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Gadsme, the first In-Game AdTech Platform allowing performance advertising, raises $8m in seed round

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Popular industry seed round led by Galaxy Interactive is also joined by major game publishers, including Ubisoft.

AppLovin’s ex-VP Corporate Development Co-Founds Gadsme – a platform that is set to take AdTech into the Metaverse and backed by strategic multi-million-dollar investment from games industry giants

Gadsme, the only interactive AdTech platform that offers high quality immersive brand experiences through in-game advertising, has secured an $8m seed investment just 11 months after launch. With investors including Galaxy Interactive and Ubisoft, Gadsme will use the funding to structure and invest in key people to scale the business to meet demand. With Gadsme, Immersive Ads are now dynamically served and its unique technical capabilities enable, for the first time, true performance campaigns that benefit all advertisers, across all platforms. To further enhance their potential, Gadsme focuses its development exclusively on high quality inventory and games.

With more than 3 billion players worldwide, each playing their favorite games for many hours, trillions of ad impressions are available. Unlike full screen video display or interstitial ad formats, that can interrupt the playing experience, Gadsme focuses on non-intrusive ad formats that are blended, immersed and native to the gameplay. Those ad formats run across every game genre, all devices and geographies, and are particularly sought after by brand advertisers, who demand Gadsme’s guaranteed brand-safe environments and privacy compliant targeting capabilities.

Gadsme was created in 2019 by digital media experts Guillaume Monteux and Luc Vauvillier, whose previous company miLibris was sold to the Altice Group. Making up the trinity of the founding team is ex-AppLovin VP Corporate Development, Simon Spaull, who played an important part in AppLovin’s monumental growth.

This seed investment was strategically and selectively built from a pool of gaming and digital experts that believe in the Gadsme vision, and who also bring a wealth of experience and targeted expertise to develop the product and customer experience further. For Ubisoft, they first started to work with Gadsme before securing a strategic investment into the business, confirming market quality of Gadsme’s platform and the opportunity the sector presents. The gaming market was recently valued at $134 billion, cementing games as the new media of choice for brands.

“For more than 2 years, we three co-founders bootstrapped the company to build the most technically advanced Immersive Ads solution. When some of the best game companies in the world concurred, we knew we were ready to raise the money to grow. For our seed round we wanted to find partners that could bring vast knowledge and expertise into our business. Not just provide capital, but genuine experiences and learnings in the exact industry we operate in. With Galaxy Interactive, Ubisoft and other major games company founders as shareholders, we’re now poised and ready to execute on our vision.” said Guillaume Monteux, CEO & Co-Founder.

The result of their cooperation is Gadsme: Built, tested, and reworked into an innovative core product that is grounded in market-leading technology and now has unrivaled industry support with multi-million-dollar investments from some of the most well-known games publishers in the world. Gadsme’s immersive SDK is already integrated into a number of premium game studios, including Voodoo, Ubisoft, Tilting Point, TapNation and Lion Studios, offering brand-safe and prime quality-controlled ads to a large audience.

“We’d met various companies in the in-game Ad space, but Gadsme’s product and team really resonated with our beliefs and our vision. Guillaume and his team are a natural fit with our client portfolio, and their attention to detail, unique approach, and laser-focused vision, capture what we believe to be the right path forward. We’re excited by the space and look forward to helping Gadsme on their quest to put the player experience first in connecting brands with passionate audiences. These intersections will continue to play an important role in this new digital frontier, and we believe that the Gadsme team can make true impact” said Galaxy Interactive’s CEO, Sam Englebardt.

“Our cross-platform technology has been extremely carefully crafted to provide studios with a long-term partnership to drive continuous and new incremental revenues from their games. Whilst in-game advertising has been a subject for 20+ years, today we could see a clear opportunity in the marketplace to build something pristine and different, that drives revenue and measurable brand engagement In-Game.” said Simon Spaull, CRO and Co-Founder.

“Gadsme is the only In-Game company in the world that can run performance ads inside games, giving all brands the unique opportunity to measure KPIs, whilst attracting an audience within the walled gardens of games, but also allows studios to run cross-promotion to any other game in their portfolio. This is entirely unique and an important new business opportunity for the gaming ecosystem. Our technology fully integrates brand advertising into the gameplay experience with Immersive Ads that are dynamic, content targeted and serving positive experiences to players. We’re excited to see how the AdTech industry will develop further in 2022 and to be a key player in connecting studios and brands.” Spaull adds.

Gadsme’s product offers the same high quality, positive experience to brands and studios alike. Its patented technology for ad viewability is unique to the games industry, ensuring transparency and reliable reach for brands, whilst the combination of an intuitive self-serve platform and smooth SDK integration has ensured an overwhelmingly positive experience for developers. Gadsme’s next-generation platform has been engineered in-house for over 2 years, is metaverse-ready and uniquely placed to offer a variety of solutions to maximize results for advertisers and gaming studios alike.

Luc Vauvillier, CTO and Co-Founder adds “We knew exactly how to develop our product to ensure stability and success. We heard the many tech challenges studios had faced with In-Game ad platforms previously. From inception, our goal was to ensure our product was stable, reliable and fit for purpose. Our in-house architecture is ready for any and all future gaming and metaverse advertising opportunities”.

Gadsme is known for its technical excellence, now it is laser focused on delivering unbeatable returns to gaming companies, as well as driving superior ROAS to advertisers.

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DreamPlay consolidates its status as a global player in the iGaming industry and opens an office and campus in Cyprus

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DreamPlay’s ambitions go far beyond simple game development. With a new office in Limassol, the international iGaming solutions provider is expanding its presence in Europe and laying the foundations for a new philosophy of the iGaming business.

