Geewa
Geewa is a Czech mobile games developer based in Prague.[4] Founded in 2005, the company develops and publishes casual competitive multiplayer games for mobile devices. Geewa was awarded the Red Herring 100 Europe award in 2013[5] and is best known for their games Smashing Four and Pool Live Tour. In 2017 Geewa lost CZK 18 mio. on sales CZK 26 mio., cumulated loss increased to CZK 174 mio.[1]
Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Mobile games, Games development |
Founded | 2005 |
Headquarters | , |
Key people |
|
Total equity | CZK -7 mio.[1] (2017) |
Owner | KKCG (62 %)[2] |
Number of employees | 45 (2019)[3] |
Website | https://www.geewa.com/ |
History
Geewa was founded in 2005 with the aim of connecting creativity, technology and data to create unique, long-running games for everyone. This was the inspiration behind their name, where Geewa is an acronym for Games for Everyone, Everywhere, With Anyone.
Shortly after forming, they launched the games portal Geewa.com[4] with six initial games. Originally, their business model was based on free-to-play principles and financed through advertisement.
In 2006, Geewa formed a partnership with Seznam.cz, the biggest web portal in the Czech Republic, to jointly operate a gaming portal called Hry.cz. Geewa raised $2.2 million in venture capital funding from Poland’s MCI Ventures in 2007.[6] In the following two years, Geewa agreed license partnerships with Bigpoint, Alawar and Ganymede for the distribution of their games on Geewa portals in the Czech Republic. A full microtransactions economy to enable sales of virtual goods was also implemented during this time.
In 2009, Geewa started to publish its games on Facebook, launching Pool Live Tour on the platform in 2010. The title was one of the most popular pool games on Facebook and hit 90+ million players at its peak.
In 2012, Geewa published Pirates Poker on Facebook and acquired Cuketa, a Brno-based company behind the Age of Defenders game.
In 2013, Geewa released Pool Live Tour on mobile devices and the competitive word-forming game, On Words for browsers.
In 2014, Geewa raised $4.2 million in venture capital funding from investors including KKCG Ventures and MCI Ventures. Geewa ramped up game development and released On Words and Munchie Mania on mobile devices. 2014 also marked the release of Tile On, a competitive tile-based puzzle game. Work also began on the successor to Pool Live Tour, with a focus on developing for the mobile market.
In 2015, Geewa launched their first sequel Pool Live Tour 2. They also released Prima Kvizy, a joint venture between Geewa and Czech TV company, Prima.
In 2016, Geewa released Pool Live Tour: Champions, and began work on a brand new mobile game utilizing the pool physics from their Pool Live Tour series.
In 2018, Geewa launched Smashing Four globally. This fast paced PvP multiplayer mobile game, based on pool physics, with upgradeable heroes reached the no.1 game in Czech Apple App Store paid apps & no.1 in the Czech Google Play App Store paid app chart later that year. The game also reached the Top 250 grossing in the US iTunes charts. By the end of the year, Geewa revealed that Smashing Four had 3.5 million unique players in 2018.
Games
Year | Title | Platform(s) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Android | iOS | Browser | ||
2005 | Wild West Duel | No | No | Yes |
Hockey | No | No | Yes | |
2006 | Kris Kros | No | No | Yes |
Puzzle | No | No | Yes | |
Poker Texas Hold'em | No | No | Yes | |
2007 | World Soccer | No | No | Yes |
2008 | Climbers | No | No | Yes |
2010 | Pool Live Tour | YesBold text | Yes | Yes |
2012 | Pirates Poker | No | No | Yes |
2013 | Pool Live Tour | No | No | Yes |
Age of Defenders | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Munchie Mania | No | No | Yes | |
On Words | No | No | Yes | |
2014 | Tile On | No | No | Yes |
2015 | Pool Live Tour 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Prima Kvízy | Yes | Yes | No | |
2016 | Pool Live Tour: Champions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2018 | Smashing Four | Yes | Yes | No |
External links
References
- Annual report of Geewa a.s. for calendar year 2017, freely available at or.justice.cz, document B 18480/SL79/MSPH
- Minutes from general meeting held on 20 December 2018, published at or.justice.cz, document B 18480/SL81/MSPH
- Annual report 2019, page 22
- "Geewa Crunchbase profile." Retrieved on May 24, 2013.
- "MCI Ventures." Retrieved on May 24, 2013.
- "Who is Who in Europe: Geewa" Retrieved on May 24, 2013.
- https://blog.applovin.com/welcome-geewa-and-clipwire-games/