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Stillfront Group

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Stillfront Group is a Sweden-based company specialized in the acquisition and management of mobile and browser game studios.[1][2]

Stillfront Group
Company typePublic
Nasdaq First North: SF
IndustryVideo games
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010) in Sweden
FounderJörgen Larsson
Area served
Worldwide
Websitehttps://www.stillfront.com/

History

[edit]

Stillfront was founded in 2010 by Jörgen Larsson, a Swedish entrepreneur, although it didn't start operating until 2012. The plan was to build a diversified portfolio of long life-cycle games by acquiring independent gaming studios and letting these operate independently within the same group.[3][4] Stillfronts main markets are the US, Germany, France and the Middle East. The company is mainly focused on free-2-play mobile games.[5]

In November 2012, Stillfront acquired Power Challenge, a mobile and browser-based social sports management game developer and publisher.[6]

In November 2013, Stillfront announced it had acquired 51% of Bytro Labs and entered into an agreement to acquire the remaining 49% by 2016. The addition of Bytro further expanded Stillfront's games portfolio with titles such as Supremacy 1914, PanzerWars and Industry Tycoon and strengthened the company within the strategy game genre.[7]

In December 2015, Stillfront completed an IPO and listed its shares on NASDAQ First North Stockholm. The listing price was SEK 39 per share and the first day of trading was December 8, 2015.[8][9][10]

In June 2016, Stillfront announced its acquisition of the majority of shares in Simutronics, one of the longest-running independent game development studios in North America. Simutronics developed MUD-style text-based games GemStone IV and DragonRealms, as well as mobile games Tiny Heroes, One Epic Knight and Lara Croft Relic Run.[11]

In December 2016, Stillfront acquired Babil Games, a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region mobile games publisher.[12]

In May 2017, Stillfront Group acquired eRepublik Labs, adding game titles like eRepublik, Age of Lords and World at War: WW2 Strategy MMO to the group.[13]

In June the same year, the listing of Stillfront's shares was moved to NASDAQ First North Premier Growth Market.[14]

In January 2018, Stillfront completed the acquisition of Goodgame Studios for €270 million.[15]

In October the same year, Stillfront acquired Imperia Online, a game developer and publisher in Southeastern Europe with focus on long term gamer relations.[16]

Further, in December 2018, Stillfront acquired Playa Games, a casual strategy game developer and publisher in Germany.[17]

During the summer of 2019, Stillfront acquired Kixeye, a developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online real-time strategy games (MMORTS) for PC and mobile devices.[18]

In January 2020, Stillfront announced the acquisition of Storm8, a mobile mash-up game developer headquartered in California for up to $400 million.[19] In September 2020, Stillfront announced it has acquired Nanobit for $100 million.[20]

In January 2021, Stillfront announced its intent to acquire Hong Kong based mobile game publisher 6waves, including purchasing the 34.8% stake previously owned by Nexon for $93 million, for a grand total of $201 million.[21]

On September 9, 2021, Stillfront acquired Arabic online card game company Jawaker for $205 million.[22]

In January 2022, Stillfront acquired 6waves for $201M.[23]

Studios

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List of studios
Name Location Acquired Ref(s).
Coldwood Interactive Umeå, Sweden 2011 [24]
Power Challenge Linköping, Sweden 2012 [25]
Dorado Games Malta 2014 [26]
Babil Games Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2016 [27]
Bytro Labs Hamburg, Germany 2016 [28]
Simutronics St. Louis, United States 2016 [29]
OFM Studios Cologne, Germany 2017 [30]
eRepublik Labs Dublin, Ireland 2017 [31]
Goodgame Studios Hamburg, Germany 2017 [32]
Imperia Online Sofia, Bulgaria 2018 [33]
Playa Games Hamburg, Germany 2018 [34]
Kixeye Victoria, Canada 2019 [35]
Storm8 California, United States 2020 [36]
Candywriter Miami, United States 2020 [37]
Nanobit Zagreb, Croatia 2020 [38]
Everguild London, United Kingdom 2020 [39]
Sandbox Interactive Berlin, Germany 2020 [40]
Super Free Games San Francisco, United States 2020 [41]
Moonfrog Bangalore, Karnataka 2021 [42]
Game Labs Kyiv, Ukraine 2021 [43]
Jawaker Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 2021 [44]
6waves Wan Chai, Hong Kong 2022 [45]

