Finland’s Next Games raises $10M to fuel The Walking Dead mobile title and more

Next Games has raised $10 million from existing investors to fuel its existing titles and future games. The Finnish company also said that The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, the official mobile game based on AMC’s hit TV series, has been downloaded more than 10 million times.

That latter fact is one reason why the company has been able to keep raising money. IDG Ventures and Jari Ovaskainen led the newest funding round. Other backers include AMC Networks, Lionsgate, Lowercase and IDG Capital.

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The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, which came out in October, has hit the top 100 grossing games in over 80 countries on the App Store and 70 countries on Google Play. The game is a “gripping tactical-action title,” and it continues to receive enthusiastic reviews from players. It will receive a big content update as Season 6 of the TV show returns this February.

Helsinki-based Next Games also said that its frontier adventure game, Compass Point: West, is coming to Android in March. The original game launched on iOS in March 2015.

“2015 was a banner year for Next Games. We succeeded in attracting senior international talent, growing from 45 to 70 employees, while launching two highly successful products: The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, based on AMC’s blockbuster TV series, and Compass Point: West,“ said Teemu Huuhtanen, CEO of Next Games, in a statement. “We are thrilled to see our existing investors fully committed to supporting Next Games’ ambitious expansion plans for 2016 and beyond.”

The company was founded in 2013, and it has raised $18 million to date.

“Compass Point: West has proven that it can sustain itself and the team developing it,” said Saara Bergstrom, head of marketing at Next Games, in an email. “The game has been out on iOS thus far, and it is launching on Android this March, which brings in a whole new audience.”

She added, “It’s our very first game release and we are pleased with the game’s numbers for both retention and monetization. The ad integration has worked very well for us since we treated it as a game feature embedded in the game’s core loop rather than a separate ad display functionality. As a result, over 75 percent of Compass Point: West players opt-in to watch an ad, which is a remarkable figure.”