Paul Gouge

Paul Gouge is a games industry entrepreneur and investor, the founder of BattleMail, Rockpool Games, Ironstone Partners, Ideas Pad and Playdemic.

Career

BattleMail

After receiving a degree in economics, Gouge spent two years in investment banking before leaving in 1999 to found his first games company, BattleMail, with Alex Rigby.^[1] Their game, BattleMail Kung Fu, was a virally distributed casual massively multiplayer online game that was nominated, unsuccessfully, for a BAFTA award^[2] and was later sold to (M)Forma.

Rockpool Games/Ironstone Partners

In late 2002, Gouge and Rigby founded Rockpool Games, a mobile phone games studio, as well as Ironstone Partners, a video game licensing business. Over the following five years, Rockpool developed mobile games based on major video game licenses and won several major awards.^[3] Both businesses were acquired by Eidos Interactive in early 2007^[4] for $15m,^{[citation needed]} with Gouge as head of Eidos Play, the firm's casual division, until February 2009.

Playdemic

In late 2010, Gouge and Rigby founded Playdemic,^{[citation needed]} a European independent social games company that develops and operates game services for social networks and mobile devices. The company’s first release, Gourmet Ranch,^[5] was launched in August 2010 and, by early 2012, had registered over 10 million users and generated over $10m in virtual goods revenue.^{[citation needed]}

Playdemic's second release was Crossword Buddies,^[6] which was launched on Facebook in February 2012 and became available on iPhone and iPad in May 2012. On 8 March 2012, Playdemic signed a distribution deal with Zynga^[7] to help increase its audience.

Appatyze

Gouge was a seed investor in and board advisor to Appatyze, an in-app advertising company.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "Battlemail to push games via email". Campaign. 24 May 2000. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
^ "BAFTA Awards Search". BAFTA. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
^ "Total Mobile Magazine Awards Three-In-A-Row Maximum Scores For Games Developed By Rockpool". Games Industry (Press release). Rockpool Games Ltd. 17 August 2006. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
^ David Jenkins (26 February 2007). "Eidos Acquires Rockpool Games, Ironstone, SoGoPlay". GamaSutra. Archived from the original on 21 March 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
^ "Gourmet Ranch". Playdemic. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
^ "Crossword Buddies". Playdemic. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
^ "Playdemic sign distribution deal with Zynga" (Press release). Playdemic. 8 March 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2012.

External links

Playdemic website
"Game on for great ideas". Manchester Evening News. 17 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 June 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
"BBC North West Tonight". 14 February 2012 – via YouTube.

[1] "Battlemail to push games via email". Campaign. 24 May 2000. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

[2] "BAFTA Awards Search". BAFTA. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

[3] "Total Mobile Magazine Awards Three-In-A-Row Maximum Scores For Games Developed By Rockpool". Games Industry (Press release). Rockpool Games Ltd. 17 August 2006. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

[4] David Jenkins (26 February 2007). "Eidos Acquires Rockpool Games, Ironstone, SoGoPlay". GamaSutra. Archived from the original on 21 March 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

[5] "Gourmet Ranch". Playdemic. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.

[6] "Crossword Buddies". Playdemic. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2012.

[7] "Playdemic sign distribution deal with Zynga" (Press release). Playdemic. 8 March 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2012.

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