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Gaming startup GOALS scores $15M seed round to build the number one AAA football game

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Online football game GOALS, has announced a $15M seed round. Northzone, a global VC firm which has backed Spotify, Klarna, Trustpilot, and Homa Games, led the round with participation from previous investors Cherry Ventures, Moonfire Ventures, Banana Capital and new investors Not Boring Capital and Cassius. The round features notable angels such as FC Barcelona star Gerard Pique, Sorare co-founder and CEO Nicolas Julia, Axie co-founder and COO Aleksander Larsen, metaverse expert Matthew Ball, and web3 authority Magdalena Kala. The funds will allow GOALS to double their headcount recruiting another 30 game developers by the end of 2022.

GOALS is a fast-paced and multiplayer-first football game primarily for PC and consoles that offers a unique and attractive way for gamers to own in-game digital assets as they play. With a focus on quicker and more responsive gameplay, GOALS is different from existing football games by creating a fun, competitive and rewarding experience. Being free-to-play and cross-platform, GOALS provides a completely frictionless opportunity for gamers and football fans to enjoy the beautiful game like never before.

Through the utilization of environmentally friendly blockchain technology, GOALS allows true digital ownership of in-game assets. These in-game assets are earned for free through gameplay and can be used in the game or traded freely at any point.

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“We’re thrilled to announce a seed round by an amazing group of VCs and fantastic angel investors”, said GOALS co-founder and CEO Andreas Thorstensson. “We have been in the very fortunate position where investors reached out to us before we were actually fundraising so we were able to pick the ones we felt had the best fit for GOALS. The current investors have the perfect combination of expertise in gaming, sports, web3 and company growth. With GOALS I am building my dream company. It combines my deep interest in sports, gaming, esports and new technology. After playing most football games on the market and observing the esports scene for a long time I could see that gamers deserved something new. GOALS is a gameplay-first football game. Free to play, cross-play, multiplayer-focused, and esports-ready where the players can finally own their in-game items instead of renting them.”

Football and gaming are respectively two enormous markets. With 3.5 billion football fans and 2.9 billion gamers, the estimated market for virtual goods in this space is valued at close to $190bn. Major players have bet big on realism and licensing to sustain their market positions. This leaves a huge space for companies like GOALS who can deliver an esports ready product that offers the accessibility and non-stop action of other online giants like Rocket League. GOALS’ play-and-own business model is ideally placed to service the new market for NFTs which is itself estimated to reach $80Bn by 2025. Gamers will own their players and teams to take part in professional online leagues.

“Andreas has gathered around him a stellar team. They’ve identified a unique opportunity at the intersection of metaverse and football, the world’s largest sport. Web3 and the technology behind innovations like NFTs will power the next generation of businesses in this space and GOALS is poised to become a leader in their own category”, adds Pär-Jörgen Pärson, a partner at Northzone and sitting on the GOALS board.

“GOALS represents a rare investment opportunity. The game they’re building is original and fun, and their growth and business model is truly impressive. Andreas is as impressive a founder as I’ve ever met, has a solid vision and a clear execution plan. From a personal perspective too, this intersection of football, gaming, esports and NFTs covers so much of what I find fascinating. I’m really excited to see where we go from here” says Mattias Ljungman, founder of Moonfire Ventures.

“GOALS is not just a game, but a team on a mission,” says Sophia Bendz, partner at Cherry Ventures, which also led GOALS’ pre-seed round. “In just a few short weeks, GOALS grew its following to well over 25,000 people on social media and thousands upon thousands in Discord. GOALS is creating something people have long wanted. We’re excited to be with them on their journey in creating a new football game people love.”

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Founded in late 2021, GOALS has already built a team with an impressive set of skills and track record of successes in entrepreneurship, engineering, game development, gaming, esport and web3. This funding will allow them to grow further in the game development area. As a gaming start-up, GOALS has taken the lead in offering a diverse and inclusive workplace to better attract developers from competing firms.

