Following a majority stake being acquired in Swedish gaming studio Snowborn Games last year, QTech Games is vowing to continue to invest in up-and-coming similar such developers, and unite each under one global gaming studio.
Titled GameFactory, the Asia focused distributor is aiming to form a series of partnerships and act as a central sales hub, whilst encouraging and empowering each studio to utilise its unique identity.
“It is also becoming harder for small studios to get into larger casino operators”
CasinoBeats caught up with Markus Nasholm, QTech Games’ global CEO, who explained what the idea was behind the establishment of GameFactory: “The idea really stemmed from working in M&A over the past 10 years in various forms. More specifically, witnessing the immense success of my previous employer, Catena Media, coupled to that of console-game and mobile-game consolidators such as THQ Nordic (listed on Nasdaq Stockholm) and Supercell of Finland, it was easy to see the merit in a well-executed concept.
“It is also becoming harder for small studios to get into larger casino operators. Indeed, with compliance and legal requirements continuing to increase, becoming part of a shoal allows you to enjoy the benefits of being a bigger fish.”
The idea of individuality forms a huge part of the new venture, and Nasholm was keen to stress why it’s so important to the success of GameFactory: “The idea is that the founders keep a significant portion of the shares. This way, they remain invested in the success of the business, keeping it running and imbuing their all their games with a distinct individuality.
“Our aim is to become a preferred partner to the casino operators”
“Our centralised team would then assist in the key areas of sales, distribution, admin, compliance and legal. You have to get the incentive structures correctly aligned and clearly define the core roles.”
Aiming to become “the best casino content provider on the market,” a typical investment into GameFactory “will have between 5-10 games live, preferably generating revenues,” whether this be from a portfolio of games, standalone game titles or exclusive distribution in certain markets.
When unveiling initial details of the project, it was stressed that “the trend for consolidation is industry wide,” but how can QTech help buck that trend: “The consolidation has mostly happened on the operator-side, and also in the affiliate business domain. We want to be the trailblazer in the studio-consolidation game, but we want to bring that about organically and in the true spirit of partnership and collaboration with studio founders.”
Striving to be a trendsetter with this new approach, Nasholm concluded by discussing ambitions for GameFactory: “In the short term, the goal is to find great studios with which to partner, both in terms of their respective games’ innovation levels and also the underlying culture. In the longer term, a listing on a prominent tech exchange would prove ideal so that we can continue building the company.
“Our aim is to become a preferred partner to the casino operators, with regular releases of quality, innovative games that excite and engage. It’s as simple as that.”
