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Partners
 Key growth factors

 Fundraising

 Mergers & Acquisitions

 Valuation
V l i

 The Holy Grail in Online Games

 Trends & opportunities
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 Venture Capital  & Private Equity firms are actively investing in 
the casual game sector
▪ Intel Capital
▪ Softbank funds/ companies
▪ Benchmark Capital
▪ IDG funds
▪ Plus many others

 Why?
▪ Explosive growth for Game Portals & Online Media Consumption
▪ Casual games are games for the mass market
▪ Low production costs for casual games
L   d i    f   l 
▪ Low advertising & distribution costs
▪ Recurring revenue base and scalability are the critical factors
▪ more appealing to financial investors
  li  t  fi i l i t
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 Investors focus on companies that have the 
potential to meet the following:
Content  Great games

Diversified
Portfolio
 Multiple games in back catalog and pipeline

M
Monetization
ti ti
 Fast ggrowinggpprofitability
y driven byy g
game/subscription/
p
virtual items revenues, advertising revenues (in-game or
in-site) and search revenues

Technology  Strong platform required to sustain high quantities of


Platform customers

 Management teams require strong experience in internet,


Management
g
game or entertainment sectors

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 34 deals in 2007 with over $135m raised
 Largest deals
 Trion World Network $30m
 IGA Worldwide $25m
 K2 Network $16m
et o $ 6
 Infocomm Asia Holdings $14.2m
 Network Game Interaction $10m
Net ork Game Interaction $ 0m

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Note: up to 15 July 2007; deals for 2007
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Partners
Total Deal Value (USD$ millions) Total # of Deals
280 0
280.0 40
266.1
260.0 36
35
240.0 34
220.0
30
200.0

180.0 167.7
6 25
160.0
135.9
140.0 20

120 0
120.0 16
102.0
15 15
100.0
97.5
80.0
10
60 0
60.0 50.0 8
39.7
40.0
3 5
3 11.2
20.0
2
0.0 0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year
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Note: up to 15 July 2007.; deals where value is undisclosed are not included in total value but are included in # of deals
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Partners
VC firm
fi # off d
deals
l
Intel Capital 8
Softbank funds/ companies 8
Benchmark Capital 7
IDG Ventures 6
Accel Partners 5
JVP 5
Draper related funds 4
Granite Global Ventures 4
New Enterprise Associates 4
Trinity Ventures 4
CDC Games 3
Greylock Ventures 3
Madrona Venture Group 3
Millenium Technology
Ventures 3
WPP related companies 3

108 VC’s/ Strategic Investors invested to date
108 VC s/ Strategic Investors invested to date
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Note: up to 15 July 2007.; deals include all individual deals and includes deals where the same VC may have invested in the same company but different deal
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Company type # of deals % of deals
Game Portal 8 23.5%
In Game Advertising 8 23.5%
Casual MMO 4 11.8%
Multiplayer Network 3 8.8%
Online Game Social Network 2 5.9%
Online Fantasy League 2 5.9%
C
Casual
lGGame P
Publisher
bli h 2 5 9%
5.9%
Casual Game Developer 2 5.9%
Multiplayer Online Game Developer 1 2.9%
Episodic Game Developer 1 2.9%
Game Search Engine 1 2.9%

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Note: up to 15 July 2007; deals include all individual deals and includes deals where the same VC may have invested in the same company but different deal
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 More fundraising deals in 2006 in the sector than 
any other full year

 Interest in the sector by financial investors is at an 
all time high
ll  i  hi h

 Majority of money raised to date has been by 
Game Portals, In‐Game Advertising and Casual 
MMO companies

Best time ever to raise money


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Transaction EV/ EV/
Date Acquirer Target Value Revenue EBITDA
Jul-07 Popcap Retro64 na
Jul-07 CMP Technology How Machines Work na
Jun-07 Liberty Media Fun Technologies (47%) $99.3m 4.8x
Apr-07 Eidos Bluefish Media na
Mar-07 Electronic Arts Neowiz $105m (19%) 4.0x 15.0x
Feb-07 Vivendi Games Wanako Games na
Feb-07 Google Adscape Media na
Jan-07
Jan 07 MumboJumbo Ritual Entertainment na
Jan-07 Gigamedia TC2N $22.9m (40%)
Nov-06 Realnetworks Atrativa $3.8m
Nov-06 Demand Media Intermix assets na
Oct-06 Boonty Gamehub na
Sep-06 Sony Gamepot (27%) $22m
Sep-06 Spill Group Zlong Games (majority) na
Aug-06 Fun Technologies CDM Fantasy Sports $10m 1.3x
Aug-06 Fun Technologies Teagames na
Aug 06
Aug-06 Viacom Atom Entertainment $200m
Jul-06 GaiaX APE Inc. $1m