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Getting ready for Xmas: SplitMetrics partnership with Wargaming helps World of Warships app sail to new heights with 15% uplift in organic conversions

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Wargaming, a leading game developer, teamed up with SplitMetrics, an app growth solutions company, to boost conversion rates with seasonal Christmas-themed screenshots for the launch of its game World of Warships: Legends.
Coinciding with the game’s soft launch in Brazil, the Philippines, Canada, and France ahead of the Christmas holidays, Wargaming wanted to capitalise on the seasonality effect to influence its app engagement without advertising.
By working with SplitMetrics Agency, a leading mobile growth agency, Wargaming increased conversions by an average of 15% on iOS across App Store storefronts in Canada, the Philippines and France. Canada experienced the highest conversion rate increase with 31.45%, followed by the Philippines (9.61%) and France (3.44%). On Android, the Brazilian Google Play storefront experienced the highest conversion rate increase with 6.68%.
SplitMetrics Agency focused on A/B testing as its core strategy. The agency optimised visual assets, analysed performance and tested various creative hypotheses. Using SplitMetrics Optimize, the agency’s experts ran experiments to identify the best-performing illustrations for both the App Store and Google Play product pages.
A key hypothesis tested during this project was whether tailoring visuals to each region during Christmas would have an impact. For France and Canada, the images were adjusted to include a winter theme featuring snow, fireworks and a Christmas tree. For the Philippines, the agency used white ribbons, a local Christmas tradition, along with fireworks and ornaments displaying the country’s flag. And for Brazil, fireworks and ornaments decorated with the Brazilian flag.
During this testing period, there were no in-app events or paid user acquisition campaigns, allowing the performance changes to be directly attributed to the updated screenshots.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency, said: “Christmas is one of the main calendar events that app marketers need to prepare for, especially in the gaming category.
“The World of Warships: Legends case study is a great example of how seasonality can significantly impact your app’s performance and give you a boost in users. And this can be achieved without an advertising budget. It can all be done organically when you have the right calendar event, great graphics and A/B testing.
“As in the case of the Wargaming game, a comprehensive analysis and testing strategy increased its conversion rate by an average 15% across three markets.
“It is essential that app marketers forward-plan for any relevant calendar events. It’s also important to note that Christmas may not be relevant for every app but if you’re unsure you can always try A/B testing to see what works. And keep optimising.”

The post Getting ready for Xmas: SplitMetrics partnership with Wargaming helps World of Warships app sail to new heights with 15% uplift in organic conversions appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Nolimit City revisits the brutal factory life in Outsourced: Slash Game

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Nolimit City takes you back to the grind with its latest release, Outsourced: Slash Game. For those who thought their consumerist cravings were a safe indulgence, think again. Following in the footsteps of Outsourced, this new addition pulls back the curtain on the sweat and sacrifice lurking behind those everyday luxuries—this time with a dash of danger. Outsourced: Slash Game is the studio’s second venture into crash-style gameplay, the first being xCrash™ in Skate or Die – but this time it’s a standalone crash game!

In Slash Game, players have to make some cutthroat decisions as a laser traces the outline of their hand, increasing the multiplier with every pass. Players hit “stop” to cash out, locking in the multiplier when they feel the timing is right. After which, they will be shown the potential winnings if they wouldn’t have stopped. But here’s the catch: if players hesitate a second too long and the laser slips, all the winnings are lost. A live scoreboard displays the Top Win, Top Miss and Last Round, so that players can keep track of their previous rounds.

Outsourced: Slash Game is not a familiar Nolimit City slot to some players but could cause some excitement with an increasing multiplier and a maximum payout of 1,500x the base bet. Outsourced: Slash Game, unlike Nolimit City’s high-volatility slots, is rated as ‘Medium Volatility’ but don’t let that fool you as it still includes the risk of losing your hand.

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Per Lindheimer, Head of Product at Nolimit City, said: “Get back to work, will you? We’re bringing players back to the unrelenting factory floor of Outsourced with an all-new twist. Slash Game is a standalone take on our crash-style games, and it’s packed with plenty of heart-stopping moments (and maybe a few hand-stopping ones, too). We’re thrilled with how it turned out and we hope that our fans will be too!“

‘Outsourced: Slash Game’ will be available to all Nolimit City partners on November 5th, 2024.

