Kixeye

Kixeye
Private
Industry Video games
Founded July 2007 (2007-07)
Founder Paul Preece
David Scott
Will Harbin
Headquarters San Francisco, United States
Products Backyard Monsters, War Commander, Battle Pirates, Desktop Defender, Vega Conflict, Tome
Website www.kixeye.com

Kixeye (stylized as KIXEYE, formerly known as Casual Collective) is a San Francisco, California based developer of online strategy and combat games with over 5 million monthly active users. [1][2][3] It creates games for competitive gamers and its titles Backyard Monsters, Battle Pirates, and War Commander prominently feature "explosions and gore and mayhem".[4][5] Its real-time strategy game Backyard Monsters has had over 20 million installations.[6] Kixeye expected to generate more than $100 million in revenue in 2012.[7]

History

Kixeye office reception

Beginnings

Developers David Scott and Paul Preece began Kixeye as Casual Collective, where they developed 13 Flash games.[2][5][8] The developers wanted to "make games that we grew up playing and that we love playing."[9]

In mid-2009 when searching for new venues for their strategy games, Scott and Preece decided to take their Flash knowledge and move it to Facebook.[5][10][11] After developing Minions on Ice and TSG: Missions, Casual Collective hired Will Harbin, the co-founder of Affinity Labs, as CEO and moved its headquarters to San Francisco, where they developed Desktop Defender, a Tower Defense game for Facebook.[4][8] After its release in December 2009, the game reached 675,000 monthly active users and produced more revenue in one day than their previous games made in one month.[8]

Games

Backyard Monsters

Development of Backyard Monsters started in 2009 but it wasn't released until January of 2010 as "Desktop Creatures" before being renamed by fan vote to "Backyard Monsters" seeing as the game had nothing to do with desktops in its original release on Facebook. Backyard Monsters is a real-time strategy game on Facebook with, unlike other Facebook games, "destruction and gore and mayhem."[5][12] Players begin by building a yard for their monsters, designed so that essential buildings are protected by defensive towers. If the player's yard is designed correctly, the defenses will stop invading monsters who try to damage the buildings and loot resources.[13][14][15]

Backyard Monsters : Unleashed is a port to iOS released in October 2013.

Executive Producer David Scott said he designed the game to "be able to play a [real-time strategy] game in short sessions. I like to think that we're providing some of that RTS magic to people who used to play them quite frequently, but now have a job or maybe a family, and just don't have the time."[6] Kixeye has been updating Backyard Monsters every week for two years.[6] Currently, 20 million people have installed the game.[6] An expansion for Backyard Monsters titled Inferno was released in January 2012 and in November 2012 the new world map was released.[6] In addition to this, Backyard Monsters also has outposts in the new world map when the new world map update came.[6] On February 18, 2013, the Kongregate version of Backyard Monsters was shut down.[16] Backyard Monsters is no longer supported and player numbers have fallen significantly since its groundbreaking inception."[17]

Battle Pirates

Battle Pirates[18] is a Massively Multiplayer Real Time Strategy (MMORTS)[19] game with PvP synchronous combat, released May 2, 2011.[8][20] The game takes place in the year 2067, where, due to a terrorist-sparked world war and a 95% extinction level, only a small amount of Earth's original landmass and population remains. The remaining survivors are split into four factions(draconian, forsaken, reavers, and the newest scrouge).[21]

The game is the only browser-based massively multiplayer online real-time free-to-play game with a 24/7 persistent environment on Facebook.[22] Harbin explained the game as the "first synchronous real time strategy of its kind, and we're very proud of that."[23]

War Commander

War Commander is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape 30 years after civilization and governments have collapsed. In the game, man is divided into small, warring factions fighting for control of Earth's remaining natural resources – Metal, Oil and Thorium.[10]

To survive, players must assume the leadership role of an army commander who assembles and trains bands of infantry – ranging from Riflemen to Snipers to Suicide Bombers to Shock Troopers and more incredible units– to defend their base against waves of enemy attacks. In addition to building and managing production and resource facilities, players control tactical ground force units that will slaughter any insurgents encroaching on their base.[10] War Commander currently has 5,200,000 monthly active users and 90,000 daily active users.[24]