18 deals to date in past 12 months worth over $460m

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Note: up to 15 July 2007
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Total Deal Value (USD$ millions) Total # of Deals
360 0
360.0 18
340.2
340.0 2007 is trending to over $400m in  17
320.0 16
deals for full year
300.0
280.0 14
260.0
240.0 227.2 12
220 0
220.0 207 0
207.0 208 3
208.3
184.1
200.0 10
168.6
180.0 9
160.0 9 8 8
140.0
120.0 6
100.0 94.8
80 0
80.0 4 4
3 3
60.0
2
40.0 1 2
20.0
0.0 00
0.0
0.0 0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
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Year
Note: up to 15 July, 2007; deals where value is undisclosed are not included in total value but
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are included in # of deals Partners
Acquiror # of deals
Fun Technologies 6
Electronic Arts 4
Realnetworks 3
Shanda 2
Big Fish Games 2
Media General 2
Viacom ((Atom Entertainment)) 2
Popcap 2
Gigamedia 2
Vivendi Games 2

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Note: up to 15 July, 2007; deals include all individual deals and includes deals where the same VC may have invested in the same company but different deal
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 Pure casual game M&A
l
 Oberon, Bigfish, Popcap have been the most acquisitive

 Various potential giants may acquire
V i   i l  i     i
 Video game publishers
 EA has a dedicated casual business now & has Pogo com
EA has a dedicated casual business now & has Pogo.com
 Eidos has acquired 1 company 
 Online content/service companies
 Realnetworks has acquired 3 companies & has Realarcade
 Microsoft acquired Massive and has MSN Games
 M di / E
Media/ Entertainment Conglomerates
i  C l
 MTV Networks/Viacom acquired Atom Entertainment
 Time Warner/ AOL acquired Games.com
/ q

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 17 acquisitions closed in 2006; most ever
  i i i   l d i   6   

 Interest in acquisitions in the sector is at an all 
time high

 Value of average deal size can only go higher

Consolidation will continue to grow in


momentum
t

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Transaction EV/ EV/
Date Acquirer Target Value Revenue EBITDA
Jun-07 Liberty Media Fun Technologies (47%) $99.3m 4.8x na
Mar-07 Electronic Arts Neowiz $105m (19%) 4.0x 15.0x
A 06
Aug-06 F Technologies
Fun T h l i CDM F
Fantasy
t S
Sports
t $10
$10m 13
1.3x
Mar-06 Fun Technologies WorldWinner $23m 2.2x
Feb-06 Realnetworks Zylom $21m 2.6x
Nov-05 Liberty Media Fun Technologies (51%) $144m 5.6x
Jun-05 Fun Technologies Fanball Interactive $
$22m 4.8x
Jul-04 Fun Technologies Skilljam $8m 2.2x
Jan-04 Realnetworks Gamehouse $35.6m 3.6x

Multiples are driven by:
‐ acquiror demand
‐ growth rate of target
‐ strategic value of target

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Partners
 Online game companies want to know:
 What is the best strategy for my online game 
business?
 What are VCs looking for in an online game company?
What are VCs looking for in an online game compan ?
 For VCs, the question is this: 
 What type of online game business should I look to 
h f l b h ld l k
invest in? 
 A d th  l
And the large media companies ask: 
  di   i   k 
 Which online game companies should we look at 
acquiring? 
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What is the Holy Grail in 
y
the future of online 
g
games? 

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 Currently, many people believe it is World of Warcraft from 
Vivendi. 
 single game generating $1 billion per year in revenues

 not the Holy Grail of online games 
 only attract hard core gamers and not the mass market
l h d d h k
 WOW’s eight or nine million subscribers pales in comparison to 
the over 50 million users worldwide who play Maplestory
p y p y from 
Nexon in Korea or the over 66 million registered users of Habbo
Hotel from Sulake in Finland. 
 Plus MMORPGs do not have much of a life cycle beyond five 
y y
years. 

