Mobile game publisher Scopely is announcing a long-term partnership with seasoned developer Kung Fu Factory to create mobile games over multiple years.
Kung Fu Factory has won a bunch of awards for titles such as Adventure Time: Card Wars, TMNT: Rooftop Run, and SpongeBob Moves In. It specializes in making mobile games based on popular brands. Under the deal, the two companies will deliver a series of titles using “the world’s biggest entertainment intellectual properties.” Developers and publishers team up all the time to make games, but multi-year deals are relatively rare.
The duo will also try their hand at some original titles. Scopely said that the partnership fits with its mission of working with hand-picked, world-class developers. Los Angeles-based Scopely has a popular network of mobile games, and it will release the titles on that mobile gaming network and cross-promote them.
“The team at Kung Fu Factory has consistently impressed us,” said Tim O’Brien, the chief revenue officer at Scopely. “We are focused on bringing the best development studios in the world into the Scopely network to help them compete and scale in an environment that increasingly favors larger publishers with superior distribution and monetization infrastructure. We are excited to power Kung Fu Factory games to new heights and create outstanding experiences for our players.”
Also based in Los Angeles, the Kung Fu Factory team has created and developed three chart-topping games in different genres, ranging from card-battling action to fast-paced combat running. Each one hit the No. 1 spot in the Apple iTunes App Store in more than 100 countries.
“We are very excited about taking our games to the next level with Scopely,” said Ricci Rukavina, the CEO and creative director of Kung Fu Factory, in a statement. “Having incredible access to their distribution, unparalleled platform for monetization, not to mention a well-capitalized operation is a massive opportunity to create a lineup of great games that touches millions of people.”
Scopely was founded in 2011, and it raised $35 million in a first round of funding in November. Kung Fu Factory was founded in by Rukavina and Daryl Pitts. It has created 10 games to date.
