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New sports-based mobile game company, Nifty Games, has raised $3 million in seed round from the investment, professional sports, and gaming communities.
The California-based company, established by gaming industry veterans Jon Middleton (Madefire, Pulse Entertainment, Mad Catz Interactive) and Pete Wanat (Universal Games), has secured funding from esports and video game investment company aXiomatic Gaming and venture capital firms March Capital Partners and Defy.VC. Nifty Games will specialise in delivering head-to-head, free-to-play "high quality sports games on mobile and digital platforms for a large global audience, targeting passionate sports fans".
"We’ve built Nifty Games to create innovative sports games for today’s sports fans," said founder and CEO Middleton. "The talent and experience on the team is second to none, and we believe our unique product direction and focus on quality will deliver a step change in mobile gaming to sports fans worldwide. It’s a great vote of confidence to have the support of such highly regarded investors in our initial equity financing. With investment from team owners from all five major North American pro sports leagues, as well as successful game industry leaders and institutional tech investors, we’re off to a great start."
Other management appointments include Dan Wasson (EA, Konami, LucasArts, Kabam, Wargaming) as Head of Production, Jenny Lin (EA, Disney, THQ) as Head of Marketing, and Kathy McElwee (3DO, Telltale, Campo Santo) as Interim CFO.
"We’re excited about Nifty Games’ vision for delivering high-quality, sports-based mobile games," said Bruce Stein, co-founder and CEO of aXiomatic. "This strategic partnership will combine the Nifty Games team’s extensive experience in gaming with our group’s expertise in traditional sports, esports and entertainment."
"We’re thrilled to invest in Nifty Games as they aim to capture the attention of traditional sports fans who have become disengaged and frustrated with the current state of sports simulations in video games," added Gregory Milken, MD at March Capital Partners. "We see the tremendous value in offering an engaging mobile gaming experience that features short session arcade play along with the sports that players love."
