INK Games Shareholder Update Q4 2022 Summary – February 11, 2023, by IMA Chairman Sinan Kanatsiz
As an advisor to INK Games, I wanted to share the progress of the company based in Austin, Texas under the leadership of Robert Towles.
INK Games has developed and shipped its first AAA mobile game, Prize Kingdoms, which launched in the United States on the App Store and Google Play. It was a multi-year effort by a team of over 50 people. The company believes that the game is a ‘hit’ and already showing exceptional metric
In the early stages of release, the game has performed well, with thousands of daily active users, an average revenue per daily active user of $0.40-$0.80, and a retention rate of over 50%. They have also received inbound inquiries from major industry players and the company plans to capitalize on this momentum.
The company is working on introducing a live operations system that will allow them to run daily events within the app to increase engagement and retention. Additionally, the company is increasing their marketing spend to increase their initial player base. They anticipate that organic growth will significantly surpass paid user acquisition once their platform earning and sharing capabilities are implemented.
The company aims to create a mobile, social casual game that can be very successful. They use Coin Master as an example of the potential success in this market. Coin Master, a game first released in 2016, has been downloaded 100 million times and generated over $3 billion in lifetime users spending. The company is targeting this level of success and is confident in its team’s ability to achieve it despite the challenges that may arise.
The team is currently testing the INK Platform functionality within Prize Kingdoms, analyzing purchasing patterns and adjusting the payout algorithm to create the most profitable experience. They have begun onboarding users based in the United States, and this will provide valuable data to improve the platform.
The company plans to launch an alpha version of their INK platform in Q1 to a test audience, which will allow users to share the game to their networks, view connections from a platform dashboard, and withdraw earnings. The platform will first enter a tech-launch phase before being rolled out to a broader user base. During the alpha build, the development team will work to solidify technical performance and ensure a smooth user experience. The company expects the platform to generate significant, organic growth of their products once it is fully developed.
The company plans to use Prize kingdoms as the first of many shareable experiences that will use the payment platform. This platform will eventually be used in any games, experiences, or products that the company launches or partners with. The goal is that anyone with an INK ID will be able to share and earn from a growing selection of projects.
The development team is working on INK software development kit (SDK) which will enable third-party developers to integrate the company’s payment and tracking technology into their games and digital products. Users with an INK ID will also be able to share and earn from these third-party titles.
The company is introducing INK digital currency as an addition to their free-to-earn game model, this will add web3 incentives for their future projects. The company believes that the INK digital currency will become an important reward mechanism and power the platform ecosystem. They also see potential in INK Land (Zip and Postal Codes) and related NFT projects. Leadership is closely monitoring the market trends and sentiment to take a measured approach in the Web3 project initiatives in 2023 and make adjustments as necessary.
In other news, the company has reopened their series B investment round after a successful $19 million raise in August. They have opportunities to bring on more high-quality investors and plan to use the extra capital to invest in user growth, expansion, and hire additional top talent. The target ceiling for the series B raise is $40 million.
The company has officially submitted a Provisional Patent Application for their proprietary Sweepstakes Engine Technology to the US Patent and Trademark office on December 21st. The application contains over 30 unique claims and this is considered a big win in terms of protecting important game mechanics and supporting company valuation. The company is also preparing to file two more patent applications.