Blog post

Scopely invests $50 million in European game studios Omnidrone, Pixel Toys, and Tag Games

Scopely, a top mobile games company with award-winning titles such as Marvel Strike Force, Scrabble GO and Star Trek Fleet Command, announced today its continued commitment to game-making with over $50 million invested across three game studios: Omnidrone, Pixel Toys, and Tag Games. Based in Spain, England, and Scotland respectively, these game studio partners are working closely with Scopely on a number of in-development games across multiple genres.

Scopely is home to a dynamic studio ecosystem of world-class game makers, co-creating game experiences around the world. Scopely game teams include Scopely product leaders as well as internal Scopely Studios and/or external partner studios (such as Omnidrone, Pixel Toys, and Tag Games) that collaborate with a unique single team approach, where the traditional boundaries between developer and publisher are eliminated. As part of the Scopely ecosystem, both internal and partner studios can benefit from Scopely’s publishing infrastructure, operating system, and proprietary technology platform Playgami, which offers a range of products, enabling teams to create games players love and grow them as great businesses. Scopely Studios include Boundless Entertainment (formerly FoxNext Games), Genjoy, PierPlay, and DIGIT, among others, and partner studios currently span four continents with Omnidrone, Pixel Toys, and Tag Games as some of the newest members of the ecosystem.

Tim O’Brien, Chief Revenue Officer at Scopely, said:

quote
“Our studio ecosystem is built on a culture that values autonomy and creativity to achieve world-class game-making. These studios share our vision to create extremely meaningful, dynamic experiences for players and represent outstanding passion and expertise in their respective genres. We are proud to invest in these studios’ futures, excited to collaborate closely as a unified team, and eager to maximize our combined potential through our transformative Playgami technology platform, deep game-making expertise, and what we believe is the industry’s best publishing infrastructure.”

Omnidrone

Barcelona-based Omnidrone is collaborating with Scopely on a yet-to-be-announced midcore title, with over 100 Omnidrone employees working alongside a rapidly growing Scopely team in Barcelona — with over 350 Scopely employees in the city.

Omnidrone Chief Executive Gerard Fernandez leads the studio with his deep expertise in games and an entrepreneurial spirit shared by the combined team. Prior to Omnidrone, Gerard co-founded Microjocs, one of the first companies to create and distribute mobile games in Spain, which was purchased by Digital Chocolate and later purchased by Ubisoft.

quote
“Scopely’s investment in our team allows us the freedom to create a truly unique, fresh and ambitious atmosphere at Omnidrone, and attract even more talent to our studio,” said Gerard. “We can combine the agility of a boutique games studio with the expertise, leadership, and transformative technology of Scopely to collaborate on innovative game experiences that are just as exciting to develop as they are to play. With more than 30 open roles, we are actively seeking the world’s best in game-making to join us on this adventure with Scopely in Barcelona.”

Pixel Toys

Collaborating with Scopely on a different yet-to-be-announced midcore title, Pixel Toys is based in Leamington Spa, England and has developed multiple award-winning titles, including Gunfinger, Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade, Drop Dead, and Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War.

Pixel Toys was co-founded by Chief Executive Andy Wafer and Chief Operating Officer Alex Zoro. Together they have led the studio for nearly nine years, drawing upon their combined experience and decades-long careers spanning disciplines of game making, including game design and engineering, marketing, and distribution. Before joining Pixel Toys, Andy held senior leadership roles at Codemasters and FreeStyleGames, which Alex co-founded and served as a senior leader after beginning his career with Rare.

quote
“We pride ourselves on making big, bold games that defy expectations — and that’s only possible because of our uniquely talented and creative people. Scopely shares our mindset and our teams instantly meshed, and that strong dynamic will continue to unlock creativity and shared learnings that will deliver incredible experiences for players. We’ve already learned so much from joining this ecosystem and leveraging the power of Scopely’s Playgami technology and feel highly valued for the expertise and creativity that our studio is contributing as well,” said Andy. “This funding represents an investment in the future of fun.”

Tag Games

Dundee, Scotland-based studio Tag Games is co-creating a new title that will further expand Scopely’s MMO strategy slate. The Tag Games team has worked with leading publishers on more than 60 games since its founding in 2006.

Marc Williamson, Chief Executive of Tag Games, has been with the studio since 2010, first joining as Head of Production and Studio Manager. Before Tag, Marc grew his expertise as a gaming entrepreneur, establishing two of his own studios that delivered games for early touchscreen platforms and consoles like Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s Wii and DS systems.

quote
“Having worked with many publishers over the years, Scopely has differentiated themselves as a company of game makers that value collaboration and iteration for the betterment of the player experience above all else,” said Marc. “We’ve been inspired by what we’ve learned from their rich ecosystem so far and look forward to what more we can do together. With Scopely’s support and the technology they’ve built to create truly personalized player experiences as well as the knowledge-sharing across studios, game making is a highly enjoyable adventure.”

Beyond its external partner studios, Scopely has a rapidly growing footprint in Europe, with more than 500 EMEA-based employees across Barcelona, Dublin, London, and Seville. The company also has presence across Asia in Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, and in the U.S. in Los Angeles and Boulder.

Scopely continues to cement its position as a top games company, launching the biggest mobile word game ever with Scrabble® GO in March 2020 and seeing consistent growth, engagement and innovation with its live games, such as its “Dice franchise” (which includes Yahtzee With Buddies) surpassing $500M in lifetime revenue; Star Trek Fleet Command introducing the entire Star Trek film and television universe to fans – the only mobile game to do so; and MARVEL Strike Force breaking player engagement metrics with 70% of players playing seven days in a row. Scopely also closed a $340M Series E financing round in October 2020 aimed for new investments, and continues to develop new game experiences — such as those with Omnidrone, Pixel Toys, and Tag Games.