CoolGames’ Head of Studio on his lifelong career in games

Amsterdam, October 11th, 2017. Ard Bonewald, CoolGames’ Head of Studio, was interviewed for PocketGamer.biz about his life-long career in the games industry. He started his journey as a Game Designer for arcade games publisher Davilex. Today, almost twenty years later, Ard is responsible for the day-to-day management of the CoolGames in-house Studio. Main focus now is developing high quality AAA games for messaging platforms like Facebook Instant Games.

His principal piece of advice for young talents seeking a career in games: “Try to be humble and seek self improvement. I didn’t see it then, but I now know that I have learned the most valuable lessons from the times, and the people, that were hardest on me.”

Read the full interview here.

Snake resurfaces on Instant Games

AMSTERDAM, February 27, 2017 – Snake, the iconic game from Nokia, has now resurfaced on Instant Games by Facebook. Snake for Instant Games was developed by CoolGames on behalf of HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, as part of the launch of a series of Nokia smartphones.

Snake first featured on Nokia handsets in the late 90s and since then has appeared on over 400 million phones. Laurens Rutten, Founder and CEO of CoolGames, said: “It was a big honour that our Studio could contribute to the new release of such an iconic IP. Snake was without a doubt the very first mobile games experience for a whole generation.”

In line with the original game, players will move the snake around the screen, eating apples and bugs along the way to score points. The more the snake eats, the longer it grows, making it a challenge to control. And benefiting from the Facebook Messenger sharing features, friends can see who has the highest score on the leaderboard, adding an element of friendly competition.

Instant Games was released on November 29th and lets people play games within seconds on Messenger and Facebook News Feed. The games are all built in HTML5 technology and can be played instantly across mobile devices (iOS and Android) and desktop. CoolGames was one of Facebook’s global launch partners with the development of Arkanoid on behalf of owner Taito. In the first two weeks after launch, millions of people across thirty countries have already been playing on Instant Games.

CoolGames releases ‘LINE: PPAP The Game’

AMSTERDAM/TOKYO, December 20, 2016 – CoolGames today released ‘LINE: PPAP The Game’ for the LINE messenger platform. The game is based on the YouTube super hit “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” of Pikotaro, a mysterious Japanese singer and songwriter. Its unique rhythm and addictive lyrics have grabbed the attention of millions of people worldwide. Since the video’s YouTube release on August 25, it has been played more than 100 million times and reached No. 1 position on the YouTube charts for 30th September – 6th October 2016. Also, the PPAP themed sticker-set currently ranks as the most downloaded content in the LINE sticker shop.

In cooperation with LINE and Avex Management, CoolGames has now created a fun action game that can be played directly within the LINE messaging app. Goal of the game is to stab a pen in as many apples and pineapples that are falling down as possible. Scores can be shared and compared directly with your friends on LINE.

It is the first game for LINE that is fully based on HTML5 technology and can be played directly, without the need to download a separate app first. Laurens Rutten, founder and CEO of CoolGames, said: “With the diminishing of Flash, and various social networks now embracing web-technology, we are proud that we can bring this HTML5 game to the many users of the LINE platform”.

Any LINE user across the globe can play the game after becoming a friend of the Pikotaro official account. CoolGames publishes some of the best performing HTML5 games via hundreds of distribution channels worldwide, including many leading game websites, social networks and media brands.

Jewel Academy arrives for Xmas to Instant Games by Facebook

AMSTERDAM, December 16, 2016 – Jewel Academy, one of the world’s most popular HTML5 match-3 games, has now also arrived on the new Instant Games service by Facebook. This Winter Edition for Instant Games includes a special Christmas look-and-feel and additional daily levels that count down to Christmas day.

Jewel Academy is a match-3 game with a great variety of possible jewel combinations, many power-ups and always changing grids. It has 280 levels with increasing difficulty, while new levels are added continuously. The game was originally released in December 2014 and has since been published via more than 400 different channels across the globe. Last month, the 7 million unique game-players milestone was reached.

Laurens Rutten, founder and CEO of CoolGames, said: “We are proud to have our best performing and most loved game now becoming available to millions of new users on Facebook. We look forward to further developing the game and to fully benefit from the inherent social benefits that Instant Games offers, such as playing with friends.”

Instant Games was released on November 29th and let’s people play games within seconds on Messenger and Facebook News Feed. The games are all built in HTML5 technology and can be played instantly across mobile devices (iOS and Android) and desktop. CoolGames was one of Facebook’s global launch partners with the development of Arkanoid on behalf of owner Taito. In the first two weeks after launch, millions of people across thirty countries have already been playing on Instant Games.

