PARTNERSHIP WITH 2 BY 2 GAMING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RUBY SEVEN STUDIOS ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH CHICAGO’S 2 BY 2 GAMING Partnership will bring well-known real-money casino titles from 2 By 2 Gaming to social/ mobile. July 3rd, 2014– SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Ruby Seven Studios announced a new partnership today with Chicago based casino content creator 2 By 2 Gaming to develop a new social mobile casino app. This is the fifth partnership with real-money gaming companies Ruby Seven Studios has sealed since the start of 2014. Other partners include Grand Vision Gaming, Gala Coral, Leading Edge Design, and investor Rush Street Gaming. Ruby Seven Studios will combine the design expertise of 2 By 2 Gaming and recent partner LED Gaming to create a new social casino app featuring select well-known real-money casino titles by 2 By 2 Gaming such as Time Treasures and Pinocchio’s Fortune as well as LED Gaming’s popular titles Multi-Strike Poker and Wild Tiles. This is the first collaborative game between Ruby Seven Studios and more than one of its partners. CEO Michael Carpenter commented on the partnership. “Ruby Seven Studios understands that proven real money casino game design creates the best game experience. The social casino game we’re creating with 2 By 2 and LED Gaming will be very innovative and bridges the divide between land-based and social casino players.” 2 By 2 Gaming’s founder and CEO Shridhar Joshi is an industry veteran bringing over 20 years of experience to the partnership. Joshi has held senior-level executive positions at WMS and has over 40 issued patents in the real-money gaming space. “We at 2 By 2 Gaming are excited to be working with LED Gaming as well as Ruby Seven to bring a new casino experience to the worldwide market of mobile and social casino,” said Joshi. “We have some fantastic ideas and are looking forward to bring them to the social mobile arena in a collaborative manner.” 2 By 2 Gaming is a leading independent slot game development company that develops content for landbased gaming and legal online wagering. With an experienced group of talented professionals that are responsible for some of the most popular casino gaming brands, 2 By 2 Gaming is focused on innovation and player excitement. Several of 2 By 2 Gaming’s popular titles are currently deployed on the casino floors with leading gaming companies, including Bally Technologies (NYSE: BYI) and Incredible Technologies. Ruby Seven Studios was co-founded in 2012 by the former VP of Social Product Operations for PopCap Games, Michael Carpenter, and founder of leading Indian casual games developer ChaYoWo Games, Jugul Thachery. Their combined vision is to bring innovation to the social casino game genre with high-quality titles and fresh twists on classic casino games. With over 100 employees worldwide, Ruby Seven Studios has released over 25 titles for Facebook and mobile platforms. Top titles include TimeQuest Slots, Slots of Plunder, Fire and Ice Slots, Big Spin Bingo, and Cats vs Dogs Slots. To learn more about Ruby Seven Studios and their games on iOS, Android, Kindle, and Facebook, visit www.rubyseven.com.
INTERVIEW WITH RUBY SEVEN STUDIOS’ CEO MICHAEL CARPENTER
Article Originally Published By Jon Jordan To the outsider, the world of social casino games appears to be something of a lottery. There are big winners – notably IGT’s $500 million acquisition of DoubleDown in 2012 – but much of the sizzle surrounding the potential of real-money social gaming (aka gambling) in 2013 appears to have evaporated. Still, there are 11 social casino games in the top 50 US top grossing iPhone chart, including two in the top 10 – so it’s clear there’s plenty of cash in the sector. Estimates suggest the market, which is focused on English language countries such as US, UK, Canada and Australia, is worth around $3 billion, and is projected to rise to over $5 billion by 2016. No Education Required “Social casino games are the best monetizing mobile games,” comments Michael Carpenter, CEO of boutique social casino developer Ruby Seven Studios. “Card collection games might have higher ARPDAU but they have a much smaller audience.” With a design office in San Francisco and production in India, the 120-strong studio is focused on soft money casino games, in which players can only win in-game currency. It currently operate nine titles across 35 releases, including iOS, Android, Amazon and Windows 8. The games mainly use Facebook Connects for their social layer, although Ruby Seven does have its own inhouse chat system. “Social casino games are very casual. And you don’t have to teach players that they need coins to use a slots machine and if they don’t have coins, they have to buy them,” Carpenter points out. “That’s more logical than teaching them they have to buy virtual fuel for their tractor.” What Plays in Las Vegas Of course, every market has its challenges, and social casino is only different to other mobile games in terms of the importance of real-world casino brands that people have spent billions of dollars playing in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. “It’s hard to compete with land-based brands like Cleopatra Slots,” Carpenter says. More than just brand awareness, however, he says that licensing real world slots games for mobile also