In October 2012, Kixeye implemented a “live battle mode” in its title, War Commander. The new mode gave players the opportunity to react instantly in the game's battles. War Commander is still in Open Beta, and has since 2011.[25]

Desktop Defender

In Desktop Defender, players defend their desktop from creatures called "creeps."[26][27] Players deploy defensive turrets that attack anything in range. Each defeated creep rewards players with coins which players can use to unlock new towers that shoot frost, ink, swarms of missiles and other defenses. Players can also purchase special bonus powers that slow down enemies, speed up tower guns and cause damage.

Players can invite friends to compete for high scores and special benefits. Players receive 500 coins for each friend they invite and an additional 50 coins whenever a friend is playing Desktop Defender.[26] The game currently has 60,000 monthly active users (as of April 2012).[28]

Desktop is no longer supported by Kixeye but continues to run on Facebook.

Vega Conflict

Vega Conflict is a real-time strategy game developed in April 2013, and gone beta in August 2013. Vega Conflict is a brand new game focusing on VEGA or outer space. In June 2014 KIXEYE moved Vega Conflict to another dimension by rebuilding the flash game in Unity. This move was driven by the game team's desire to create a cross-platform experience so users could play on mobile and computer platforms. Every month, Kixeye will produce new and old events to satisfy the player's needs for weapons and other technologies. Three resources are mainly featured here, Helium-3, Mineral Ore, and Antimatter. In 2015, Unity stopped supporting Vega Conflict. The game was then made available on Steam where players could download the game.

TOME: Immortal Arena

TOME: Immortal Arena is a MOBA formerly developed by Kixeye. Official development by Kixeye ended February 5, 2015. Kixeye CEO Will Harbin mentioned several issues with the development of TOME. Harbin stated TOME was only meant to be a browser-based game, and that several features removed by the engines utilized by the game forced Kixeye to develop its own game engine, and eventually put TOME on the content delivery system Steam. Citing a lack of "economic sense," Harbin said Kixeye would keep TOME's servers running, but would not add any more features or content to TOME, focusing instead on "support(ing) our existing browser titles and our ... mobile games." No announcements have been made about which company would take over TOME's development. [29]

War Commander: Rogue Assault

WC:RA is a mobile-based MMORTS being developed by Kixeye. This game is the mobile spin of their popular web game, War Commander.

Reception

Kixeye's games generate 20 times more revenue per daily active user than other social games, and they have retained active users 5 times longer on average.[2][30] The company currently makes substantially more revenue per user than Zynga, a game developer who created Words With Friends, Farmville, and Mafia Wars.[7][31]

Business Insider named Will Harbin, Kixeye's CEO, one of the "25 Hot CEOs Of Silicon Valley Startups You Can't Afford To Ignore".[32] Venture capitalist Tim Chang said that Kixeye is “pursuing the notion of next-generation social gaming, instead of the standard FarmVille copycat.”[33] At the 2012 Game Developers Conference, Matt Wyndowe, Facebook's games product manager, said:

We're really focusing on quality games and less traditionally mainstream audiences. I think no one epitomizes this more than Kixeye. This is a team that is focused on a more hardcore gaming market. They skew way more male than most of our game developers, but what really stands out is that this is the games they produce. These are really high quality games that drive incredible engagement. Our users love them and Kixeye is building an incredibly profitable business. When we see people building a massive base and businesses entirely on Facebook, it is incredibly rewarding to us as a games team.[2]

After three months on the market in early 2010, Backyard Monsters had 500,000 monthly active users, and by July 2010, it had 4.5 million monthly active users.[8][10][21] The game currently has 2.5 million active users per month, 580,000 active users per day, with a 23 percent retention rate.[8][34] An average play session lasts greater than 30 minutes, players average between three and four sessions a day, and retention is over seven months.[1][2][2][8] The game currently has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars with over 500,000 votes.[5] Gamezebo gave Backyard Monsters 4.5 out of 5 stars, and said, "To release a game of this caliber for free on Facebook is a real achievement."[13] VentureBeat stated that War Commander "Represents a big step forward in the evolution of Facebook games." Facebook banner adds continue to draw in new players.[10] Backyard Monsters also won the Mochi Award for Best Social Game of 2010.[35]

