Social casino game studio Plumbee came out of stealth mode today, launching its Mirrorball Slots game on Facebook and announcing it had closed $2.8 million in funding from Idinvest Partners.
The trio who founded the studio all worked together at EA Playfish: Plumbee’s CEO Raf Keustermans served as global marketing director, chief operating officer Gerald Tan was a producer and chief technology officer Jodi Moran was senior director of Technology.
Plumbee has a long-term strategic partnership with Stockholm-based specialist casino games developer Quickspin AB. Quickspin, founded by former veterans from NetEnt and Unibet, will deliver content and consultancy services to Plumbee. Concurrently, the London-based startup is using some of the funding to build an in-house mobile development team.
The members of Plumbee’s advisory board further underscore its direction: John Earner and Dan Fiden, both of whom are former Playfish studio general managers; Ben Fried, partner at Gaming Edge Associates and former head of Poker U.K. at the online betting exchange Betfair; and Anton Bell, partner at Gaming Edge Associates and former head of marketing at Betfair.
Mirrorball Slots, Plumbee’s first game, is in open beta on Facebook. It currently includes three fairytale-themed games, but Plumbee said additional themes will be introduced in the future, as will additional social features like medals, social currency and progressive jackpots.
Guillaume Lautour, partner at Idinvest, said: “We are strong believers in social games and specifically the remarkable growth in the social casino vertical has caught our attention. We’re very excited to back the Plumbee team, with its extensive experience and proven track record in both social games and online gambling.”
Related links:
Plumbee – press release
http://www.facebook.com/mirrorballslots
http://www.gamingedgeassociates.com