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The mobile gaming market is growing and attracting new companies. GAMIVO is the latest example

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Usually, consoles and PCs come to mind when discussing the gaming industry. The mobile sector is often treated as a child of a lesser god, even though it generates almost as much revenue as console and PC combined. Some companies can see this potential. For instance, the e-commerce platform GAMIVO has recently entered the mobile market, allowing players to buy in-game items cheaper.

Back on course

The entire video game industry has evolved incredibly, but the most spectacular has been the growth of the mobile sector. It expanded from 36.9 million dollars in 2016 to 93.2 billion in 2021. Unfortunately, the gaming market suffered from a decline that stemmed from the overoptimism of the pandemic era. As a result, the mobile gaming industry revenues dropped to 92.2 billion in 2022 and to 90.5 billion in 2023. Recent information has indicated this was a necessary correction rather than a long-term trend.

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The latest Newzoo report, issued in August 2024, shows that the industry is on the right track again. According to analysts, the mobile sector will generate revenues of $92.6 billion, representing +3.0% growth year-on-year. It’s nearly half of the entire gaming industry.

Billions of players

Revenues are crucial, but they only show part of the story. To fully understand the size and potential of mobile gaming, it’s necessary to consider the number of players, which constantly grew even when revenues dropped. Newzoo estimates that it will reach 2.8 billion in 2024. It means that almost twice as many people play on mobile devices than on PCs and consoles combined. Currently, every third person on Earth plays on mobile devices, and there’s still space for further growth.

“There are emerging markets where smartphones and mobile networks can expand, providing new potential players. Furthermore, this type of entertainment has a low entry barrier because most popular games are free and don’t require high-end devices,” explains Mateusz Śmieżewski, the CEO at GAMIVO.

One hobby, different habits

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GAMIVO is an example of a company that has recently joined the party to get a piece of the mobile pie. “We examined the mobile market for a very long time, trying to find a suitable place for us. It’s essential to understand that mobile gaming and mobile gamers differ from their PC or console counterparts. You can’t do the same things you do with PC and consoles and hope to replicate your success,” said Mateusz Śmieżewski.

Studies confirm this observation. Average PC and console players spend about 2.1 hours a day in virtual worlds. It’s half an hour more than mobile gamers. However, things get interesting when we take a look at playtime per week, which is the same for mobile and console (5.4 hours) and slightly longer for PC (5.7 hours). Moreover, typical PC and console owners play 2.6 and 2.7 days a week, respectively, while mobile players play 3.4 days per week.

Those statistics prove that PC and console players are more dedicated, spending more time in games’ worlds once they enter them. However, mobile gamers prefer shorter but more frequent sessions. They play while commuting or have a short amount of free time.

“Mobile players are more willing to uninstall games and give another title a chance. Hence, the gameplay has to be captivating and designed to provide quick but intense sessions.

Furthermore, even though the average weekly playtime is identical to PC players, many mobile players don’t think of themselves as gamers,” clarifies Mateusz Śmieżewski.

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Another major difference regards the way in which revenue is generated. PC and console games traditionally represent the premium model, where players buy the game. Most popular mobile releases are free and generate revenue with microtransactions. Almost all titles allow players to spend their real money on virtual coins, crystals, and other items that can be used to unlock additional content or reduce cooldowns.

Entering the mobile market

Those contrasts and nuances scare most companies from the mobile market. Let’s see how GAMIVO has coped with this.

“We decided to launch a new product category dedicated to mobile gamers. Our model allows them to top up in-game accounts cheaply. As a result, they can save up to 30% on buying virtual items, upgrades, and other content. The GAMIVO offer includes the most popular mobile titles, such as Genshin Impact and PUBG Mobile, and still extends,” describes Mateusz Śmieżewski.

“We dedicated a lot of time to research and analyses. Also, the development process required a lot of work to provide GAMIVO customers with safe transactions and a user-friendly environment. The first reactions are very positive, confirming our belief that our decision was right and there is still more space in the mobile game market,” concludes the GAMIVO CEO.

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