The location in Limassol was not chosen by chance – Cyprus has long become the European center of iGaming. It is here that key market players, large operators and financial structures supporting the industry are concentrated. And the high concentration of technology and talented developers allows DreamPlay to form its own ecosystem of talent.

If in the 2010s Cyprus became a hub for classic iGaming operators, today it is a point of attraction for technology companies that are betting on metaverses and the integration of games into a wider digital ecosystem. DreamPlay is one of those shaping this trend.

Google-style campus for game development talents

The DreamPlay office and campus in Limassol are part of the company’s international network of corporate campuses. Similar hubs already operate in Thailand, Bali, Peru, the UAE and Poland. They offer employees comfortable working conditions and the ability to move between locations, accommodation, meals, legal support for stays in different countries. And all this is at the expense of the company. -And the flexible work format and 4-day work week in the company helps DreamPlay talents maintain a healthy work-life balance. It’s all about well-established business processes and taking care of the team.

It’s nice to know that you can come to the country, and there is a Dream Campus where friends, like-minded people and someone who can simply take care of you are waiting for you. They will meet you at the airport, give you a tour, accompany you on medical or legal issues. It’s all part of the team.

“iGaming is an industry of emotions. Therefore, the people who create it should work where they feel best. Therefore, in our campuses we create an environment where the team can feel maximum freedom for creativity, focus on creating new breakthrough products. And not be distracted by everyday issues. And we are sure that this gives us a strategic advantage, because we are sure that our employees have received better conditions than their colleagues in other companies. Comfort, flexibility and freedom are part of our global philosophy of DreamPlay,” shares DreamPlay CEO Alex Tkach.

 

What does this mean for the market?

Opening a DreamPlay office in Cyprus is a wise decision, as the company is preparing to enter new markets and partner with the largest iGaming players. It is also a signal to the entire market that the company is moving into the league of global players who dictate trends, rather than following them.

If today Cyprus is another platform for international expansion, then tomorrow DreamPlay may turn into one of the first technology companies in iGaming, operating on the principle of large IT holdings.

And this is where the main intrigue lies: will DreamPlay become the one who fundamentally rethinks the very nature of the industry?

The post DreamPlay consolidates its status as a global player in the iGaming industry and opens an office and campus in Cyprus appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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International Game Technology PLC

IGT Wheel of Fortune Video Poker Makes Global Debut at Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas

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International Game Technology PLC announced that it recently introduced its much-anticipated Wheel of Fortune Video Poker game in the world’s most prolific video poker market: Las Vegas, Nev. Guests of Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino (Downtown Grand) in Downtown Las Vegas became the first players in the world to enjoy legendary IGT multi-hand video poker paired with the puzzle-solving, wheel-spinning fun of Wheel of Fortune via IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Video Poker game.

“Becoming the first casino in the world to offer IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Video Poker was an exciting moment for Downtown Grand and one that generated palpable buzz and significant play on our gaming floor. For decades, our players have enjoyed IGT video poker and Wheel of Fortune slots, so combining the DNA of those two products to create something new is an exciting proposition for our players,” said Rick Coltor, Slots Manager at the Downtown Grand Las Vegas.

“Launching IGT Wheel of Fortune Video Poker in Las Vegas, the world’s largest video poker market, marked another important milestone in the rollout of our expanded Wheel of Fortune games portfolio. Our Wheel of Fortune Video Poker game delivers an ideal blend of proven multi-hand poker, jackpot excitement and the signature elements of Wheel of Fortune games that have propelled the theme’s success for more than 25 years,” said Nick Khin, IGT President, Global Gaming.

IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Video Poker is currently available on the CrystalCurve cabinet. Wheel of Fortune Video Poker incorporates the franchise’s famous puzzle-solving features and the iconic “Wheel Bonus” that has had players chanting “WHEEL-OF-FORTUNE!” for decades. The multi-hand poker game is available in triple-play, five-play and ten-play configurations and can award players 30,000, 50,000 or 100,000 credits, respectively, for a dealt royal flush.

The post IGT Wheel of Fortune Video Poker Makes Global Debut at Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.

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MLB Players Sign Licensing Agreement with PENN Entertainment

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MLB Players Inc., a commercial affiliate of the Major League Baseball Players Association, and OneTeam Partners announced they’ve reached a licensing agreement with PENN Entertainment.

The agreement designates PENN’s sports betting platforms – ESPN BET in the U.S. and theScore BET in Canada – as Officially Licensed Sportsbooks of MLBPI.

PENN now has the rights to use MLB player names, images and likenesses on its sports betting platforms, marketing assets and promotional campaigns.

The deal also includes PENN’s retail sportsbook operations (32 retail sportsbooks at its casino properties, including 19 under the ESPN BET brand).

Last fall, FanDuel and MLBPI reached a similar licensing agreement after the MLB players’ union sued FanDuel and Underdog Fantasy in New York Supreme Court, accusing them of using the names and likeness of ballplayers on their players without permission.

”As baseball season gets underway, we’re excited to offer fans an enhanced betting experience that includes player likenesses, expanded wagering options and a more dynamic product. Partnering with MLB Players Inc. strengthens our connection to the league and its star players and creates additional opportunities to engage fans throughout the season,” said Jason Birney, Vice President of Operations at PENN Interactive.

OneTeam Partners specializes in commercializing group licensing rights for professional athlates, and is a joint venture between the NFL Players Association, MLB Players Association, Women’s National Basketball Players Association, MLS Players Association, and U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association.

“By integrating MLB player rights into PENN Entertainment’s platforms, this partnership brings fans closer to the game while unlocking new business opportunities in sports betting. It highlights the growing influence of players in shaping premium, fan-focused betting experiences while enhancing player NIL rights and widening distribution,” said Frank Arthofer, President of OneTeam Partners.

The post MLB Players Sign Licensing Agreement with PENN Entertainment appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.

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