MAG Interactive

MAG Interactive is a Swedish mobile game developer and publisher founded in 2010 by Daniel Hasselberg, Roger Skagervall, Kaj Nygren, Johan Persson, Fredrik Stenh and Anders Larsson.[1] Best known for its wordgame Ruzzle, MAG Interactive focuses on the casual games market by developing social and educational based games for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Facebook News Feed, Messenger and iMessage.[2]

MAG Interactive
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2010 (2010)
Founders
  • Daniel Hasselberg
  • Roger Skagervall
  • Kaj Nygren
  • Johan Persson
  • Fredrik Stenh
  • Anders Larsson
Headquarters
Stockholm
,
Sweden
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Daniel Hasselberg (CEO)
ProductsRuzzle, WordBrain
Revenue US$29 million (2016)
US$6 million (2016)
Number of employees
~75
ParentMobile Access Group Sweden AB
Websitemaginteractive.com

Key Employees

  • Daniel Hasselberg -CEO
  • Kaj Nygren - CTO
  • Johan Persson - VP of Product

History

Founding

Before creating MAG interactive, founders Daniel Hasselberg and Kaj Nygren met in 1999 while working at an Ericsson research lab. Together with mutual friend Roger Skagervall, they created a small company called "Connect Things". From that company, the three entrepreneurs went on to create "Mobile Access Group Sweden AB" in 2003, which originally focused on music streaming platforms.[3] With the addition of Anders Larsson, Frederik Stenh and Johan Persson, Mobile Access Group Sweden AB transitioned into app development consulting in 2008. Four years later in 2012, the now named MAG Interactive, released their first proprietary game onto the Swedish market . The word play based game was called "Rumble" and went on to be re-named "Ruzzle", it is the cornerstone of MAG's game line up. From that point on MAG developed many other social game concepts, including "Word Brain".[4]

Acquiring Delinquent

In 2015 MAG Interactive acquired UK-based development studio Delinquent, increasing their staff number to 50 people. Their first joint project was a free-to-play match-3 game, Potion Pop , which successfully received millions of downloads.[5]

Acquiring FEO Media and IPO

In 2017, MAG Interactive underwent some structural changes as a company. The first being the October acquisition of Swedish game studio FEO Media, maker of QuizKampen.[6] In addition to the acquisition, MAG Interactive became a publicly traded company on December 8, with its listing on NASDAQ First North.[7]

Awards

Tech 5 2014 - Jury Prize[8]

Hit Bolagen 2014 - #1[9]

Deloitte Fast 50. 2015 - #7 Growth rate 929% between 2011-2014[10]

Deloitte Fast 50 2016 - #17 Growth rate 688% between 2012-2015 [10]

Inc 5000 2017 - #914[11]

Games

In 2012 MAG Interactive published its first mobile game called Ruzzle, other games created by MAG Interactive include WordBrain, WordBrain 2, PotionPop, Wordalot, Wordalot Express, QuizCross, and Ruzzle Adventure. Each game has a multi-million player base that collectively reached 100 million downloads in 2016.[2]

List of Games Developed/Published by MAG Interactive
Game Release date Description
Ruzzle 2012 Similar to Boggle, players have two minutes to form as many words as possible with sixteen letters available in a 4x4 grid on the screen.
Quiz Cross 2012 A combination of Tic-Tac-Toe and trivia, it lets players challenge their Facebook friends or random opponents in a trivia duel in each players native language.
Word Brain 2013 A game based on classic Word Search , the players are tasked with finding one or several specific scrambled words on a puzzle grid and in a specific order.
Ruzzle Adventure 2014 Based on Ruzzle but presented it in a different way. The progression in the game is based on levels spanning through five worlds: The Forest, The Swamp, The Volcano, Area 42 and The Lost Island.
Potion Pop 2015 A match-3 swapping tile game where players swipe to swap adjacent potions in order to match three or more of the same color.
Word Brain 2 2016 A a sequel to the word game Word Brain , this game differs from the original by adding a theme to each puzzle.
Wordalot 2016 A crossword puzzle type game, it hides clues to missing words in images placed above the crossword board.
Wordalot Express 2016 A a quick version of Word-A-Lot without the option to change levels.
Backpacker 2017 A mobile travel quiz game, based on the 90's computer game Backpacker. Created by the games studio Qiiwi and published by MAG Interacive .

References
  1. Nijhof, Arno (2016-11-28). "Growth Story TNW | MAG Created good times factory reached 100 million players". The Next Web. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  2. "Home - MAG Interactive". MAG Interactive. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  3. "MAG Interactive - Daniel Hasselberg - Outlier Magazine". Outlier Magazine. 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  4. Sawers, Paul (2013-01-10). "Mag Interactive: Meet The Folk Behind Ruzzle". The Next Web. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  5. Strauss, Karsten. "Hit Game Developer MAG Snaps Up Delinquent". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  6. https://digital.di.se/artikel/ruzzle-utvecklaren-mag-koper-quizkampens-feo-media. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2018-02-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Ong, Josh (2014-04-25). "MAG Interactive Wins TNW Europe 2014's Tech5". The Next Web. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  9. "Därför är Mag årets hetaste it-företag". Computer Sweden (in Swedish). Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  10. "Deloitte Technology Fast 50 | Deloitte Sverige". www.fast50.se. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  11. "The 2017 Inc. 5000 Europe List | Inc.com". www.inc.com. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
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