Skillz Forms Strategic Partnership with Exit Games, Developer of Photon, World’s Most Advanced Synchronous Multiplayer Gaming Technology
August 02 2021 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
- Skillz Accelerates Expansion into Racing, Fighting, and
First-Person Shooter Genres with $50 Million Investment
- Exit Games is the Leader in Synchronous Gaming Technology,
Powering Publishers Such as EA, Square Enix, and Ubisoft
- Alliance Provides Skillz with Platform Exclusivity, Making
Skillz a Preferred Partner for Publishers and Developers
Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ), the leading mobile games platform bringing
fair and fun competition to players worldwide, today announced it
has formed a strategic partnership with Exit Games, global
developer of Photon, the world’s most advanced synchronous
multiplayer gaming technology.
Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Exit Games allows developers
to create and host real-time, synchronous multiplayer games. Its
nearly 600,000 trusted partners include some of the most
well-respected game publishers and developers in the world, such as
EA, Square Enix, and Ubisoft, among others, powering gameplay in
over 700,000 applications.
Skillz’s investment in Exit Games will give the Company
permanent access to Exit’s technology to power its esports
tournaments and platform exclusively. The partnership will
dramatically accelerate Skillz’s timeline to support multiplayer
synchronous content on the platform, while also enabling Skillz to
build unrivaled features in tandem with Exit’s gaming technology.
Publishers and developers worldwide will now have the ability to
build games on the Skillz platform in entirely new genres, such as
battle royale, while continuing to provide gamers with the
confidence that their contests will always live up to the Skillz
promise of fairness.
“Bringing the world’s best synchronous, multiplayer gaming
technology to Skillz unlocks tremendous opportunity, greatly
accelerating our entry into popular genres like fighting,
first-person shooter, and racing,” said Andrew Paradise, CEO and
Founder of Skillz. “Expanding into these new areas will grow our
total universe of players and allow us to capture an even greater
share of their leisure time and spend, while also introducing the
technology and infrastructure necessary to attract more of the
hottest, most creative developers, publishers, brands, and iconic
franchises to our platform.”
Under the terms of the deal, Skillz has invested $50 million for
a minority stake in Exit Games. In addition, Paradise will join the
Board of Exit Games as a board observer.
“We are big admirers of Skillz and how they are innovating in
the field of competitive gaming,” said Christof Wegmann, the
Founder and CTO of Exit Games. “This investment is a natural fit.
We’re pleased to have Skillz as a long-term partner in bringing
synchronous play to our developers and their gaming fans around the
world.”
LionTree Advisors served as financial advisor and Orrick served
as legal advisor to Skillz in the transaction. GP Bullhound served
as financial advisor and Taylor Wessing served as legal advisor to
Exit Games.
About Skillz Inc.
Skillz is the leading mobile games platform that connects
players in fair, fun, and meaningful competition. The Skillz
platform helps developers build multi-million dollar franchises by
enabling social competition in their games. Leveraging its patented
technology, Skillz hosts billions of casual esports tournaments for
millions of mobile players worldwide, and distributes millions in
prizes each month. Skillz has earned recognition as one of Fast
Company’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Forbes’
Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in
America on the Inc. 5000. www.skillz.com
About Exit Games
Founded in 2004, Exit Games is the provider of Photon, the
world’s leading realtime multiplayer technology and cloud service
for mobile, PC, Mac, Web, Console, VR, AR & MR. Developers are
using Photon to create games and applications that offer true
synchronous realtime experiences that scale to millions of users.
Photon powers thousands of games and applications enjoyed by over
500 million users a month. About 600,000 developers including some
of the world’s leading companies trust in Photon to fuel their
realtime experiences, such as Disney, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Garmin,
Oculus, Atari, RecRoom, BandaiNamco or Volkswagen.
www.photonengine.com
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Media Contact: pr@skillz.com
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