TeePee Games gets Turner Broadcasting investment
Cartoon Network owner backs UK developer's Geronimo game discovery platform
Turner Broadcasting Europe has made a major investment in British company TeePee Games and its game discovery technology Geronimo.
The Geronimo portal is currently in a 25,000 user strong beta testing phase, with the aim of becoming the primary search and recommendation tool for games on the web, social networks and smartphones.
The level of investment by Turner Broadcasting Europe, which owns children's brands such as Cartoon Network and TNT, has not been disclosed.
Geronimo features an overarching rewards and loyalty scheme, modelled after the Pandora music discovery service. The technology collects and analyses user behavioural data and uses it to recommend titles, as well as inform games companies of browsing and buying habits.
"This series of deals signals Turner Broadcasting's readiness to act on relevant investment and partnership opportunities in the digital and gaming space," said TBS Europe president Jeff Kupsky. Previously Turner has made investments in celebrity news provider Starlounge.
TeePee Games was founded in 2010 by Player X veteran Tony Pearce. Its management team include former Sega Europe chairman and CEO Nick Alexander, Game Jacket COO and co-founder Simon Jones, and former Metaflow COO Charles Macleod.
"The problem is very clear, game players are simply not finding new games because the top 20 dominates each category. TeePee Games has built an incredible discovery engine, a cross between Amazon's recommendation engine and Apple Genius," said Pearce last year.