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Scopely partners with game development team Burlingame Studios, investing $20 million in new studio


Made up of one of the best casual game-making teams in the world, the studio chose Scopely as their partner of choice to develop their next game experience 

Mobile-first games leader Scopely has partnered with and will invest $20 million in Burlingame Studios, a California-based game development team led by Chief Executive Chris McGill. Continuing its ongoing commitment to game-making with the world’s best teams, Scopely aims to further expand its portfolio with this new partnership---co-creating an all-new experience together. 

With this investment, Burlingame Studios joins Scopely’s dynamic game studio ecosystem that is designed to marry the best of Scopely’s expertise in game-making, technology and publishing with the specialized talent of internal and external studios. The ecosystem aims to build game teams with incredible talent density where the traditional boundaries between developer and publisher are eliminated. This unique single team approach has led to a highly successful and diverse games portfolio, and Scopely continues to expand this ecosystem, building, acquiring and investing in studios globally.

A serial entrepreneur with experience that spans media, technology and numerous audience-first businesses, Chris most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Glu Mobile.  For Chris’ next adventure, he is joined by a best-in-class team to build more beloved experiences. With many partners to choose from, Burlingame selected Scopely due to the company's unique studio ecosystem, specifically its tech platform Playgami and infrastructure, which aims to support an optimal game-making process. 

The entrepreneurial, creative and highly sought-after team at Burlingame Studios shares our vision to inspire play, every day,” said Tim O’Brien, Chief Revenue Officer and Board Member at Scopely. “We are proud to invest in this group of gamemakers who are deeply committed to building the best experiences possible and thrilled that they selected us as their partner of choice. We believe our ecosystem is extremely unique and are always energized when new partners see the value of our infrastructure and technology - specifically our platform Playgami - to make their fun, creative gameplay into a big business. Today marks a bright future of collaboration, and we are thrilled to work with Chris and team.”

Chris McGill, Burlingame Studios Chief Executive, added, “Our team is excited to start a new adventure together as Burlingame Studios, and with Scopely, build on our collective track record of big wins. With many years of experience creating games, we knew exactly what we wanted and needed in a partner -- an extremely dynamic and intuitive technology platform, strong infrastructure and publishing expertise, deep investment and commitment in our team, and a culture that empowers creativity and innovation. We found all of these ingredients and more with Scopely and look forward to a strong partnership ahead.”

This news comes on the heels of Scopely’s ongoing commitment to the future of play, including strategic investments in blockchain innovators (such as Animoca Brands, a game software and venture capital company; IndiGG, a sub-DAO of Yield Guild Games (YGG); and Polygon, a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform) and game studios around the globe, providing critical resources to grow and create new job opportunities in multiple countries (such as Tag Games and Pixel Toys, among others), along with acquisitions of strong game-making teams and businesses (such as GSN Games, among others). 

More about Burlingame Studios: 

Co-founded by Chris McGill, Jose Avila, Barlow Gilmore, Brandon Jones and Scott Cuthbertson, Burlingame Studios is home to a team of veteran gamemakers, many of whom have worked together for years--beginning at CrowdStar more than a decade ago, followed by Glu Mobile and Electronic Arts (EA). CrowdStar was acquired by Glu in 2017 with Glu subsequently acquired by EA in 2021. The team at CrowdStar created and launched a number of beloved experiences such as “Covet Fashion” and “Design Home,” which  continue to be two  of the top-grossing experiences in the world and largest franchises in the design genre. For more information, visit www.bgamestudios.com

More about Scopely:

Scopely is a global interactive entertainment and mobile-first games company, home to many top-grossing, award-winning franchises including “Star Trek™ Fleet Command,” “MARVEL Strike Force,” “Scrabble® GO,” “WWE Champions” and “Yahtzee® With Buddies,” among others. Scopely creates, publishes and live-operates immersive games that empower a directed-by-consumer™ experience. Founded in 2011, Scopely is fueled by a world-class team and a proprietary technology platform Playgami that supports one of the most diversified portfolios in the mobile games industry. Recognized multiple times as one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies,” Scopely is a multi-billion-dollar business due to its ability to create long-lasting game experiences that players enjoy for years. Scopely has global operations across 17 markets (Asia-Pacific – Bangalore, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo; EMEA – Barcelona, Dublin, Helsinki, Kyiv, London, Seville, Tel Aviv; North America – Boston, Boulder, Culver City, Mountain View, San Francisco), with additional game studio partners across four continents. For more information, visit www.scopely.com