References

  1. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean. Kixeye quietly makes big bucks on hardcore Facebook games. Venture Beat. March 16, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gaudiosi, John. Kixeye Kicking to the Curb Notion of Boring Facebook Games Forbes. April 5, 2012.
  3. ↑ Kixeye - Developer Metrics. AppData. April 18, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean. Kixeye re-brands and pivots into hardcore social games with Battle Pirates. VentureBeat. April 28, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Social Games Don't Have to Suck YouTube. August 18, 2011
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gibbons, Pat. An Interview with Dave Scott, Backyard Monsters' Executive Producer. Gamers Daily News. March 18, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Cutler, Kim-Mai. Kixeye Is The Lucrative Dark Horse of Facebook Gaming. TechCrunch. April 18, 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thompson, Mike. Two Years Later Backyard Monsters Continues to Thrive on Facebook. Inside Social Games”. March 20, 2012.
  9. ↑ Ayzenberg A-List Summit John Getze Kixeye Interview. GamerLiveTV. March 1, 2012.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Takahashi, Dean. Kixeye's War Commander brings real time strategy to Facebook gaming. Venture Beat. September 13, 2011.
  11. ↑ Slangen, Simon. The Casual Collective - Fun Online Multiplayer Flash Games Make Use Of. January 15, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Ravenwood Fair Crosses 10 Million Players on This Week's List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by MAU".
  13. 1 2 Ashby, Alicia. Backyard Monsters Review GameZebo. May 7, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Gamasutra - Features - Gaming The New Era Of Facebook". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  15. ↑ "Backyard Monsters on Facebook".
  16. ↑ "A Message from Kongregate". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  17. ↑ name="http://www.appmtr.com/facebook/app/342684208824-backyard-monsters/"
  18. ↑ http://apps.facebook.com/battlepirates. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ which is an online Massively Multiplayer Real Time Strategy (MMORTS) game on Facebook made by Kixeye, released May 2, 2010.
  20. ↑ "Battle Pirates on Facebook".
  21. 1 2 Rao, Leena. Gaming Startup The Casual Collective Rebrands as Kixeye; Launches Battle Pirates on Facebook. Tech Crunch. April 28, 2011.
  22. ↑ Peterson, Steve. Kixeye: “10x to 20x per user over Zynga”. Industry Gamers. February 20, 2012.
  23. ↑ Osborne, Joe. Kixeye answers Rumble Games. Gamesnews.com. January 4, 2012.
  24. ↑ http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2012/09/25/war-commander-re-review/
  25. ↑ Eli Cymet,, bakwas game. Kixeye continues synconous strategy with “Live Battles” in War Commander. ‘'GameZebo. October 17, 2012.
  26. 1 2 Meunier, Nathan. "Desktop Defender Review". GameZebo. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  27. ↑ "Desktop Defender on Facebook".
  28. ↑ Desktop Defender. AppData. May 4, 2012.
  29. ↑ https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/526129
  30. ↑ De Vere, Kathleen. "Monetizing Social Games on Facebook". Inside Social Games. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  31. ↑ Cutler, Kim-Mai. Developers Are Divided Over Adobe's Plan to Take Revenue Share For Higher-End Flash Games. Tech Crunch. March 29, 2012.
  32. ↑ Lynley, Matt. 25 Hot CEOs Of Silicon Valley Startups You Can't Afford To Ignore. Business Insider. May 2, 2012.
  33. ↑ Takahashi, Dean. Venture Capitalist Tim Chang Describes the White Hot Landscape of Game Investments. Venture Beat. July 25, 2011.
  34. ↑ Hyman, Paul. Gaming the New Era of Facebook Gamasutra. February 9, 2011.
  35. ↑ Lemaire, Elodie (3 January 2011). "Le Mochi Award du meilleur jeu social 2010 est attribué à...". Picabum (in French). Retrieved 2 August 2011.

External links

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