Boonty
| Privately Held | |
| Industry |
Interactive entertainment Casual games |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France; Singapore; Tokyo, Japan |
Key people | Gilles Ridel, CEO |
| Products | Boonty.com |
| Revenue | Private |
| Private | |
| Website | www.nexway.com |
Boonty was a global supplier of digital distribution solutions for online and PC gaming[1] whose technology platform and brand names were acquired by digital commerce provider Nexway in January 2009.
The company's white label casual game platform was utilized by over 100 customers worldwide at the time of the Nexway acquisition, including Internet portals, ISPs, and mobile operators.
Boonty operated its own branded destination sites, Boonty.com which is still operated by Nexway in localized versions for the United States, France, UK, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, Hong-Kong, Germany, Portugal, Finland, Singapore, The Netherlands, and Spain.[2]
In October 2006, Boonty announced the acquisition of Beijing-based casual game developer Gamehub.[3]
In February 2007, Boonty launched Cafe.com for free multiplayer social casual games.[4]
In January 2009, Nexway acquired Boonty.[5]
Corporate history
- Boonty was launched in Paris, France in 2001 by brothers Mathieu and Romain Nouzareth. Prior to creating Boonty, the brothers founded WebConcept, one of the first e-business consulting companies in France, which they sold to Sweden’s IconMedialab (Euronext: icon) in 1999.[6]
The was a world pioneer in digital distribution of video games at the time.
The Boonty Digital Platform was rapidly used by the biggest ISP and media sites in the world and the company opened various offices in the world:
- July 2004: Opening of Boonty Inc., based in New York
- September 2004: Opening of Boonty Asia Pte Ltd, based in Singapore
- February 2006: Opening of Boonty Japan PTD in Tokyo
After entering the Asian gaming market, the company decided to launch its own gaming destination website based on free to play and micro-transaction.
- May 2007: Boonty acquires the Chinese Game Studio GameHub and opens Boonty China
- June 2007: Boonty acquires domain name cafe.com and start to operate the online game web site
- October 2008: Boonty launches Facebook app iscool
- December 2008: The company decides to sells its Digital Distribution Platform and the brand name Boonty to digital commerce provider Nexway
- January 2009: Boonty changes its name to Cafe.com
- February 2009: The founding brothers leave the company
- June 2010: Cafe.com enters the NYSE Euronext and changes its name to Weka-Entertainment
References
- ↑ "Videogames". Warren's Consumer Electronics Daily. April 4, 2005.
- ↑ Boonty.com
- ↑ "Industry News Round Up: Boonty/Gamehub, PC Charts, Nikitova @ Xbox". Gamasutra. October 24, 2006.
- ↑
- David Laprad (March 2007). "Interview with Mathieu Nouzareth, Cafe.com". Gamezebo. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
- ↑
- "Nexway acquired Boonty". Gamesutra.
- ↑ "Boonty - Profile". Alarm Clock Euro. Retrieved 18 October 2006.
Further reading
- "Boonty Rolls Out New Games Offering". Wireless Week. May 13, 2005.
- Charlotte Ong (April 26, 2005). "Casual Gamers are Serious Business". Digital Life.
- Ellie Gibson (13 May 2005). "Boonty Reveals Plans to Open New Mobile Games Store". Gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
- "France Alert - Ten Web 2.0 Wonders". Alarm Clock Euro. May 16, 2007.
- Noah Gellman (23 March 2007). "Boonty: The Casual Gamer’s Playground". AlwaysOn. Archived from the original on 22 June 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
- Om Malik (5 February 2007). "Are Social Networks Just a Feature?". GigaOm. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
- "Online gaming rewards in the news". Colloquy. September 7, 2006.
- "PlayFirst and Boonty Sign Game Distribution Agreement". Digital Producer. July 20, 2005.
- "Q&A: Boonty's Nouzareth Opens Casual Microtransactions". Gamasutra. March 15, 2007.