Industry News
Big Fish Games and Sugarfina Form a Deliciously Sweet Partnership This Valentine’s Day
Leading mobile game, Cooking Craze to feature a Sugarfina themed event
Big Fish Games, innovative developer and publisher of world-class casual games, launched a partnership with luxury candy boutique Sugarfina to create a Sugarfina-themed branded event in Big Fish Games’ award-winning and genre-leading game, Cooking Craze.
“Creating memorable moments that inspire our players is something we always strive for and with today’s launch of the Cooking Craze Sugarfina event, we’re ushering in a whole new approach to creating fun and culturally relevant events in our games,” said Chris George, Vice President and Studio General Manager at Big Fish Games. “Sugarfina’s forward thinking approach to marketing, and passion for creating unique experiences for their customers and fans to interact with and enjoy has allowed us to create something truly special not only for existing Cooking Craze fans, but for Sugarfina fans as well.”
Cooking Craze is a free to play mobile game that allows players to serve the flavors of the world with the tap of a finger. Players travel to popular cities around the globe preparing and serving local cuisines to hungry customers. In the Sugarfina event, players will run their own Sugarfina Boutique and can flex their candymaking skills by creating and serving some of Sugarfina’s most popular treats including, cereal chocolate bars and Candy Bento Boxes® filled with their signature flavors like Champange Bears® and Sugar Lips®. Chefs and fans shouldn’t wait to show off their candy making skills. The first 1,000 players residing in the United States to successfully complete all 40 levels of the event will be awarded with their very own Candy Bento Box® (a $20 value). Other candy treats will be hidden throughout the event and rewarded to US and Canadian based players as they progress through the event. The event begins later today and is currently scheduled to last until February 18.
“As a personal fan of Cooking Craze, I’m thrilled to be able to offer such a cool experience to all of our fans and introduce a whole new audience to Sugarfina,” said Sugarfina Co-Founder Rosie O’Neill. “We’ve been fortunate to partner with some incredible brands and companies in the past and this partnership with Big Fish Games allows us to create an experience where people can interact with our brand like never before. We wanted to create something special for our Sugarfina fans this Valentine’s Day, and we can’t wait to see people’s reactions to running their own Sugarfina boutique in this exciting new Cooking Craze event.”
About Big Fish Games:
Founded in 2002, Big Fish Games is an innovative developer and world-class publisher of a diverse portfolio of casual game franchises, including Big Fish Casino, Gummy Drop!, Fairway Solitaire, Jackpot Magic Slots, Cooking Craze, and the upcoming Toy Story Drop!. Cooking Craze currently has over 38M installs and is one of the most successful games in the Big Fish Games portfolio, achieving #1 arcade game in 45 countries on both Google Play and Apple App Store.
Big Fish Games serves millions of players every day and is dedicated to providing players with the opportunity to play, connect, compete and discover anywhere and on any device. Big Fish Games is dedicated to enhancing life through exceptional play and challenges its fans to, “Play Inspired”.
The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with a regional office in Oakland, California, and is part of Aristocrat Leisure Limited.
About Sugarfina:
Sweethearts Rosie O’Neill and Josh Resnick have dreamed of opening a luxury candy boutique ever since their third date, a screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Inspired to create the first-ever candy store for grown-ups, the couple traveled the world in search of the finest candy makers to produce their exclusive and inventive line of confections. Best known for Champagne and Rosé-infused gummy bears, Sugarfina has been named “World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” and “World’s 10 Most Innovative Retailers” by Fast Company as it disrupts the $200B confections industry. Recognized as one of the “World’s Most Beautiful Candy Shops” by Architectural Digest, Sugarfina opened its first boutique in Beverly Hills in 2013 and now has more than 50 locations across North America in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and Vancouver, plus the brand’s first overseas boutique in Hong Kong. To learn more about Sugarfina, visit www.sugarfina.com or follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @sugarfina.
Source: Big Fish Games
Affiliate Industry
The Nomination Committee’s Proposal of Catena Media’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting 2024
The Nomination Committee of Catena Media proposed re-election of the following members of the Board of Directors:
Øystein Engebretsen
Theodore Bergquist
Adam Krejcik
Sean Hurley
The Nomination Committee proposed that Erik Flinck and Dan Castillo be elected as new members of the Board of Directors.
Göran Blomberg, Esther Teixeira-Boucher and Austin Malcomb have declined re-election as board members.
The Nomination Committee proposed that there will be six (6) members of the Board of Directors, changed from seven (7).
The Nomination Committee also proposed Erik Flinck to be elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Erik Flinck, born in 1980, currently provides high end business consulting combined with serving as Chairman for the digital health startup, dr HUD. Mr Flinck previously served as Head of BCG Sweden and has extensive experience from corporate management, growth and turnarounds from nearly 20 years of Management Consulting and serving as Head of Group Strategy and M&A at Sandvik AB. He has a Masters Degree in Engineering (Software development and Financial Mathematics) from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a Masters Degree in Business and Administration from Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Business.
