Mobile games giant Scopely has made a $20 million investment in newly-formed California-based game development outfit Burlingame Studios. The two companies will develop a game under the partnership.
Burlingame Studios is co-founded and led by former Glu Mobile senior vp Chris McGill, whose team includes Jose Avila, Barlow Gilmore, Brandon Jones and Scott Cuthbertson — veteran game developers from companie such as CrowdStar, Glu Mobile and Electronic Arts.
McGill chose Scopely to be a partner due to the mobile company’s ecosystem of game studios — which exist across four continents — along with its tech platform Playgami and its infrastructure.
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“Our team is excited to start a new adventure together as Burlingame Studios, and with Scopely, build on our collective track record of big wins,” said McGill in a statement. “With many years of experience creating games, we knew exactly what we wanted and needed in a partner — an extremely dynamic and intuitive technology platform, strong infrastructure and publishing expertise, deep investment and commitment in our team, and a culture that empowers creativity and innovation. We found all of these ingredients and more with Scopely and look forward to a strong partnership ahead.”
Scopely’s chief revenue officer Tim O’Brien added: “The entrepreneurial, creative and highly sought-after team at Burlingame Studios shares our vision to inspire play, every day. We are proud to invest in this group of gamemakers who are deeply committed to building the best experiences possible and thrilled that they selected us as their partner of choice. We believe our ecosystem is extremely unique and are always energized when new partners see the value of our infrastructure and technology — specifically our platform Playgami – to make their fun, creative gameplay into a big business.”
Last year, Scopely invested $50 million across three European studios to develop mid-core titles as well as expand the company’s massively multiplayer slate.
Scopely was founded in 2011 and is known for franchises including Star Trek Fleet Command, Marvel Strike Force and Scrabble GO, as well as The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, Looney Tunes World of Mayhem and more. The studio is based in Culver City, with offices across the U.S. and U.K. and numerous other countries.