CoolGames joins launch of Instant Games by Facebook

AMSTERDAM, November 29, 2016 – CoolGames, one of the pioneers of HTML5 games, today took part in the launch of Instant Games for Messenger, rolled out internationally by Facebook. CoolGames developed the global arcade favorite Arkanoid to the new service on behalf of owner Taito.

Instant Games lets people play games within seconds on Messenger and Facebook News Feed. The games are built in HTML5 technology and can be played instantly across mobile devices (iOS and Android) and desktop.

Laurens Rutten, founder and CEO of CoolGames, said: “CoolGames was one of the first game companies that focused on HTML5 technology, starting in 2010. Therefore, it is a real breakthrough for HTML5 that Facebook, with more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, now fully embraces HTML5 for its new gaming experience!”

CoolGames publishes some of the best performing HTML5 games via hundreds of distribution channels worldwide, including many leading game websites and media brands.

The first game that CoolGames has developed for Instant Games is an HTML5 version of classic Arkanoid from Taito, who initially released the game in 1986. People can start playing Arkanoid directly through the new Messenger games tab, when they are challenged by a friend or discover it through their News Feed in Facebook.

The HTML5 games are fully integrated in Messenger and Facebook and will load immediately, without the need for downloading separate apps. CoolGames plans to launch several new titles for Instant Games in the coming months.

Instant Games for Messenger and Facebook News Feed launched across 32 countries, including Japan, the USA, UK, South Korea and Germany, today.

CoolGames Brings Tetris® To Browsers With HTML5

AMSTERDAM, May 19, 2016 – CoolGames, the world’s leading HTML5 games publisher, today announced that it has released Tetris® Twist, a new take on one of the most addictive and recognizable video games of all time. The all-new Tetris Twist brings a world of new levels and game mechanics to Internet browsers using HTML5 technology.

Tetris Twist is free to play and currently offers 100 levels of gameplay, including multiple levels that players can unlock which will then take them through various cities. Among these are New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Amsterdam, with more cities to be added continuously to provide game fans with an endless path of new levels and challenges. Tetris Twist also features new innovative mechanics, such as Gravity mode, where Tetriminos rise “up” instead of falling “down”, Hourglass mode, in which Tetriminos are mixed-up, like you would see in an hour glass, and Score Cells mode, where select cells in the Matrix must be filled with Tetriminos to receive extra bonus points.

Laurens Rutten, founder and CEO of CoolGames comments, “With Flash about to disappear soon, HTML5 is now one of the fastest growing games technologies worldwide, and we couldn’t have wished for a better or more popular game IP in our catalogue than Tetris.”

Maya Rogers, President and CEO of Blue Planet Software, sole agent for the Tetris brand adds, “We are continuously working to bring fun, unique experiences to Tetris fans across the globe, and the introduction of Tetris Twist is a great new addition to our growing lineup of Tetris branded games.”

Tetris® Twist was developed by the CoolGames Studio in Amsterdam, and is available for desktop browsers globally, as well as for tablet and smartphone browsers in Japan. While Yahoo! Japan will serve as the worldwide launch partner, Tetris Twist will also be distributed by key channels such as Miniclip and Spil Games. Tetris Twist is available to play now at CoolGames

BoosterMedia becomes CoolGames and joins forces with Tingly Games

AMSTERDAM, February 23, 2016 – At Casual Connect Europe 2016, BoosterMedia revealed its new name: the #1 HTML5 games publisher will further grow its activities as CoolGames. It was also announced that the company has joined forces with HTML5 game developer Tingly Games.

In 2015 CoolGames.com was launched as BoosterMedia’s flagship consumer website with HTML5 games for smartphones, tablets and desktop PCs. From now on, CoolGames will also be the company’s corporate branding for all game-development, publishing and advertising activities. Merging BoosterMedia’s in-house studio and Tingly into the new CoolGames Studio will effectively establish the world’s largest HTML5 dedicated game studio.

With the native app-stores becoming virtually impenetrable for most game developers and Flash as a technology for casual games to vanish soon, HTML5 is now widely embraced as the only cross-platform technology for the future. Laurens Rutten, founder and CEO of CoolGames: “Over the last 12 months, we have seen a sharp increase in demand for high quality HTML5 games. With a fast growing worldwide user base, we were able to bring triple-A IP such as PacMan RunSnoopy Bubble and Tetris® Twist to HTML5. With our new doubled studio capacity, we plan to release many more fantastic games and famous brands in 2016 and beyond.”

Ard Bonewald, former CEO of Tingly and the new Head of Studio for CoolGames, adds: “With the talented teams of these two HTML5 front-runners now united, we can significantly invest in developing even better casual games that are on par with the top-ranking games in the app-stores.” It is expected that the rebranding and the integration of the two studios into the Amsterdam HQ will be completed by the end of Q1 2016.

