As the year winds down and we get into holiday festivities, I wanted to reflect back on 2014 and share my thoughts on how the year evolved, as I wrap-up.
We entered the calendar year with a major pivot that had been initiated for our Graphics & Portability Group. This pivot was focused on TransGaming’s evolution to a “publisher” of games on a number of core platforms. Our technology was already well positioned to support this strategy for Mac and Linux and we expanded our IP to include SteamOS, iOS, and Android. Admittedly, the pivot was a longer and more time consuming transition than originally estimated and TransGaming incurred three consecutive quarters of decreased revenues which also resulted in losses. However, in our Q2 period we heralded the initiation of our new strategy with the publishing of our first major title Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on Mac ( https://www.transgaming.com/news/transgaming-and-konami-digital-entertainment-announce-debut-metal-gear-mac-metal-gear-rising-re ). The game received Apple’s Editor’s Choice accolade and was just selected by Apple as one of the best games of 2014.
We followed the partnership with Konami with an agreement to bring a top 10 global MMO to Mac ( https://www.transgaming.com/news/transgaming-expands-game-publishing-strategy-world-leading-mmo-developer ). We’re excited about this game, which is expected to be released during the first quarter of 2015, because of the exceptional pedigree of this title on PC. We remain both optimistic and confident that the game will be well received by Mac users and its launch is expected to include considerable marketing leading up to the announcement. A title of this nature also delivers an ongoing revenue annuity.
Our publishing strategy is being actively realized with many publishers and multiple titles on the horizon. Our expectation is that we will be releasing a steady stream of high-quality franchises with regularity by the end of January 2015. This provides TransGaming with a consistent, predictable, sustainable, and growing revenue flow which is amplified as we start releasing titles day-and-date with other platforms.
In 2014 we experienced successes in our Digital Media Group as well. We started the year with major announcements regarding the deployment of GameTree TV on Samsung and Toshiba. GameTree TV is also available on Philips, Sharp, Panasonic, Vizio with a monthly active user base that has grown ten-fold in the last 6 months.
Several months ago GameTree TV was launched in the Holiday Inn Montreal as our first deployment with Select TV. This is the company’s first foray into the hospitality sector and upon the completion of the trial we anticipate additional hotels to be added.
The company has been steadily enhancing our user’s experience with Free, which has resulted in greater subscriber growth and traction. Today we offer more than 70 games on GameTree TV with Free and between January and November our games logged 6 million minutes of game play. This is validation that our content programming strategy is resonating with our audience. With ongoing marketing, profiles and featuring from Free, and the consistent addition of new content, coupled with continued enhancement of the user experience, we expect the growth at Free to accelerate in 2015.
In October, TransGaming announced a new European Cable Operator partnership on a no-names basis ( https://www.transgaming.com/news/transgaming-continues-gametree-tv-expansion-new-pivotal-european-partnership ). The games services was expected to go live with this operator by mid-December. Due to technical issues on the operator side the launch has been delayed until early 2015. The technical matters are surmountable and simply require development time by the operator side and we expect to be live within calendar Q1 2015.
Last week, we announced a strategic partnership with ActiveVideo ( https://www.transgaming.com/news/transgaming-s-gametree-tv-now-available-pay-tv-operators-worldwide-new-partnership-activevideo ), which will allow TransGaming to deploy GameTree TV quickly and easily with ActiveVideo’s cable customers. We’ve completed the integration work to ensure GameTree TV seamlessly runs on ActiveVideo’s CloudTV platform that will allow cable operators to easily “activate” gaming. This is a win/win as ActiveVideo can now deliver a broader assortment of entertainment to their customers through this partnership and we gain the ability to reach their operators more effectively giving us the opportunity for much broader market penetration of GameTree TV.
2014 ends with tremendous momentum as we head towards the New Year and TransGaming and our shareholders have much to be optimistic about. I am confident that 2015 will be a fantastic year for the company.
I would like to acknowledge my exceptional team and note how proud I am of what our team at TransGaming has accomplished and the leadership they have exemplified. TransGaming has passionate employees and leaders and their dedication and tenacity have helped us achieve great things today and have laid the foundation for an exceptional tomorrow. Our shareholders have been patient and I thank you for that. I conclude with an optimistic spirit for 2015 which will be filled with new opportunities, new challenges, new surprises, and fresh new beginnings. I thank you for your support and trust you’ll continue to support the TransGaming team in the New Year. And, for me, that’s a wrap!
Sincerely,
Vikas