Innova (company)

Innova
Private
Industry Computer games, finance
Founded 2006 (2006)
Headquarters Moscow, Russia
Area served
 Russia
Key people
 Georgy Chumburidze, Oleg Sambikin, Vasily Medvedev
Products localization and publication of games, investments
Website https://inn.ru/

Innova is a Russian publisher and localizer for massively multiplayer online games and multiplayer browser games.

History

The company was founded in 2004 as Terabit Telecom and in 2006 was renamed to Innova. George Chumburidze, a representative of the Italian yacht shipyard Azimut-Benetti, Oleg Sambikin and Vasily Medvedev were among its founders. In 2009, Sambikin and Medvedev exited the business and founded the company-developer Syncopate.[1][2][3]

At the time of the company's creation, the online games market in Russia was in the "gray zone", foreign games were mainly adapted by "pirates". The first licensed game released by the company was RF Online (Rising Force Online) of the Korean company CCR.[4][5]

In 2007-2017, Innova localized and published 28 massively multiplayer online games and multiplayer browser games, including Lineage II, R2 Online, Aion, Blade & Soul and others, becoming one of the largest Russian players in the video game market.[6] In summer of 2010 Innova developed and released a single launcher for localized games. In January 2012, the team released a new platform 4game.[7] In December 2010, the company launched an online movie theater Ayyo, which provided video-on-demand and download-to-own paid access to films. In the following years, Ayyo showed both profit and loss, and in March 2017 it was frozen in the midst of the general unprofitability of the Russian online cinema market.[8][9][10]

In the beginning of 2010 Innova became one of the largest Russian Internet companies: in the rating published by the Russian Forbes in 2011, it was ranked 22nd with annual revenues of $36 million, and a year later — 23rd with a turnover of $50 million.[7][11] In January 2016, the users community of the online portal about video games Goha.ru, based on the results of voting, awarded Innova the title of the best MMORPG publisher in the CIS within the framework of the Goha Awards 2015.[12]

Investments

In late 2013, Innova bought exclusive rights to develop the Mexican network of game training parks KidZania in Russia, United States, Canada and France from a subsidiary of the Kuwaiti company M.H. Alshaya Co.. Investments in the project, made by Innova shareholders and partner companies, amounted to $25–30 million. In January 2016, the first Russian KidZania opened in the shopping center Aviapark on the Khodynka field in Moscow.[1][13] At the end of 2016, the investment advisory firm Winter Capital Partners, associated with Russian businessman Vladimir Potanin, acquired 21.5% of Luxembourg's Innova Partners, the operator of KidZania edutainment parks.[3] Investments were aimed at supporting international expansion: the company plans to open parks in 2018-2019 in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, and Paris in 2018-2019.[3][14][15]

Also in late 2013, Innova became a co-owner of the Russian digital distribution system for legal video content Pladform, founded by Armen Gulyan. Georgy Chumburidze invited Ivan Tavrin as a co-investor in the project. Innova played a role of the project’s financial investor with a smaller control package, with Armen Gulinyan, the founder of Pladform, remaining responsible for the management. In 2016, Pladform merged with the Russian video hosting Rutube, as a result of which 33.3% of the merged company Ruform transferred to Gazprom-Media holding, and the remaining shares were divided between Pladform co-owners.[5][16][17]

Games

The table shows the years of games launching by Innova. Active games are those whose official servers are supported.

Active

Year Game Genre Developer
2007 RF Online MMORPG CCR Inc.
2008 R2 Online MMORPG Webzen
2008 Lineage II (Russia) MMORPG NCsoft
2009 Aion MMORPG NCsoft
2009 Point Blank MMOFPS Zepetto
2011 Lineage II (EU) MMORPG NCsoft
2015 Drakensang MMORPG Bigpoint
2016 Blade & Soul MMOG, ARPG NCsoft
2017 Kingdom Under Fire II MMORTS, MMORPG Blueside

