Kixeye

Kixeye operates as a developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online real-time strategy (MMORTS) games. The company was originally founded in July 2007 as Casual Collective in Berkshire, England, by developers David Scott and Paul Preece. Their stated goal was to create games they personally enjoyed playing. After initial success with Flash games like *Desktop Tower Defense* and *Backyard Monsters* on Facebook, which saw significant user growth and revenue, the company brought on Will Harbin as CEO. Subsequently, the headquarters were moved to San Francisco, and the company rebranded as Kixeye in April 2011.

The company focuses on the "mid-core" gaming segment, targeting dedicated players who prefer complex, strategic, and competitive experiences. Its business model is free-to-play, generating revenue primarily through the sale of virtual goods and in-game advantages, such as accelerating build times. This model proved highly effective, with Kixeye's games reportedly generating substantially higher revenue per daily active user and retaining players for longer periods compared to many other social games at the time. The company's portfolio includes long-standing titles such as *Battle Pirates*, *War Commander*, *Vega Conflict*, and *War Commander: Rogue Assault*. *Vega Conflict* was notably the company's first cross-platform title, available on mobile, Steam, and browsers. Kixeye also publishes games developed by other studios, such as *Rise of Firstborn*, which was originally developed by Netmarble.

Co-founder Will Harbin is a serial entrepreneur who previously co-founded Affinity Labs (acquired by Monster Worldwide) and Function Drinks (acquired by Sunsweet), and held positions at Netscape and Yahoo. Paul Preece, another co-founder, studied Computer Science at Kingston University and founded Hand Drawn Games Ltd. before Kixeye. In June 2019, Kixeye was acquired by the Sweden-based Stillfront Group for an initial sum of $90 million, with potential for an additional $30 million based on performance. Following the acquisition, Kixeye's headquarters moved to Victoria, British Columbia. While the core game portfolio and key employees remained, some assets, like the in-development *Kingdom Maker*, were divested. Will Harbin, along with a core team, spun out into a new company called Global Worldwide.

Keywords: MMORTS, free-to-play, online strategy games, mobile gaming, PC gaming, game development, virtual goods, mid-core games, real-time strategy, Battle Pirates, War Commander, Vega Conflict, War Commander: Rogue Assault, Rise of Firstborn, Stillfront Group, social gaming, browser games, cross-platform gaming, live operations, player-vs-player, game publishing, David Scott, Paul Preece, Will Harbin