<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Just months after it raised $30 million, social game developer Kabam has secured an eye-popping $85 million to become the Zynga of hardcore social games.\nThe massive funding round was co-led by Google Ventures and Pinnacle Ventures. Performance Equity and SK Telecom Ventures joined the round, as did previous investors Canaan Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Intel Capital.\nLike Zynga, Kabam makes a suite of social games for Facebook and the web. However, instead of catering to the casual gaming crowd, Kabam focuses on the \"hardcore\" gamers \u2014 the male teens that play Halo, Call of Duty and Bioshock.  Kabam CEO Kevin Chou told Mashable that 82% of its audience actively play PC or console games and that 70% of its demographic is male.\nSome of Kabam's top games include Glory of Rome, Dragons of Atlantis and Kingdoms of Camelot.  Dragons of Atlantis, the company's most popular game, has around 4 million monthly active users.\nChou says the money is primarily for accelerating its growth in Asia, increasing the amount of games it brings to market and launching games in other hardcore gaming verticals, such as strategy gaming.  Asia seems to be the company's primary target, though. It's not surprising, given the region's wider acceptance of hardcore gaming and its greater propensity for virtual goods.\nInfrastructure costs also played a role in the decision to raise such a large round. Chou says that the investment by Google Ventures benefits Kabam because Google has deep knowledge in scaling, data centers, marketing (Adwords) and mobile (Android). It's important to note that Google itself has a major investment in Zynga. Chou doesn't believe that Zynga and Kabam are rivals because they target different demographics with their games.\nThe company has also been on a massive hiring spree.  In January 2010, the company had 25 employees, but today it has more than 400. \nKabam's making a big bet that traditional gamers are slowly going to give up their PCs and consoles in favor of web-based games. While a single console game can cost $50 to $60, Kabam's games are free. They also have the additional benefit of being social outlets for gamers, a phenomenon known all too well by players of World of Warcraft or other massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs)."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/05/26/kabam-85-million-zynga/>