Space Ape Games The creators of popular music rhythm game Beatstar have spun the game into a dedicated music gaming company called NEXTBEAT.
The move is as follows supercellfull acquisition of space ape game November 2024 – Transaction expected to close in spring.
After five years of development by the team at Space Ape Games, Beatstar launches globally in 2021, including Simon Harder as chief operating officer and co-founder of the studio, and Ollie Barneswhere he led music strategy and rights acquisitions.
Barnes is a co-founder Voisey, the music-making app acquired by Snapchat for $70 million 2020. snapshot companylarge-scale reorganization.
Beatstar is a free mobile game that is often compared to Guitar hero. It features more than 850 Access the world’s hottest music through music licensing agreements with major labels, independent publishers and dozens of rights holders.
September 2022, MBW Beatstar reportedly shared $16 million In the first year since its launch, its revenue came from music labels and publishers.
These rights holders include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, BMG, Beggars Music Group and dominoplus Kobalt Music Publishing, Concord, Peermusic, Downtown Music Publishing, Reservoir Media and Bucks Music Group.
Recently, Hade and Barnes announced that Beatstar has amassed nearly 100 million Downloads are expected to exceed US$200 million Lifetime earnings this year.
“Now addressing this massive opportunity with a music-focused business rather than a traditional mobile games studio approach makes this partnership an exciting step for all parties involved.”
Simon Harder, NEXTBEAT
Under the new arrangement, Beatstar and its country-focused successor, country star, will be transferred to next beatis a new venture based in London, led by Harder and Barnes.
“As soon as we played with the first prototype of Beatstar, we knew we had something special that could truly break new ground. I look forward to building momentum from the talented Space Ape team like NEXTBEAT and expanding into more experiences, games, and App that showcases the inspiration and creativity of our artist partners.
“Now tackling this huge opportunity through a music-focused business rather than a traditional mobile game studio approach makes this partnership an exciting step for everyone involved and I’m delighted The team at Supercell shares our ambitious vision.
Following Supercell’s investment in Space Ape Games, spin-off plans began $56 million In 2017, it acquired a majority stake and increased it to 75% Taking ownership in 2022.
“Beatstar tells us that music in games has huge per-user monetization potential, far exceeding that of streaming service subscriptions.”
Ollie Barnes, NEXTBEAT
NEXTBEAT was established in London with a team of 30 people, mainly composed of game industry veterans from Space Ape Games, and appointed an experienced financial director Joe Adams As Chief Financial Officer.
According to NETBEAT, the Beatstar series has become the “best-selling music game series” in Western markets and has received industry recognition, including the Google Players’ Choice Award, Apple Editors’ Choice Award, and Game of the Year Award at the 2022 Mobile Game Awards.
“Beatstar tells us that music in games has huge per-user monetization potential, far exceeding streaming service subscriptions. The massive mobile gaming audience and the ARPU insights from Countrystar’s genre-focused approach underscore the importance of building a Well-resourced companies are committed to the necessity of seizing this opportunity.
Going forward, NEXTBEAT plans to develop more genre-focused gaming platforms while exploring opportunities to apply its music licensing and game development expertise to the edtech and mental health sectors.
Chief Strategy Officer of Supercell tendon Snellman “We’re excited to continue the journey we started with Beatstar and see the next phase of our music-first business with NextBeat’s talented team.”
global music business
