A St. Cloud software marketer is trying on a new avatar: mobile video game publisher.
W3i was founded ten years ago in a dorm room at St. Cloud State by three brothers, Rob, Ryan and Aaron Weber. Their mission: to be a leader in the distribution of consumer applications.
At the time, that meant Windows desktop software -- a lot of clip art, wallpaper and screensavers. Windows is still a good business, but they now see mobile gaming as the best bet for future growth.
Last summer, the company made headlines for a new service called
Apperang, which pays mobile users 25 cents every time they install an app by one of W3i's clients.
Last week,
the company announced the launch of a new subsidiary, Recharge Studios, which is seeking to invest at least $1 million in mobile gaming in the next three to six months.
The market for mobile video games is anticipated to grow somewhere between
$4.5 billion and
$10 billion over the next few years.
"We think there are going to be a lot of developers who are going to try to go after that market, and we believe we can help them," says Rob Weber, W3i's vice president of business development.
In most cases, Recharge will look to help finance, develop and market new mobile gaming apps in exchange for a share of revenue. In some cases it may seek to acquire full ownership.
The studio already has a handful of games under production and plans to release its first title by the end of the month, followed by a few more in the first quarter of 2011.
Source: Rob Weber, W3i
Writer:
Dan Haugen