Area gamemaker Shoutz partners with Pitbull for mobile arcade
May 31, 2016 | Bobby Burch
Area tech firm Shoutz Inc. has launched a mobile gaming subsidiary that’s working with celebrity recording artist Pitbull.
Overland Park-based Shoutz Inc. recently announced the founding of GameRail, which partnered with Pitbull to offer a variety of casino-style games in both English and Spanish. The PitBull Arcade — which features the artist’s image — offers slots, arcade games and instant-win games.
Shoutz and GameRail hope to capitalize on the quickly growing mobile and social gaming category. Shoutz CEO Jim Mueller said that social gaming generated more than $4 billion revenue in the U.S. in 2015 and more than 85 million average annual users.
Mueller said Gamerail plans to target the 120 million adults in the United States who play the lottery.
“Mobile and social gaming is one of the highest-growth categories on the web today,” Mueller said in a release. “With GameRail, we are pioneering the social-lottery gaming sector by offering a collection of free-to-play interactive game themes.”
GameRail is a cross-device gaming platform, meaning it can be accessed via smartphone, tablet or computer web browser. The company plans to release an app in late 2016. In total, GameRail will feature 50 free games such as lottery, slots, card games, bingo and more.
GameRail generates revenue from in-game purchases and the sale of advertising. It also allows players to redeem tokens for gift cards to various retailers.
Formerly an Austin-based firm, Shoutz furthered its local footprint after it acquired Leawood-based Front Flip in 2015. Front Flip — which has more than 1 million downloads of its customer loyalty app — offers its users gifts and rewards to participating businesses. Shoutz develops mobile gaming with consumer engagement and loyalty programs within the retail, media and entertainment industries.
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Fighting the Silicon Valley monster and why startups leave the Midwest
Here’s this week’s dish on the booming ed tech sector, how other communities can contend with Silicon Valley and the realities of startup relocation. Check out more in this series here. Biz News: How the rest of America can compete with Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is the “center of the new-business universe,” according to Dileep…
Events Preview: DevFest, UMKC Career Accelerator
There are a boatload of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter or curious Kansas Citian, we’d recommend these upcoming events for you. WEEKLY EVENT PREVIEW DevFest When: February 20 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Where: Jack Reardon Convention Center Attend for great content from…
Former KC startup eyes nationwide education revamp with merger
About a year after a move from Kansas City to St. Louis, education tech firm myEDmatch has merged with a nationwide teacher recruitment platform. Led by CEO Alicia Herald, myEDmatch will combine its platform connecting teachers and school job openings with St. Louis-based Teachers-Teachers, a firm that focuses on teacher recruitment. The new, yet-to-be-named entity…
Byrd: How the Silicon Prairie can avoid Silicon Valley’s diversity issues
When Google and Intel first released their employment statistics in 2014, the topic of diversity was nowhere as elevated as it is today in corporate circles. Silicon Valley and its many companies from large tech giants down to startups are under the diversity and inclusion microscope. Why all of the emphasis on diversity? Demographically our…