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Opera buys owner of GameMaker and starts a Gaming division
Opera, the browser developer and consumer internet brand, announced its acquisition of YoYo Games, creator of the world’s leading 2D game engine, GameMaker Studio 2, for approximately $10 million. The tuck-in acquisition represents the second building block in the foundation of Opera Gaming, a new division within Opera with global ambitions and follows the creation and rapid growth of Opera’s innovative Opera GX browser, the world’s first browser built specifically for gamers.
Krystian Kolondra, EVP Browsers at Opera, said: “With Opera GX, Opera had adapted its proven, innovative browser tech platform to dramatically expand its footprint in gaming. We’re at the brink of a shift, when more and more people start not only playing, but also creating and publishing games. GameMaker Studio2 is best-in-class game development software, and lowers the barrier to entry for anyone to start making their games and offer them across a wide range of web-supported platforms, from PCs, to, mobile iOS/Android devices, to consoles.
Annette De Freitas, Head of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, Opera Gaming, added: “Gaming is a growth area for Opera and the acquisition of YoYo Games reflects significant, sustained momentum across both of our businesses over the past year. Our new Opera GX browser hit 7 million MAUs in December, 2020, up 350% year over year, while YoYo Games’ GameMaker engine achieved 400K new registered creators in 2020. We’re tremendously excited by the opportunities the combination creates not only for our combined users, but also for the expansion of Opera’s gaming community.”
Stuart Poole, GM at YoYo Games who will remain with the business alongside technical lead Russell Kay stated, “For over twenty years, the vision behind the GameMaker engine was to not just create more games, but expand development within and beyond the game studio. We think the transaction with Opera – whose products are known, trusted and used worldwide by millions of people every month- represents a massive opportunity to accelerate fulfilment of that founding vision, during a period of exceptional growth for both companies.”
“We are very excited to start working with the team at YoYo Games,” said Krystian Kolondra, EVP Browsers at Opera. “We see the Game Maker Studio platform as being an ideal acquisition to complement our global ambitions in gaming, and to help drive awareness and traffic to our Opera GX gaming browser.”
Opera GX, YoYo Games and GameMaker will unite under Opera Gaming, focusing on innovating across the gaming, game development, and browser experience. “We look forward to further growing Opera GX and driving the growth of GameMaker as part of a broader ecosystem, making it more accessible to novice users and developing it into the world’s leading 2D game engine used by commercial studios,” continued Krystian Kolondra. “Opera Gaming will be focusing on accelerating the growth of this emerging ecosystem, combining the 7+ million highly engaged gamers using Opera GX with millions of GameMaker creators. We are also thrilled to continue realizing synergies between YoYo Games’ products and Opera GX.”
GameMakerStudio is an integrated game development software, performance-tuned 2/2.5D engine that fuels many games, including multi-million hits like Risk of Rain, Undertale, or Hyper Light Drifter on an extensive range of mainstream platforms. Starting to build games with Game Maker Studio requires little to zero coding skills. Due to its extensive functionalities and ease of use Game Maker Studio lowers the barriers to entry and empowers a variety of creative people to make their games come alive and share them with the world.
Kolondra explained further: “Performance is essential to even 2D gaming, and sustaining that performance across mobile devices and laptops as well as variable bandwidth and connectivity requires thinking outside of traditional application silos. The line between building good games and good browsers has been eroding for years – with gaming interactivity across internet connections ramping up and browsers growing more multi-function and sophisticated. Traditionally the two types of technology compete for hardware and bandwidth resources. But as Opera GX proved, there was a better way to address that competition and improve the experience across both functionalities. YoYo Games’ team, development expertise and studio relationships lay the groundwork for turning the Opera GX vertical into a new kind of horizontal. This horizontal opportunity is why we’re building Opera Gaming and its infrastructure – so that we can further integrate gaming and browsing in ways beneficial to both in terms of not only monetization, but also experience.”
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Genius Sports Partners with European Leagues for Groundbreaking GeniusIQ Innovation and Exclusive Betting Data
Genius Sports Limited has secured the exclusive official betting data rights for a select group of competitions within the European Leagues Association. As part of this multi-year partnership, Genius Sports will also deploy its GeniusIQ platform across European football.
Genius Sports is the leading provider of live football content to the global regulated sports betting market, with the European Leagues now joining a top-tier content portfolio that includes the Premier League and French Ligue 1.
As part of a shared commitment to driving innovation, Genius Sports will deploy its next-generation GeniusIQ platform in stadiums across Europe.
This proprietary, AI-powered system underpins a suite of innovations across tracking, officiating, team performance, and fan engagement. Already used across the Premier League, Belgian Pro League, and Danish Superliga, GeniusIQ enables leagues and teams to deepen fan engagement, improve officiating accuracy, and unlock performance insights.
