Digital Chocolate is an exciting investment for Bridgescale because it allows us to work with Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins on his exciting new strategy for the next generation of mobile and web-based gaming.
Many companies have tried to create marketing momentum by licensing other brands at enormous expense. Not Digital Chocolate. Like other great media companies, Digital Chocolate will own a catalog of original gaming titles that can be leveraged across multiple platforms and media venues.
With more than 2 billion mobile phones shipped annually – compared to 306 million in 2009, according to market research firm Gartner Group – Digital Chocolate understand that the mobile phone represents the largest gaming platform ever. Phones are also becoming much more powerful: the average smartphone exceeds the computing power of the average desktop computer of five years ago.
Smartphone market growth will only accelerate the gaming trend globally, particularly within places like China and India where the phone will be the only computing device people use to connect with friends and family.
For years, the best games were defined by highest-quality graphics and an immersive experience. Digital Chocolate knows that today’s ideal game should employ modest graphics – but more importantly enable real-time social interactions with others on the Web and on mobile phones.
Profitably porting a title to more than 1,000 SKUs in a market of diverse devices and carrier networks is a tall order for any game creator. Digital Chocolate is up to the challenge, addressing it in two ways: by creating a platform that at the creation stage supports a multitude of devices and by leveraging low-cost labor in Finland and India.
We look forward to working with Digital Chocolate to roll out the next-generation of social gaming platforms.
