Tilting Point
# Tilting Point

Tilting Point is a free-to-play (F2P) games publisher founded in 2012. In the years since, Tilting Point has grown to include over 200 staff members and office locations in New York, Boston, Barcelona, Kyiv, Seoul, and San Diego. Further partnerships with development studios and publishers exist in over a dozen countries.

The company publishes and manages live F2P games, and in some cases co-develops games with partner studios as well as runs live services for owned games through internal studios. Examples of such titles are: SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off, Star Trek Timelines, Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest, Languinis, Narcos: Cartel Wars, TerraGenesis, and Zombieland: AFK Survival.

## Company

### Business Model

Tilting Point created a new form of publishing called "Progressive Publishing", which has two main parts. The first is live publishing (which they call "Power Up"), which is a focus on publishing games that are already active. This includes user acquisition funding/management and other publishing services (asset creation, ASO [app store optimization], ad monetization, production management, and live operations). Secondarily is development (or "Team Up"). This includes funding the production of a game and other related services (game design, marketing/PR, IP licensing, and community management). Tilting Point has also been known to acquire independent developers or games.

## History

Tilting Point was founded in 2012 by Dan Sherman and Kevin Segalla as Tilting Point Media.

From 2012 to 2015, Tilting Point focused on pay-to-play games.

In 2015 the company hired Samir Agili as Chief Product Officer and Jean-Sebastien Laverge as VP of Growth to transition the company from a pay-to-play games publisher to a free-to-play game publisher.

Following Samir Agili's arrival, the company accelerated its user acquisition expertise and launched its first ever user acquisition fund in November 2016. The fund (initially $12 million), called Game Alliance, was intended for use by independent game developers to scale user acquisition campaigns. This launched a continued effort by the company to assist developers with user acquisition costs. In 2018, Tilting Point expanded its user acquisition fund to $132 million.

2016 also marked the launch of "D.O.R.A." or "Dynamically Optimized Revenue Optimization". DORA is an in-house developed artificial intelligence (AI) that makes predictions about customer lifetime value (LTV). The system uses key performance indicators (KPIs) data to make user acquisition campaign spend amount recommendations.

One of the two original founders, Dan Sherman, left the company in January 2018 and Samir Agili replaced him as president, Chief Operating Officer, and board member.

Tilting Point also developed "C.A.T." or "Creative Automation Technology" 100% in-house in 2018. This system automatically generates static and video advertisements using content supplied to it. This allows user acquisition and marketing managers to run more campaigns across a variety of platforms.

In September 2019, Tilting Point acquired Gondola, a service that leverages machine learning to assist mobile game developers with optimizing in-game economies and rewarded video ads. The company has since been folded into Tilting Point as a whole.

In March 2020, Tilting Point acquired Star Trek Timelines from Disruptor Beam. At the same time, they created Wicked Realm Games with 19 former Disruptor Beam staff members (including former CTO David Cham as the new studio head).

July 2020 marked the purchase of FTX Games and Plamee, including three of their games: Narcos: Cartel Wars, The Walking Dead: Casino Slots, and Criminal Minds: The Mobile Game.

In February 2022, Tilting Point announced it had acquired Korean game developer, AN Games.

## Funding

In 2018, Tilting Point made a deal with direct-lending firm Metropolitan Partners Group for a $132 million annual investment. This was used to expand Tilting Point's user acquisition fund.

## Acquisitions

| Date | Games | Company | New name | Country | Footnotes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Oct 2019 | | Gondola | | USA | [_] |
| Mar 2020 | Star Trek Timelines | | Wicked Realm Games (development team) | USA | [_] |
| Jul 2020 | Narcos: Cartel Wars, The Walking Dead: Casino Slots, Criminal Minds: The Mobile Game | FTX Games | | USA | [_] |
| Jul 2020 | Narcos: Cartel Wars | Plamee | | RU | [_] |

## Owned Studios & Offices

### Active studios

| Name | Description | Date Acquired/ Established | Footnotes |
| - | - | - | - |
| Tilting Point New York | | 2012 | |
| Tilting Point Barcelona | | 2018 | [_] |
| Tilting Point Seoul | | 2019 | |
| Wicked Realm Games (Boston) | Tilting Point acquired Star Trek Timelines from Disruptor Beam and created a new studio to support it. | 2020 | [_] |
| FTX Games (San Diego) | Tilting Point acquired FTX Games from Playtech. | 2020 | [_] |
| Plamee Studios (Saint Petersburg) | Tilting Point acquired Plamee Studios from Playtech. | 2020 | [_] |
| AN Games (Seongnam, KR) | Tilting Point acquired AN Games. | 2022 | [_] |
| Budge Studios (Montreal, CA) | Tilting Point acquired Budge Studios. | 2022 | [_] |

