Frontier Developments Share Discussion Threads

[hastings] 04/12/2013 07:09

A couple of Director buys yesterday one of 5k the other a more substantial 90k

[stegrego] 03/12/2013 21:13

Isn't in the top 300 on IOS games charts though as far as I can see.

[dasv] 05/11/2013 09:26

"Cobra" is a reference to the ship model in Elite - "Cobra MkIII" as I recall.

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"About Cobra

Frontier's Cobra software technology has been developed and evolved since 1988. Initially conceived as a solution for the problem of easily porting the same game across different target hardware devices, Cobra today supports multi-core CPU and GPU architectures of PC, console, tablet and smartphone with a modular, high performance system offering of state of the art efficiency and visual fidelity that is applicable across a wide range of game genres.

Cobra incorporates a framework which enables rapid development of powerful game creation tools, which offer the ability to view, tweak and review changes to content (e.g. animations, audio, 3D models etc.) on target platforms in a live game session running on that platform, without the intervention of a programmer.

For more details on Cobra see hxxp://www.frontier.co.uk/our_technology/ "

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in theory it sounds great - develop across platform without too much porting work. In practice though, the user interface of a touch device and a PC or console is so different (as are hardware capacities) it may not be that useful.

A tablet game is a wildly different beast from a console or PC game.

Still - impressive technology and idea.

[simon gordon] 03/11/2013 21:28

My nephew is very into playing Clash of Clans on his iPad, this game is made by SuperCell.

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BBC - 15/10/13:

Supercell: Europe's supercharged games success

It is a Finnish company started in 2010, whose first products only emerged in 2011. You've probably never heard of Supercell, but on Tuesday it was valued at $3bn, making it the fastest growing technology firm to come out of Europe in, well, just about ever.

Supercell is a games business with just two titles, Clash of Clans and Hay Day, which until last week could only be played on Apple's iPhone and iPad. But they have grabbed a huge share of the mobile gaming market, leading the world in terms of revenue, ahead of giants like EA which has 829 titles to Supercell's two.

On Tuesday Japan's Softbank paid $1.5bn to acquire a 51% stake in Supercell. The telecoms firm is doing the deal in conjunction with its own gaming subsidiary GungHo, another major player in the new world of mobile games.

This might look like another of those dotcom deals, where a wealthy corporate giant pays over the odds for a business with big user numbers but no concrete business plan. But Supercell is making money hand over fist - revenues grew from $100m in 2012 to $179m in the first quarter of this year and are on course to hit $1bn for the whole year.

Key to its success has been its ability to crack the Asian market, something many other games developers have tried and failed to do. It has already been working with GungHo and has now brought its games to Android, essential for any firm competing in China.

It all looks like a great success for Finland, also home of the Angry Birds firm Rovio, and for the wider European technology scene. Supercell was backed by London-based venture capital firms including Index Ventures and Atomico. They bought in at a valuation of $770m back in February, so have made their investment back four times over in the space of six months - though existing investors will retain half of their stakes in the business.

That means more money will now be available to invest in other start-ups, and even if Supercell is now controlled from Japan, Tuesday's news will be a great boost for the image of the European games industry.

The UK firm behind the phenomenally successful Candy Crush Saga, King.com, is currently working on its stock market debut, while the Moshi Monsters business Mind Candy is also rumoured to be thinking of an IPO. Both may end up on New York's Nasdaq over the next year.

What is slightly disappointing is that these companies seem to be looking outside Europe - to Asia or the US - when they are seeking the funding they need to progress to the next stage of their development. But European games developers are showing that they have mastered what consumers want in the mobile world and using their skills to build big businesses in a hurry.

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SuperCell's philosophy:

While games are certainly big business, we've found the best way to get big is by being small. Small teams, that is. Need proof? Clash of Clans and Hay Day were created by teams of only half a dozen developers each. There's no clumsy hierarchy or bureaucracy here, just exceptionally talented [super nice] people with absolute freedom to pursue their creative vision.

Our small philosophy is at the very heart and soul of Supercell. To make it all work, there are three simple yet essential ingredients: insanely talented and creative people, unrestricted freedom, and great team chemistry. It's a potent mix.

hxxp://www.supercell.net/about

[simon gordon] 03/11/2013 15:29

Cheers Hastings.

Some of the new mobile/tablet gaming companies are on bonkers valuations. If, and it is a big if, they could create a big hit the share would go nuts.

29/10/13:

David Braben, Frontier's CEO:

"These agreements represent excellent progress as we continue to implement our self-publishing and online commerce plans. They will help accelerate our plans to grow new revenue streams from self-published and online commerce."

[hastings] 03/11/2013 15:16

May be of interest for anyone looking in

[stegrego] 20/8/2013 12:45

Frontier Developments plc ("Frontier" or the "Company"), a leading developer of video games with studios in Cambridge, UK and Halifax, Canada, announces the commencement of dealings in its Ordinary Shares on AIM today. Frontier's AIM symbol is FDEV and the ISIN number GB00BBT32N39.

The Company has raised £4.0 million (before expenses) through a placing of 3,169,292 new Ordinary Shares (the "Placing"). Frontier's Market capitalisation at the Placing Price is £39.4 million.

Founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the seminal Elite game, Frontier has an experienced management and development team that has consistently delivered high quality, innovative and commercially successful games in a continually evolving industry.

Placing price per ordinary share 127p

hxxp://www.frontier.co.uk/investor_relations/