Big Fish Games

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Big Fish Games, Inc.

Type	Privately Held Company
Founded	Seattle (2002)
Headquarters	Seattle, Washington, United States
Key people	Paul Thelen, Chairman/CEO Jeremy Lewis, President/COO
Industry	Computer Software Casual Games
Products	Big Fish Games Big Fish Studios Big Fish Greetings Game Club My Big Fish Games
Revenue	Private
Net income	Private
Employees	145 (2006)
Website	www.bigfishgames.com

Big Fish Games is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Seattle, Washington. The company is best known for its strong growth and leadership in digital distribution of online casual games. Big Fish Games has several lines of business including distribution of downloadable casual games, ad supported free online web browser games, game development studios, e-greetings, and most recently a social networking site for casual game players for share opinions, invite friends, and earn cash for games their friends buy.

1 Big Fish Studios Game Development
2 Digital Distribution
3 Online Games
4 History
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Big Fish Studios Game Development

In May, 2002 the company was founded as a game development studio and experienced early success with titles like Mahjong Towers, Top Ten Solitaire, and Word Wizard. Big Fish Studios now releases 12 to 15 original titles per year and has produced many branded hit titles including Mystery Case Files: Huntsville, Hidden Expedition: Titanic, Mahjong Towers Eternity, Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects, Mystic Inn, Atlantis – Sky Patrol, and Fairies. Big Fish Studios also publishes titles form outside developers and controls online distribution of several hit franchises including Fish Tycoon, Virtual Villagers, and Master of Defence. Games developed by Big Fish Studios include:

Travelogue 360: Paris (November 3, 2006)
Atlantis Sky Patrol (August 25, 2006)
Hidden Expedition: Titanic (July 21, 2006)
Mystic Inn (April 12, 2006)
Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects (April 6, 2006)
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville (November 14, 2005)
Fairies (October 28, 2005)
Atlantis (August 3, 2005)
Mahjong Towers Eternity (July 28, 2005)
Magic Vines (November 24, 2004)
Slot Words (July 9, 2004)
Word Search Deluxe (January 5, 2003)
Top Ten Solitaire (January 28, 2002)

[edit] Digital Distribution

Big Fish Games distributes casual downloadable games for over 400 developers, and launches a new game every day for the past two years. Big Fish Games also runs sites for Viacom’s Nickelodeon and NBC’s iVillage sites. Big Fish Games is one of the top volume sites with over 400,000 downloads per day on peak days. The service offers downloadable casual games with a try-before-you-buy model where consumers can play a selection of over 300 games for free for 60 minutes, but then must purchase that game. Big Fish Games also has a game subscription service where consumers can buy games at a discount if they commit to volume purchasing called Game Club.

[edit] Online Games

Big Fish Games distributes online web browser games that are free to play and advertising supported. There are over 80 games to play and a subscription service (called Club Atlantis) that allows user play free of advertisements. The games all include chat and players earn tokens that can be used to enter lotteries to win cash prizes and free games.

[edit] History

Big Fish Games was founded by ex-RealNetworks executive Paul Thelen in 2002. Paul Thelen was the Group Product Manager that launched the RealArcade games service for RealNetworks. Big Fish Games grew from a new entrant to one of the top game destinations in the world. The September 2006 launch of the social networking service My Big Fish Games takes the casual games industry in a new direction returning some of the industry’s profits to the consumers who drive new customers and grow the business.

Company timeline:

May 2002: Big Fish Games, LLC founded as a game development studio.
September 2003: Big Fish Games launches a web portal and begins distributing other developers’ games for the first time.
April 2005: Big Fish Games purchases the online games community site Ion Thunder.
June 2005: Bigfishgames Deutschland (www.bigfishgames.de) is launched.
July 2005: Big Fish Games launches game operations for NBC’s iVillage site and Viacom’s Nickelodeon site.
Feb 2006: Joint launch of Bigfishgames Japan (www.bigfishgames.jp) and Bobby's Way (http://www.bobbysway.jp), a blog by Bobby Valentine.
April 2006: Game Club subscription service is launched.
September 2006: My Big Fish Games social networking service for casual gamers is launched.