Huuuge Games came late to social casino games, launching its Huuuge Casino in late 2015. But the company has carved out a niche in the $4 billion global market.
Anton Gauffin, CEO of the Palo Alto, California-based company, said in an interview that the company will hit about $150 million revenues in 2017. That puts it at about No. 9 in the market, behind leaders such as Playtika, Scientific Games, Zynga, IGT, and Aristocrat. The latter just acquired Big Fish Games for $990 million from Churchill Downs, combining the No. 5 and No. 6 companies in the space.
That could put pressure on Huuuge, but Gauffin isn’t deterred. His company has grown to 300 employees, and it recently raised $50 million in funding. Huuuge has grown because it has tried to make the “most social” casino game, and it has targeted younger players with its advertising.
“Playtika and Scientific Games have been active on the M&A front,” Gauffin said. “But we were not interested in selling Huuuge. We felt that it was too early and we had a massive opportunity in front of us. We were far from done with our vision.”
Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation.
Above: Anton Gauffin, CEO of Huuuge Games, at Casual Connect Europe.
Image Credit: Dean Takahashi
GamesBeat: You had your news about the $50 million raise. Could you explain that first, and talk about where you are as a company?
Anton Gauffin: We started working on the deal around the last GDC. We realized we had a good thing going on. Our plan was working, and it still is. We started thinking, “What next?” We felt it was early, and we had so much gas…