provides the advantage that players get the same play experience. “If a land-based slots game doesn’t work, it doesn’t survive on the casino floor,” he says, explaining the sector’s strong evolutionary filter for providing the highest monetizing experiences. In the Nexus Of course, having a license doesn’t guarantee success. The skill of companies like Ruby Seven is providing the wider mobile user experience in terms of the presentation, audio, graphics and overriding metagame, which keeps people playing and paying day-in and day-out. “The early social casino companies didn’t understand the game side,” observes Carpenter. “It’s all about entertainment so the metagame is as important as the casino game.” Indeed, he argues this is one of the advantages social casino games have over real-money casino games.” It’s difficult to make $2 last two hours in a casino, but in one of our games, you can make it last two weeks,” he points out. And even now, this intersection between monetization maths and game art is a valuable skill. Ruby Seven works with real money companies such as UK bookmaker Gala Coral and US real-world casino game companies LED Gaming and Grand Vision. In the case of Grand Vision, Ruby Seven has already released a version of its Fire and Ice Slots game, while the LED Gaming hook up will see the release of games based on its Multi-Strike Poker game. The Next Big Roll The market is hotting up in other ways too. Zynga has snapped out of a long decline, revitalizing its casino games, which it now views as one of its strategic pillars, while the likes of Big Fish, GSN and Playtika all feature strongly on app store charts. But Carpenter says he enjoys the competition. “I like competing against giants. We have people who have worked at the likes of Zynga and GSN. We can be more nimble.” Yet, social casino games also compete in some of the most expensive markets in terms of user acquisition. “UA is fundamental to any company in the F2P space,” Carpenter says. “You don’t get much more casual than a slot game. All our advertising is aimed at the 21+ age group, so we have a broad potential audience but you have to be very targeted in your approach.” And there are other ways in which casino games are similar to general F2P games. “Our games are always in development,” he says. “We update two to three times a month. This is a long journey.”
PARTNERSHIP WITH LED GAMING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 5th, 2014. Social mobile casino creator Ruby Seven Studios has announced a new partnership with renowned casino game developers Leading Edge Design (LED Gaming), best known for their popular casino titles Cleopatra WildTiles and Multi-Strike Poker and influential founder and prominent game designer, Larry DeMar. DeMar got his start in game design developing classic arcade titles such as Defender, Stargate and Robotron: 2084, which went on to be some of the best-selling arcade games of the 1980s. For 35 years, DeMar and his team have been industry leaders, creating innovative game design for pinball machines, video games, and gaming machines. DeMar is a member of the Pinball Hall of Fame, has 38 issued US Patents and has received 20 best-of-industry awards for his games. Most recently, DeMar was a founding partner of Spooky Cool Labs, now a part of Zynga. The partnership between LED and Ruby Seven Studios includes a publishing agreement to take LED games, starting with Multi-Strike Poker, to social and mobile platforms. The social and mobile casino segment has experienced tremendous growth, with projected combined revenue of $2.9 billion in 2013 alone. Michael Carpenter, CEO Ruby Seven Studios commented on the new partnership. “Ruby Seven Studios is very excited to be working with LED’s incredible game design talent. We can’t wait to take Multi-Strike and other great LED titles to social platforms.” “This partnership combines the Casino and game-making expertise of LED with the social and mobile operation and expertise of Michael and his Ruby Seven team,” said Larry DeMar, President of LED Gaming. “We can’t wait to bring hit games like Multi-Strike Poker to this market along with some ideas that are totally new.” Leading Edge Design was founded in 1999 and is one of the chief suppliers of innovative casino games played on casino floors across America. With a mission to bring new types of games to the casino industry, LED’s game development staff has over 100 years of combined experience making award-winning, industry-leading games. With 16 patented games and many patents pending, LED is dedicated to creating new, innovative, and unique gaming concepts and continually pushing the boundaries of the casino gaming experience. Ruby Seven Studios was co-founded in 2012 by the former VP of Social Product Operations for PopCap Games, Michael Carpenter, and founder of leading Indian casual games developer ChaYoWo Games, Jugul Thatchery. Their combined vision is to bring innovation to the social casino game genre with high-quality titles and fresh twists on classic casino games. With nearly 100 employees worldwide, Ruby Seven Studios has released over 25 titles for Facebook and mobile platforms. Top titles include TimeQuest Slots, Slots of Plunder, Fire and Ice Slots, Big Spin Bingo, and Cats vs Dogs Slots. To learn more about Ruby Seven Studios and their games on iOS, Android, Kindle, and Facebook, visit rubyseven.com