CyberAgent and BoosterMedia team up to bring casual games to Ameba

Amsterdam, Tokyo – December 22 2014: Today, CyberAgent and BoosterMedia launched two specially developed casual games for the popular Ameba platform: Flappy Haripit and Pigg Bubble. In the side-scrolling game Flappy Haripit the player needs to collect as many apples as possible along the way, without crashing into obstacles. And Pigg Bubble is a modern ‘bubble shooter’ game with dozens of challenging levels, different worlds and special power-ups.

Pigg and Haripit are famous characters that feature in many existing games and applications on the Ameba platform. Both new titles have been produced by BoosterMedia’s in-house Game Studio in close partnership with CyberAgent. The games are fully developed in HTML5 and can be instantly played within a smartphone’s browser.

CyberAgent Inc., with its headquarter based in Tokyo Japan, was founded in 1998 and is active in the field of online services, advertising, games and media. The company is listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. CyberAgent first introduced Ameba in 2009 and it is currently one of Japan’s most popular blogging, social networking and online games destinations.

BoosterMedia acquires Hallpass Media games websites from SGN

Growth in HTML5 games fuels BoosterMedia’s games distribution strategy

Amsterdam, September 8, 2014 – Award-winning HTML5 games publisher BoosterMedia has acquired the Hallpass Media web game network from Los Angeles-based, independent game developer SGN.

In an all-cash deal, largely funded by existing shareholders, BoosterMedia gains around 6 million active users a month on 11 desktop game websites, including popular brands such as Girlgames.com, Cookinggames.com and Wordgames.com.

Laurens Rutten, founder and CEO of BoosterMedia, said: “We live in a multi-platform world and with this acquisition, BoosterMedia not only doubles its reach among casual gamers worldwide, but also gains strong web gaming brands that we plan to extend to smartphones as well as tablets.”

“The benefits of this deal are three-fold,” Rutten added. “Our HTML5 game-developer community will now get access to a much larger audience; advertisers will be able to reach 12 million engaged casual gamers each month across multiple platforms; and our game-distribution partners will benefit from more and better titles.”

The Hallpass network has grown by 50% over the last three years and BoosterMedia plans to grow it further by extending the brands to smartphones and tablets, gradually replacing most of the current Flash games with cross-platform HTML5 games.

Unlike native apps, which require developers to invest time and money porting their games from one operating system to another, HTML5 games technology enables developers to build a game once and deploy it across multiple platforms.

Games dominate app store revenues, yet most game developers struggle, according to a recent survey of 10,000 app developers (Vision Mobile, July 2014). Rutten said: “Although headlines tend to focus on the demand for native apps, the arrival of more and more high quality HTML5 games is fuelling the growth of cross-platform web-based games. It is BoosterMedia’s intention to make sure we’re the world-leader in the rapidly developing HTML5 games space.”

BoosterMedia brings HTML5 games to the Japanese market with Yahoo! JAPAN

Amsterdam/Tokyo, July 2, 2014 – Yahoo! JAPAN and BoosterMedia have struck a deal to bring ‘Western-style’ HTML5 games to the Japanese market. The new cross-platform games can be played instantly on any of the Yahoo! JAPAN websites via Yahoo! Games, one of the most popular game platforms in Japan.

The first series of free-to-play games selected for Yahoo! JAPAN are from popular casual game genres, such as puzzle- and match-3 games, bubble shooters and arcade & action games. BoosterMedia has culturally localized the games – the HTML5 specialist employs native Japanese staff in both its Amsterdam-based Game Studio and Tokyo office.

Laurens Rutten, founder and CEO of BoosterMedia said: “Japan is generally a difficult market to enter for overseas game companies. But if you look at the huge success of Candy Crush in Japan, for example, it is clear the Japanese audience has developed an appetite for typical ‘Western-style’ casual games. It is therefore a fantastic opportunity to further develop this market with our partner Yahoo! JAPAN.”

Although Japan has seen a massive growth in the native games market in recent years, with Gungho’s “Puzzle & Dragons” as the most successful example to date, the browser games market has seen a significant increase too, with a surge of 132% to 229 billion Yen in 2013.

Contrary to most native games, they can be played on smartphones and tablets as well as desktop PC browsers. Users can log in with their Yahoo! ID to save high-scores and to see the leader-boards of other players in their area.

Rutten said: “Support for HTML5 among game developers, media companies, OEMs and other industry players is rapidly growing. As a result, we clearly see a sharp increase in HTML5 games quality compared to one or two years ago. This is a first step, and we are confident that we can bring many high quality HTML5 games to the Japanese market in the next 12 months.”