GeniusIQ is designed to future-proof the commercial value of official football data for all stakeholders, and this partnership now establishes a strong foundation for long-term strategic collaboration and innovation.
Alberto Colombo, General Secretary of the European Leagues, said: “As part of the continued evolution of the European Leagues, we are proud to have once again supported our members in their future business and commercial development. This landmark deal with Genius Sports reflects both the evolution of the sports data market but also the way technology will play an increasingly intertwined role in the way commercial deals come to fruition.”
Steven Burton, Chief Partnerships Officer at Genius Sports, said: “This expanded partnership with the European Leagues significantly enhances the breadth and depth of official, premium data available to our sportsbook partners.
“More importantly, it reflects a fundamental shift in the rights model, where technology investment resets traditional frameworks and creates a longer runway for future sales and revenue opportunities. By delivering the next-generation, AI-powered solutions that leagues want and need, we’re deepening alignment, strengthening our competitive moat, and accelerating the next wave of technological innovation across European football.”
European Leagues’ Members included in the agreement:
- Belgian Pro League
- Ligová Fotbalová Asociace
- Danish League
- Dutch Eredivisie
- Dutch Keuken Kampioen Divisie
- Finnish Veikkausliiga
- Deutscher Fußball Bund (on behalf of 3. Liga and Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga)
- Greek Super League
- Israeli Professional Football League
- Kazakhstan Football League
- Latvian Virslīga
- Norwegian Professional Football League
- Liga Portugal
- Romanian Professional Football League
- Serbian Super Liga
- Slovak Niké Liga
- Föreningen Svensk Elitfotboll
- Swiss Football League
The post Genius Sports Partners with European Leagues for Groundbreaking GeniusIQ Innovation and Exclusive Betting Data appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Rise & Hustle, Africa’s next-gen tap-to-earn gaming operator, has rolled out its proprietary AI-powered Rise Core solution to enhance performance, personalisation, and protection.
Officially launched last week in Nigeria, Rise & Hustle is a rewards-based mobile street game series built on its PlayZuzu Gaming platform. Rise Core uses advanced algorithms to stop fraud, identifying and preventing everything from Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) manipulation to gameplay exploitation. The solution excels at fortifying cybersecurity, proactively identifying threats to safeguard player data and platform integrity.
From a creative standpoint, Rise Core will generate and refine in-game visuals and imagery to immerse players in the experience of rising from Hustler to Kingpin. Furthermore, the solution is trained to analyse user behaviour and recommend content in real time to drive engagement and retention.
Deploying Rise Core at the heart of Rise & Hustle’s platform instantly heightens mobile-first gaming by combining entertainment, integrity, and progressive tech in one world.
Rise & Hustle CEO and co-founder Josh Jones commented: “Integrating our in-house Rise Core solution into the Rise & Hustle platform puts AI front and centre of all we’re building. It will help us build quicker, safer, and smarter than anyone else in the space. Players’ security is paramount, and backed by sophisticated AI we’re in position to detect and prevent fraud in real-time. We have the ability to seamlessly personalise content not just in design, but based on player interests. Rise Core is more than just a tool – it’s our edge in creating player-first experiences for Africa’s mobile-native generation.”
The post Rise & Hustle enhances platform with proprietary AI-powered Rise Core solution appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Leading iGaming content provider Spinomenal has released 4 Horsemen III: Inferno to complement the wildly popular Mythology series.
4 Horsemen III: Inferno invites players into an apocalyptic hellscape where the reels are engulfed by a scorched wasteland under burning skies. A relentlessly surging and dark soundtrack creates an atmosphere thick with tension. The Horsemen return, Conquest, War, Famine, and Death, each carrying their own Free Spins feature, which is triggered with three or more full-sized Scattered Free Spins symbols.
Each time players discover three or more Free Spins symbols, they can move on to the next Free Spins feature, seeking bigger returns. The first Horseman is Conquest and offers Winning Symbols Respins. In this first stage, all winning combinations trigger a respin, with winning symbols staying in place while non-winning symbols are substituted for new ones.
The next Free Spins stage is Extra Wilds and this is represented by War. This time while the reels are spinning, three to five extra Wild symbols can appear on the slot to increase winning chances. Five Wild symbols on a winning line will pay x300.
Any players who find another three or more full-sized Scattered Free Spins will follow the map onto Famine – which is a Shifting Reels Free Spins feature. During this round, after each win the game will trigger a free respin where all the reels move one row down and a new row on top will be revealed.
The final resting place is Death for the Stacked Wild Respins feature where each occasion a stacked Wild symbol appears fully on the reel a respin will be triggered.
Spinomenal CO-CEO, Omer Henya commented: “4 Horsemen III: Inferno is a chaos-fuelled title packed with four epic features within the Free Games mode. The red-hot design is visually striking, and players will be hoping to ride from the flames with a fortune.”
The post Spinomenal presents 4 Horsemen III: Inferno appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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