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Going it alone: Former Zynga devs raise $2.5 million following successful solo debut

It's a hits game

Date Type Companies involved Size
July 31st, 2014 investment JuiceBox Games $2.5m
Going it alone: Former Zynga devs raise $2.5 million following successful solo debut

Following the successful release of it's first title, new dev on the block JuiceBox Games has managed to raise $2.5 million in funding to continue doing what it does best.

The three former Zynga developers working at Jukebox struck gold with their debut release HonourBound, which is currently bringing in an estimated $14,726 of revenue a day.

On top of that, the game is currently ranked 94 on the list of top-grossing apps, and continues to see roughly 2260 downloads a day.

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Impressive figures mean impressive investors, and JukeBox has managed to secure funding from big names such as Initial Capital, Mavron, Zynga co-founder Scott Dale, and former EA chief executive John Riccitiello.

Despite eventually getting the signatures, Michael Martinez, JuiceBox chief executive and founder, explained that raising the cash was harder than he'd ever imagined.

“This was my first time raising money for a company and it seemed really hard to raise money for this,” said Martinez

“[That being said] if there was a team that people should invest in or place a bet on it would be us.

“I had one VC ask me 'How do you become a billion dollar business?' And while I’m confident in our plan to get to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, for that next step we’ll just have to see.” 

After finding it hard to reel in investment opportunities, Martinez has acknowledged that the games industry is increasingly becoming a hits driven business.

However, the HonourBound developer refuses to believe that chasing hits means studios have to compromise on quality.

“It is a hits-driven business,” explained Martinez, “ but when you make a good enough game, which still absolutely comes down to the team and the game itself, it can produce numbers that allow the game to grow incredibly.”

[source: TechCrunch]


What do you call someone who has an unhealthy obsession with video games and Sean Bean? That'd be a 'Chris Kerr'. Chris is one of those deluded souls who actually believes that one day Sean Bean will survive a movie. Poor guy.