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 Not 100% clear that subscription‐based business 
Not 100% clear that subscription based business 
models are best
 especially given the huge success of item‐selling‐based 
p yg g g
business models in Asia and the growing success of 
companies like Three Rings (Puzzle Pirates) and K2 
Network (publisher of Korean developed online games)
Network (publisher of Korean‐developed online games)

 One company to watch is Bigpoint
 a German company which now offers seven casual 
ff
browser‐based games. 
 In lieu of no subscription fees, Bigpoint generates 
revenues by selling items in‐game. 
 On average, they are generating more revenues per 
user than WOW is. is  
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 There are many portals like this but very few of these portals are 
generating any serious revenues.
 Some of the successful companies may not be around in 18 to 24 
months. 
 Aggregation as a standalone strategy does not work unless you are the 
number one or two player
b         l
 What is going to happen when casual game publishers have the 
p
power control revenue shares & pricing? 
p g
 Will not happen overnight but it will happen once there has been 
more consolidation in the sector and the publishers are larger or 
owned by larger companies.
owned by larger companies
 Content owners will always win in the end—and this business is 
clearly more about great games and than about great distribution. 

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 Some people believe that publishing a huge number 
of downloadable games and selling them everywhere 
g g y
is the answer.
 But is that really a long‐term sustainable business, given 
the large (and rapidly growing) number of downloadable 
h l ( d idl i ) b fd l d bl
game publishers and developers
 For instance, I
For instance  I’m amazed by how many puzzle games 
m amazed by how many puzzle games 
there are in the market currently. 
▪ How many puzzle games can the market support? 
▪ And how does a consumer differentiate among them? 
 Doubtful that anyone will succeed long‐term with 
undifferentiated content in a saturated market  
undifferentiated content in a saturated market. 
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 A website that features a casual, mass market‐focused MMO with great 
A website that features a casual  mass market‐focused MMO with great 
game‐play, interactivity, customization, VOIP capability, and user 
generated content (games, videos of game‐play and avatars). 
 Plus simple way to make friends, find friends, invite friends, and play with 
Pl s simple  a  to make friends  find friends  in ite friends  and pla   ith 
friends. 
 Mix of different types of advertising, including both onsite banners and 
in‐game promos or product placement. 
d l

myspace skype youtube


maple habbo Holy 
hotel
story
Grail

 1st g y p
game website that offers all the key features of this mash‐up will 
indeed be the Holy Grail of online games. 
 Forget about 10 million or even 50 million users. 
 Look for 100 million registered users for one game website
L k f     illi   i d   f       b i
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 More developers switching from high end console to casual games 
▪ Lower development costs, less risk & higher ROI
▪ PC, XBLA, PSP, DS, Wii
, , , ,
 Game Portals/ Aggregators growing in popularity with consumers; 
watching less TV; Advertising is a major source of revenue
 Mix of Ad‐supported, casual games and paid premium games
 In‐game advertising is a new source of revenue for developers/ publishers
 Casual MMO’s will grow ie. Runescape
 Business models selling items in game growing quickly ie Bigpoint
 Social 3d chat games will grow ie Second Life, Habbo Hotel
 Micropayments

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 Acquire or Be Acquired

 Raise money to grow and/or acquire

 Build D2C business on own websites with a focus on community
B ild D C b i       b it   ith   f     it
 Monetise across other platforms by licensing or in‐house for mobile, 
console,  in addition to PC in store
console,  in addition to PC in‐store
 Sell items in‐game

 Publish games by episode

 Build advertising revenues

 Localize sites for key Non‐English countries
L li   it  f  k  N E li h  ti
 Outsource selected development pieces overseas

 Develop game widgets for social networks ie. Bunchball
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Paul Heydon
Managing
g g Director
Avista Partners

Tel: +44-203-178-6866

Email: paul.heydon@avistapartners.com
Web: www.avistapartners.com

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 This presentation was prepared by Avista Partners exclusively for the benefit and internal use of the Recipient in order to indicate, on a preliminary basis, the feasibility of a possible
transaction or transactions. This presentation is incomplete without reference to, and should be viewed solely in conjunction with oral briefing provided by Avista Partners. The
presentation is proprietary to Avista Partners and may not be disclosed to any third party or used for any other purpose without the prior written consent of Avista Partners.
 The information in this presentation reflects prevailing conditions and our views as of this date, which are accordingly subject to change. In preparing this presentation, we have relied
upon and assumed, without independent verification, the accuracy and completeness of all the information available from public sources or which was provided to us by or on behalf of
the Recipient or which was otherwise reviewed by us. In addition, our analyses are not and do not purport to be appraisals of the assets, stock or the business of the Recipient. Even
when this presentation contains a kind of appraisal, it should be considered preliminary, suitable only for the purpose described herein and not be disclosed or otherwise used without
the prior written consent of Avista Partners. The information in this presentation does not take into account the effects of a possible transaction or transactions involving an actual or
potential change of control, which may have significant valuation and other effects. Avista Partners LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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