Closed

Year Game Genre Developer
2008 Ace Online MMORPG, shooter game MasangSoft
2009 FreeStyle Online MMOG, sports game JC Entertainment
2010 KartRider MMOG, racetrack Nexon
2010 Crazy Arcade BnB MMO, Arcade game, strategy Nexon
2010 Atlantica Online MMORPG, strategy Ndoors Interactive
2010 Bomzhi Online browser MMOG, adventure Adventura
2012 АРВ: Reloaded MMO, action K2 Network
2012 Shadow Company MMOFPS Doobic Game Studios
2013 PlanetSide 2 MMOFPS Daybreak Game Company
2014 Dragon's Prophet MMORPG Runewaker Entertainment
2014 Chaos Fighters mobile MMOG, action, fighting Chengdu Chukong Technology Co
2014 Pocket Fort mobile MMORTS Noumena Innovations
2015 Astronest mobile MMORTS ANGames
2015 Ballistic browser MMOFPS Rumble Entertainment
2015 Earth Keeper mobile Arcade game Raw Hand
2015 Gladiators online: Death Before Dishonor browser MMOG, action Dorado Games
2015 Chibi Kings mobile MMORPG Ekkorr Games
2015 Tiny Fort mobile MMORTS Noumena Innovations
2015 Tank Hero browser MMOG Clapfoot Inc

Financial indicators

Localized and published games are free for users, and main source of revenue is transactions in video games, when players pay for items in gaming stores. The company did not disclose its financial indicators. In 2013, Russian Forbes estimated Innova's revenue at $50 million, and in 2016 the annual turnover of the company minus KidZania amounted to several billion rubles.[1][7][4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Olga Proskurina (2017-09-19). "Игры по-взрослому: как устроен бизнес российской "Кидзании"" [Games in an adult way: how the business of the Russian "KidZania" is arranged]. Forbes. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  2. ↑ Roman Kutuzov (2011-09-09). "Пять интернет-проектов, в которые вложились люди, далекие от интернета" [Five Internet projects, which were funded by people who are unfamiliar with the Internet]. Forbes. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  3. 1 2 3 Наталья Ищенко (2017-03-26). "Фонд, связанный с Потаниным, купил долю в российской Kidzania". Vedomosti. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  4. 1 2 "Миллион до 33 лет: 9 молодых предпринимателей, создавших серьезный бизнес" [Million before 33 years: 9 young entrepreneurs who created a serious business]. Forbes. 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  5. 1 2 "Основатель "Вертикали" и игровой компании Innova Георгий Чумбуридзе — о том, как стартап превратить в компанию с миллиардным оборотом" [The founder of "Vertical" and the game company Innova George Chumburidze - about how to turn a start-up into a company with a billion-dollar turnover]. Inc. 2017-08-05. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  6. ↑ Evgeny Fedunenko (2017-04-30). "Китай обыгрывает Америку" [China beats America]. Kommersant. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  7. 1 2 3 "30 крупнейших компаний Рунета — 2013" [30 largest companies of Runet - 2013]. Forbes. 2013-02-28. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  8. ↑ Marina Maksimova (2011-02-28). "В рунете разворачивается битва за зрителя" [A battle for the viewer in the Runet]. Gazeta.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  9. ↑ Ekaterina Bryzgalova (2016-08-04). "Большинство российских онлайн-кинотеатров остаются убыточными" [Most Russian online cinemas remain unprofitable]. Vedomosti. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  10. ↑ "Открытка: Онлайн-кинотеатр Ayyo перестал работать из-за недостатка денег" [Postcard: Ayyo online cinema stopped working due to lack of money]. Roem.ru. 2017-03-28. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  11. ↑ "30 российских интернет-компаний: рейтинг Forbes" [30 Russian Internet companies: Forbes rating]. Forbes. 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  12. ↑ "Goha Awards 2015". Goha.ru. 2016-01-28. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  13. ↑ Alexandra Mertsalova (2014-04-15). "Вот такой случился цирк" [That's the circus that happened]. Kommersant. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  14. ↑ "Les parcs qui font travailler les enfants préparent leur arrivée en France" (in French). Le Journal du Dimanche. 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  15. ↑ Katherine Clarke (2017-05-17). "Inside the retail apocalypse". The Real Deal. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  16. ↑ Elena Krauzova (2015-02-17). "Назло пиратам" [To spite the pirates]. RBC. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  17. ↑ Anna Afanasyeva (2016-02-04). "Платформа для роста" [Platform for growth]. Kommersant. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
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