You can always count on descendants of famous business machine and computer pioneers to have a few million bucks to throw around.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":515312,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"A"}']U.K.-based social gaming startup Playdemic has received significant funding, including $3 million from the Watson family. These are the grandchildren of Thomas J. Watson, who became the CEO of IBM in 1914. David Watson now has a seat on Playdemic’s board.
Playdemic will use the money on what it calls “2nd Generation” social gaming. “Playdemic plans to use the funding to expand its development and publishing efforts,” the company said in a press release sent to GamesBeat, “to support the launch of at least four new games by the end of 2012, and to continue to create engaging and fun social games on new platforms including smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, the web and Facebook.”
“Social games present an incredible opportunity for companies like Playdemic who understand that social is more than just one platform or destination,” said Playdemic founder Paul Gouge in an email sent to GamesBeat. “This funding not only validates where we believe we can take this business, but it gives us the vital resources to accelerate our road map and keep growing our community of Playdemic gamers. The future of social games has potential far beyond where we are today.”
Since its inception this year, Playdemic has had over 10 million people playing its games on computers and mobile devices. Its first title, Gourmet Ranch (pictured above), has over 700,000 monthly active users on Facebook.