and interesting, in the game, the player will be able to play as the animation of 5 puppies, each puppy has special skills and vehicles, players need to make reasonable use of these abilities to complete the help of others, complete a variety of tasks.
According to Sensor Tower data, the game has an estimated download of 2.4 million in March 2022 and a rollover of $557,100.
Budge World
To be precise, Budge World is not more of a platform for a game, the app provides users with more than 100 activities, including casual games, puzzle books, videos and other content, players can subscribe to enjoy the high-quality content without ads. It is worth mentioning that the app has also launched an official Chinese Simplified version.
According to Sensor Tower data, the game has an estimated download of 260,000 in March 2022 and a rollover of $314,300.
Hot Wheels Unlimited
Hot Wheels Unlimited is a game based on Hot Wheels that was officially released worldwide on September 29, 2020.
It is understood that "Hot Wheel" is a well-known toy series launched by the American toy manufacturer Mattel, which has launched a large number of different models so far, which are not only loved by children around the world, but also favored by many collectors.
In the game, mainly from the two aspects of the vehicle and the track to design, players can get different components in the game, and use these components to customize the track to fight with other players or AI.
According to Sensor Tower data, the game has an estimated download of 1.2 million in March 2022 and a rollover of $185,700.
Hello Kitty Nail Salon
Hello Kitty Nail Salon is a game based on Hello Kitty that was officially launched worldwide on February 5, 2015. The gameplay of this game is very simple, as the name says, players need to complete different styles of nail art according to the finished picture in the upper right corner.
Sensor Tower data shows that the game has an estimated download of 2.1 million in March 2022 and a rollover of $70,000.
If you compare these games together, it is not difficult to find that most of Budge Studios' products with higher revenue and downloads are actually based on popular IP, and it is precisely because of IP endorsements that products such as "Hello Kitty Nail Salon" can be evergreen and can still get millions of downloads today.
At the core gameplay level, some of these products highly restore the characteristics of IP, and some are suitable for the user population to create a matching gameplay, which seems to prove that Buge Studios is not shackled by IP, but from the user experience to create differentiated products.
In terms of business model, Budge Studios has worked hard in recent years, according to Data.ai data, In fact, Buge Studios originally tried the buyout payment model, but then fully shifted to the F2P model.
At the same time, in different products, Budge Studios is also willing to try new business models, such as hybrid monetization and subscription system, etc., to make the commercialization model of the product more diverse.
For example, in the game "Hot Wheels Unlimited", in-app purchases are all subscription services of $4.99 to $59.99, and the highest-grossing Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures is subscription content plus a small amount of in-app purchases.
In the game "Hello Kitty Nail Salon", it adopts a hybrid monetization + subscription system, with some rewarded advertising content set up in the game, and there are traditional in-app purchases to unlock in-game props, and also has a subscription service.
Due to the different regulatory environments, children's entertainment is often ignored by domestic developers, but judging from this acquisition and The beautiful report card of Budge Studios, children's entertainment games may have full potential for development overseas.