References

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  1. ^ "About us". Stillfront Group. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  2. ^ Reuters Editorial. "SFRG.ST - Stillfront Group AB (publ) Profile". www.reuters.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "Stillfront: Understanding Gaming's Dark Horse | EGD". Elitegamedevelopers.com. 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  4. ^ Forde, Matthew; Editor, Features (20 September 2019). "Live ops and scaling are key to Stillfront's growth, says CEO Jörgen Larsson". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2021-03-14. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ "Stillfront Group aktie (SF) | Aktieguide".
  6. ^ "STILLFRONT ACQUIRES POWER CHALLENGE". Stillfront Group. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  7. ^ AB, Stillfront Group (2016-05-09). "Stillfront Group AB: Stillfront finalizes acquisition of Bytro Labs". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  8. ^ Nordic, Nasdaq (2015-12-08). "NASDAQ STOCKHOLM WELCOMES STILLFRONT TO FIRST NORTH". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  9. ^ "Invitation to subscribe for shares in Stillfront Group AB" (PDF).
  10. ^ "Stillfront Group AB: Stillfront approved for listing on Nasdaq First North Premier". Stillfront Group. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  11. ^ "EGD News #35 — Stillfront is going places | EGD". Elitegamedevelopers.com. 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  12. ^ "STILLFRONT GROUP ACQUIRES BABIL GAMES FOR $17M". Babil Games. 2016-12-16. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  13. ^ "Stillfront Acquires eRepublik Labs - published by Grogu. on day 3,479 - page 1 of 1". www.erepublik.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  14. ^ Reuters Editorial. "SFRG.ST - Stillfront Group AB (publ) Profile". www.reuters.comundefined. Retrieved 2021-03-14. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)[dead link‍]
  15. ^ "Goodgame joins Stillfront Group in €270m deal". GamesIndustry.biz. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  16. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Imperia Online for €10m". GamesIndustry.biz. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  17. ^ Novac, Dragos. "Stillfront acquires Germany's Playa Games for €45M". Nordic 9. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  18. ^ "Stillfront acquires Kixeye to expand its portfolio of games". VentureBeat. 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  19. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Storm8 for up to $400m". GamesIndustry.biz. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  20. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Nanobit for at least $100 million". Gamesindustry.biz. 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  21. ^ "Stillfront acquires 6Waves for $201m". GamesIndustry.biz. 21 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  22. ^ "Stillfront acquires Jawaker for $205m". GamesIndustry.biz. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  23. ^ "Stillfront acquires 6Waves for $201m". www.gamesindustry.biz. 21 January 2022.
  24. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Coldwood Interactive |". uminovainnovation.se. 24 October 2017.
  25. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Power Challenge |". Stillfront Group. 12 November 2012.
  26. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Dorado Games |". Stillfront Group. 4 June 2014.
  27. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Babil Games |". Stillfront Group. 16 December 2016.
  28. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Bytro Labs |". Stillfront Group. 9 May 2016.
  29. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires the majority stake of Simutronics |". Stillfront Group. 27 June 2016.
  30. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires OFM Studios |". Stillfront Group. 18 July 2017.
  31. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires eRepublik Labs |". Stillfront Group. 30 May 2017.
  32. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Goodgame Studios |". gameindustry.biz. 7 December 2017.
  33. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Imperia Online |". gameindustry.biz. 24 September 2018.
  34. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Playa Games |". Stillfront Group. 11 December 2018.
  35. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Kixeye |". gameindustry.biz. 3 June 2019.
  36. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Storm8 |". gameindustry.biz. 21 January 2020.
  37. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Candywriter |". gameindustry.biz. 23 April 2020.
  38. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Nanobit |". gameindustry.biz. 17 September 2020.
  39. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Everguild |". gameindustry.biz. 29 October 2020.
  40. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Sandbox Interactive |". Stillfront Group. 17 December 2020.
  41. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Super Free Games |". Stillfront Group. 18 December 2020.
  42. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Moonfrog |". Stillfront Group. February 2021.
  43. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Game Labs |". Stillfront Group. 7 May 2021.
  44. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires Jawaker |". Stillfront Group. 4 October 2021.
  45. ^ "Stillfront Group acquires 6waves |". gameindustry.biz. 21 January 2022.
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