SLAY’s CEO on the rise of the social games market

• SLAY lately raised $5m in seed funding led by Supercell backers

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Social video games firm SLAY goals to create apps and video games designed with social interactions at their coronary heart. Based in 2022, the corporate has gone on to create varied video games, certainly one of which is the favored important pet app Pengu. 

SLAY additionally lately raised $5 million in seed funding, led by Supercell backers, Accel and angel buyers, together with King co-founder Riccardo Zacconi and Supercell co-founder IIkka Paananen. 

With a possible rise in recognition for social video games on the horizon, we caught up with SLAY’s co-founder and CEO, Fabian Kamberi, to debate why social video games are gaining popularity, how SLAY intends to seize the market and what that $5 million in funding helps to gas. 

PocketGamer.biz: First, are you able to inform us a little bit about what you’ve got happening at SLAY? How have issues been going up to now in 2024?

Fabian Kamberi: At SLAY, we need to construct a constructive social gaming ecosystem the place nice merchandise convey individuals pleasure whereas additionally encouraging genuine connections with family and friends.

We’ve launched a number of profitable number-one gaming titles and apps with this goal. On the finish of final 12 months, we launched our new flagship product, Pengu, a social app the place customers undertake AI-enabled 3D digital penguins, or “Pengus,” that develop and develop their very own personalities the extra they work together with them.

In 2024, our focus has been on scaling and refining Pengu whereas pushing the boundaries of social gaming and digital characters. It’s been an extremely constructive 12 months up to now.

Six months in, Pengu is scaling profitably, has nice retention, and, extra importantly, we have constructed one of many coolest digital character apps and video games worldwide.

You talked about having primary video games ranked within the App Retailer, Pengu being among the many hottest. Are you able to inform us extra about how you’ve got grown the title? 

With Pengu, we wished to transcend conventional video games to create one thing extra social and private. Pengu evolves with the person, kinds its personal id, and lives its personal life autonomously. By specializing in making Pengu really feel extra human, we’ve created a digital companion that customers deeply join with and has change into a vital a part of our customers’ lives.

Pengu’s shareability has shortly attracted a worldwide person base, with over 5 million registered customers worldwide and near 100,000 rankings within the App Retailer because it launched final 12 months.

We’ve continued to develop the title by iterating based mostly on person suggestions and including options like deeper personalisation, social interactions, and AI-driven behaviour, which have expanded Pengu’s attraction.

You latterly moved Pengu to the App Retailer’s social networking class. Are you able to inform us in regards to the choices behind this?  

Pengu is extra than simply an app. It is a digital companion that customers work together with on a deeper degree.

The shift to the social networking class was a pure step as a result of our customers see Pengu as a buddy they’ll chat with, elevate, and develop with their associates fairly than only a solo expertise.

The social side of elevating a Pengu with associates grew to become central to the product. On the identical time, we fastened some distribution challenges we confronted within the video games class, making this transfer much more useful for scaling Pengu’s attain and person base.

Why do you suppose video games with a social side resembling this are gaining popularity? The social gaming market is anticipated to see elevated progress within the coming years; how do you plan to seize the market? 

One fundamental purpose is shoppers’ interactions with video games have change into inherently extra social and experiential. In a world the place persons are more and more remoted, video games that supply social components give customers a approach to join with family and friends in significant methods. 

Additionally, youngsters and youthful audiences are already accustomed to interacting with digital identities, chatbots, and avatars. 3D expertise, now optimised for cell, has made it doable to ship real-time, visually participating experiences on smartphones. In consequence, the demand for immersive, AI-driven digital characters has risen sharply amongst this viewers particularly.

Pengu has change into the largest AI character app with its personal IP within the US. At SLAY, we’re creating digital associates that reside and evolve like people—beginning with Pengu.

Like a pet or a baby, your character lives by itself in a digital world, meets different customers’ Pengus, and… pic.twitter.com/XuNEJxUx8z

— Fabian Kamberi (@fabiankamberi) October 6, 2024

Pengu faucets into this demand by mixing AI with a social gaming expertise, permitting customers to lift a digital buddy whereas sharing their journey with others.

Not like old-school digital pets like Tamagotchi, the place engagement sometimes faucets out at a sure level, the dynamism and ‘actual’ really feel of an ever-evolving, AI-enabled companion retains customers returning to spend time with it.

Because the social video games market grows, our give attention to the intersection of AI and social interplay positions us completely to seize this rising demand. 

SLAY lately raised $5 million in seed funding – How do you plan to make use of these funds to develop SLAY additional? 

We had been delighted to obtain funding from such prestigious buyers and pioneers within the social and gaming world.

It’s an enormous milestone for us, and we plan to make use of the funding in three key areas: rising and deepening the Pengu ecosystem, investing in our cognitive methods structure to reinforce Pengus’ personalities, and increasing our content material and IP technique.

We’re additionally contemplating the potential to fine-tune the mannequin, making Pengu much more responsive and human-like in its interactions, and rising our workforce to herald expertise that shares our mission to redefine how individuals work together with digital characters and video games.

And what are you able to inform us about future plans at SLAY and for your self? Something we needs to be looking out for? 

We’re simply getting began. Within the coming months, we’ll be increasing Pengu’s AI capabilities. We’re additionally constructing a content material ecosystem round Pengu with Penguclips and our mini-series, which have already reached thousands and thousands.

Our long-term imaginative and prescient is to create a generational IP that lives throughout platforms and turns into a cultural touchstone. As for myself, main SLAY by way of this subsequent part is extremely thrilling, and there’s far more to return.