## Games

| Title | Year | Platforms | Developer | Description |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Leo's Fortune | 2014 (Mobile) 2015 (PC, PS4, Xbox One) | Google Play, App Store, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Hatch | 1337 Game Design, Senri | Award-winning side-scrolling platform available on all mobile devices, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. |
| WinFun - New Free Slots Casino | 2014 | Google Play, App Store | Wizits | Free-to-play casino game featuring slot machines, roulette, blackjack, and poker. |
| Beat Sports | 2015 | Apple TV | Harmonix Games | Sports rhythm game from Rock Band creators Harmonix. Features music by Masaya Matsuura, PaRappa the Rapper creator. |
| Dino Bash | 2015 | Google Play, App Store | pokoko Studio | Dinosaur-themed tower defense game. |
| Languinis | 2015 | Google Play, App Store, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store | Tilting Point, VRTRON | The first title to combine spelling and match-three games. |
| Photo Finish Horse Racing (previously Derby King) | 2015 | Google Play, App Store | Third Time Games | Initially created by Ian Cummings, who was previously the creative director for the Madden NFL franchise. |
| Win Vegas: 777 Classic Slots | 2015 | Google Play, App Store, Microsoft Store | Wizits | Free-to-play casino game featuring slot machines, baccarat, roulette, and blackjack. |
| Bold Moves | 2016 | Google Play, App Store | Red Games | Match-three/word solve game launched by OWN Digital (a subsidiary of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network) that rewards players with quotes from pop-culture icons. |
| Narcos: Cartel Wars | 2016 | Google Play, App Store | Plamee | Published by FTX Games and acquired from previous parent company Playtech. |
| Operation: New Earth | 2016 | Google Play, App Store, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, Steam, Mac App Store, Samsung Galaxy Store | Hunted Cow Studios | Sci-fi multiplayer strategy game that puts players in command of a military facility in order to defend Earth from alien invaders. |
| Star Trek Timelines | 2016 | Google Play, App Store, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, Steam, Samsung Galaxy Store, Huawei AppGallery | Wicked Realm Games, Disruptor Beam (prior to acquisition) | A character-collection role-playing game (CCRPG) based on the Star Trek franchise. |
| Tap Busters: Bounty Hunters | 2016 | Google Play, App Store | Metagame Studios | Tapper game with RPG elements featuring artwork by the internationally acclaimed artist Noper. |
| TerraGenesis | 2016 | Google Play, App Store, Microsoft Store, Samsung Galaxy Store | Edgeworks Entertainment | An idle planet-building simulator that is based on real data from NASA. |
| The Arcana | 2016 | Google Play, App Store | Nix Hydra Games | Visual novel game from the female-founded team at Nix Hydra. |
| Food Truck Chef | 2017 | Google Play, App Store, Microsoft Store | Nukebox Studios | Cooking simulator game that was listed in the Top 100 Grossing Charts in more than 100 countries on the App Store and Google Play. It also was the number one Android casual game in 40 countries (including the US). |
| Adventure Escape Mysteries | 2018 | Google Play, App Store | Haiku Games | Escape room experiences in mobile game form. |
| Astrokings | 2018 | Google Play, App Store | ANGames | Sci-fi MMO strategy game based on the Astronest universe. It was written by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff of The Illuminae Files series. |
| Reign of Empires (previously Civilization War) | 2018 | Google Play, App Store | Clegames Inc. | Epic battle tactics RTS game. |
| Criminal Minds: The Mobile Game | 2018 | Google Play, App Store | Blue Giraffe Games | Published by FTX Games and acquired from previous parent company Playtech. |
| Horse Racing Manager | 2018 | Google Play, App Store, Microsoft Store | Third Time Games | Successor to Photo Finish Racing. Created by Ian Cummings, the previous creative director for the Madden NFL franchise. |
| Nova Empire: Space Commander | 2018 | Google Play, App Store | Game Bear Tech | Space strategy game created by Game Bear Tech and published/supported by Tilting Point. |
| The Walking Dead: Casino Slots | 2018 | Google Play, App Store | Fox Cub Games | Published by FTX Games and acquired from previous parent company Playtech. |
| Cat Game | 2019 | Google Play, App Store | Mino Games | A casual cat collection game |
| Drone: Shadow Strike 3 | 2019 | Google Play, App Store | Reliance Games | Free-to-play drone reconnaissance simulator. |
| Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest | 2019 | Google Play, App Store, Microsoft Store, Steam, Mac App Store | Hunted Cow Studios | A real-time massively multiplayer strategy game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. |
| Zombieland: AFK Survival (previously: Zombieland Double Tapper) | 2019 | Google Play, App Store | Metagame Studio | An idle role-playing game (RPG) set in the post-apocalyptic world from the Zombieland film franchise. |
| Match 3D | 2020 | Google Play, App Store | Loop Games A.S. | 3D pair matching game. |
| Narcos: Idle Cartel | 2020 | Google Play, App Store | Big Wolf Games | An idle clicker game based on the Netflix show Narcos. |
| SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off | 2020 | Google Play, App Store, Microsoft Store, Nintendo Switch | Nukebox Studios | Fast-paced cooking game set in the animated world of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants |
| TerraGenesis: Landfall | 2022 | Google Play, App Store | Edgeworks Entertainment | A city-builder installment of the TerraGenesis series. |
| SpongeBob Adventures: In a Jam | 2023 | GooglePlay, App Store | WhaleApp | City-builder styled game set in the animated world of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants |

## Awards

* 2014 Apple Design Award - Leo's Fortune
* 2014 App Store Best of (Runner-up) - Leo's Fortune
* 2014 Global Game Awards - Best Mobile Game (3rd Place) for Leo's Fortune
* 2015 App Store Best of - Beat Sports
* 2019 Apple Best of - Blockbusters Reborn for Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest
* 2020 PocketGamer.biz's Top 50 Mobile Game Makers (Number 27)
* 2020 Google Play Best Pick Up & Play Game Selection for SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off
* 2020 Google Play Users' Choice Game Award for SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off (USA)

### Nominations

* 2015 International Mobile Gaming Awards Global - Excellence in Gameplay for Leo's Fortune
* 2015 International Mobile Gaming Awards Global - Excellence in Audio Visual Art & Design for Leo's Fortune
* 2017 International Mobile Gaming Awards Global - Star Trek Timelines
* 2018 The Webby Awards - Best Word & Trivia Game for Bold Moves
* 2019 Pocket Gamer - Best Publisher
* 2020 Pocket Gamer - Best LiveOps for Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest
* 2020 Pocket Gamer - Best Publisher
* 2020 Pocket Gamer - Best Marketing Team