Born in 1980, Dan Castillo has accumulated over 20 years of experience across startups, growth companies and turnarounds. Since 2015, Castillo has invested in Catena Media, maintaining a close watch on its progression, especially after its IPO in 2016. He has previous experience of listed board work in Kotipizza which Orkla acquired in 2018. He currently serves on the boards of five companies in different sectors, including Quartr.com in Fintech and Hope Studios in movie production. His academic background includes studies in Finance and Economics at Linköping University.
The Nomination Committee of Catena Media consists of:
Nicklas Paulson, representing Investment AB Öresund (chair of the nomination committee)
Marianne Stenberg, representing Second Swedish National Pension Fund
Martin Zetterlund, representing Niklas Karlsson
Göran Blomberg, chairman of the board of Catena Media.
Industry News
IGT Announces Executive and Board Leadership Changes
International Game Technology PLC (IGT) announced that on March 21, 2024, its Board of Directors implemented changes to the Company’s Board and executive team.
Marco Drago announced that he will step down from his role as a non-executive director of the IGT Board of Directors. He will carry out his remaining term and depart from the Board at the conclusion of the Company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 14, 2024.
Enrico Drago has been appointed by the IGT Board of Directors as a non-executive director of the IGT Board. In addition, Enrico Drago will resign from his current role of CEO of IGT PlayDigital, and Gil Rotem, who is currently IGT PlayDigital President of iGaming, will expand his role to become IGT PlayDigital President and report directly to Vince Sadusky, CEO of IGT. These changes will be effective April 1, 2024. Enrico Drago will continue in his role as vice chairman of De Agostini S.p.A.
“As Marco Drago prepares to step down from his position on the IGT Board of Directors, I’d like to thank him for his many years of service and his unwavering commitment to driving results and creating value for all IGT stakeholders. Enrico Drago joining the Board and leaving his executive leadership position at IGT is a natural evolution that supports the Company’s vision for its next era of growth and transformation. Enrico’s value-creation mindset and understanding of global growth opportunities will enhance the Board and align with IGT’s strategic priorities,” said Marco Sala, IGT Executive Chair of the Board.
“Watching and guiding IGT through its evolution from a collection of companies that started with Lottomatica and GTECH grow into a unified global gaming leader has been very gratifying. We have been fortunate to have a great group of board members and business unit leaders that have helped drive IGT’s growth during this time. I thank them for their contributions and am certain that IGT is positioned for continued growth as we go forward with the bold initiatives we have undertaken,” said Marco Drago, IGT Non-Executive Director.
“Over the last five-plus years, IGT PlayDigital has established leadership positions in the global iGaming and North American sports betting sectors that will be foundational to the Company’s future successes. I thank the entire IGT PlayDigital team for all that we have accomplished in this time, and I look forward to supporting IGT in a new capacity and further helping the Company define its vision and strategy,” said Enrico Drago, CEO of IGT PlayDigital.
Industry News
Bidstack Executive Team Acquires Bidstack Limited and all its Subsidiaries
The executive team of Bidstack has acquired Bidstack Limited and all the operating entities of the Group, from the administrators of Bidstack Group PLC. The deal sees James Draper, Founder & CEO, and the executive team of Bidstack Ltd become significant majority shareholders.
All contracts and client relationships will continue within the new ownership structure – safeguarding jobs for the UK and European-based staff.
Bidstack, the multi award-winning in-game middleware technology provider that initially set about bringing programmatic advertising revenue to the most renowned sports gaming franchises in the world, has diversified into a broader offering, taking advantage of the most advanced off-engine content management system in gaming.
Following the announcement of a partnership with the Washington Commanders, where the NFL franchise became the first-ever sports team to utilise a platform to control advertising within their virtual stadium, across official NFL games, from multiple studios and developers, the management team has been focusing on sports rights holders as a key customer type.
The executive team has the support of the world’s leading rights-holder professionals in the sports industry. It will continue to execute from its position as the leading technology for the sports industry, for fan engagement and brand activations, in video games.
The executive management consists of James Draper continuing as Chief Executive Officer, with Lisa Hau stepping up to Chief Financial Officer, Dave Garvey continuing as Chief Legal Officer, Will Stewart moving to Chief Product Officer and Daniel Barrigas to Chief Technology Officer.
James Draper, Bidstack’s Founder & CEO, said: “The acquisition is a pivotal moment for the next phase of growth for the business. Our technology is at the forefront of sports technology, and I couldn’t be more excited. I am proud that we are able to reward our ambitious and industry-pioneering team and have them as shareholders alongside myself.”
“I want to thank the staff and customers for standing by us during this strategic review, which has obviously been an uncertain period. For all of our customers to have stood strong alongside us is testament to the relationships we’ve built over the years, as well as the incredible staff we have here who have fostered those connections.
“The company can now focus on the enormous potential we have, to enable sports teams to get closer to their fans and improve the player experience by bringing their virtual IP to life, with real-time messaging, rewards and engagements.
“Thank you to the management team who have invested to protect the incredible work our talented group has produced. It’s extremely motivating to see the unwavering belief we collectively have in our vision and product. Sadly, the public market is an uncertain place currently, and it’s a challenging environment for growth businesses such as ours.
“The interest and support we’ve had from some of the leading players in the sports industry has given our team great confidence and motivation as we work with some of the world’s largest sporting franchises and leagues.
“Thank you to everyone’s support and to our Board of Directors, who have assisted myself and management throughout.”
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