Tritech Media - founded by entrepreneur William Kirsh, who helped build local media giant Primedia, among other businesses - has acquired a 45% stake in local gaming industry innovator GameZBoost for an undisclosed amount.
Tritech Media has the option to increase its interest to 50.1%.
The remaining stake in GameZBoost is owned by Mark van Diggelen, CEO of the company. GameZBoost claims to be the only agency of its kind in SA and one of the few internationally that provide customised and scalable gaming platforms which are fully responsive, adaptive and accessible from a multitude of devices.
Kirsh hogged the limelight in 2013 following the aborted merger between his company, Value+ Nettwork, with JSE-listed FoneWorx. Value+ Nettwork has rebranded to Tritech Media.
GameZBoost was founded by Van Diggelen, originally as SkillPod Media, and started out as a services company, providing search engine optimisation services to companies such as News24, OUTsurance and Private Property. It says the secondary focus was the provision of game solutions.
The business later went on to develop browser games and game titles for Google Play and the Apple App Store. It was re-branded to GameZBoost in late 2014, when the focus switched to the development of white label games platforms that run across traditional desktop browsers and are fully compatible across the mobile Web.
While GameZBoost is a South African business, it has been able to gain early traction in the international arena.
Gaming advantage
"We're delighted to welcome GameZBoost to the Tritech Media group of companies," says Kirsh. "Their global market-leading gaming solutions fit well with our strategic focus on cutting-edge, unique, corporate loyalty solutions.
"It is a well-known fact locally and internationally that engagement levels in loyalty programmes are low, and that gaming is increasingly becoming a valuable tool to enhance customer engagement in loyalty programmes."
Tritech Media believes gaming has proven to be an extremely successful way to attract and retain users online. Recent industry activity indicates gaming's popularity will continue among online and mobile communities, it adds.
According to the media company, the global gaming market's annual revenue is forecast to increase to over $113 billion by 2018, with the mobile games sector contributing 39% of the total revenue.
GameZBoost has more than 700 games in its catalogue. Tritech Media says these can be deployed and configured to target desktop and mobile users, or users from both platforms through a single deployment. This is achieved using GameZBoost proprietary technology that filters and customises the content and services in real-time, based on the device accessing the platform.
Wide appeal
GameZBoost delivers game integration solutions in 16 countries and 12 languages around the world for blue-chip companies, including NBCUniversal, Burger King and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Other strategic initiatives include Gazuma.com and WeChat, targeting the global WeChat user base and the relationship with S2N, with the GameZBoost team developing their gamation.com casual and massively multiplayer online gaming portal, which will target gamers from China and South East Asia.
"We're excited about the interest the Tritech Media group brings to our business and the synergies we can leverage both ways as we expand our product offering and grow our customer value-add," says Van Diggelen.
"I was very fortunate to be the founder of Primedia, South Africa's second largest media group," says Kirsh. "I served as its CEO from inception until August 2009. Little did I know how this rich media experience would equip me for the journey ahead, which journey was also guided by a focus on wanting to create a group that was unique but whose vision was achievable.
"Following my departure from Primedia, I was introduced to a company that sourced discounted products and services for the consumer sector of the loyalty industry. I gained an insight in the loyalty and rewards industry that eventually paved the way for the Tritech Media of today," he concludes.
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