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Kabam (formerly Watercooler, Inc.) is an interactive entertainment company founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA. The company develops and publishes massively multiplayer social games (MMSG’s), including ''Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon'' and ''Kingdoms of Camelot''. Before expanding into gaming, Kabam established itself as a social applications developer with entertainment and sports communities totaling more than 60 million users. Kabam makes freemium games for social networking services, its own web site, and other game sites. The company focused on developing "real games," or games with immersive gameplay mechanics akin to more traditional MMOs. In late 2009, Kabam launched ''Kingdoms of Camelot'', one of the first successful strategy games on Facebook, but in June 2010, the number of players began constantly shrinking.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Playdom Reaches Out to Strategy Gamers with Verdonia )〕 As of April 2015, Kabam has shifted its focus to developing AAA mobile games. ==History== Founded in 2006 by Kevin Chou, Michael Li, Holly Liu, and Wayne Chan, the company originally focused on building community apps for sports and entertainment fans, amassing more than 25 million users on Facebook and other social networks.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sports fantasty social startup Watercooler raises $5.5M )〕 In October 2009, Kabam, then Watercooler, secured $5.5 million in Series B funding from Betfair, the world’s largest Internet betting exchange, and Canaan Partners, which participated in the company’s Series A funding in 2007.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Watercooler raises $5.5M to expand social fantasy sports game business )〕 Kabam appointed Andrew Sheppard as President to manage its worldwide studio operations.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kabam Crunch Base profile )〕 On November 2, 2009, Kabam, then Watercooler, launched ''Kingdoms of Camelot'' on Facebook. On August 3, 2010, Watercooler changed its name to Kabam. On October 22, 2010, Kabam acquired WonderHill.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kabam Acquires WonderHill, Wants To Become The Blizzard Of Social Games )〕 On December 20, 2011 Kabam acquired Gravity Bear, creator of the Battle Punks social game on Facebook.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kabam buys Battle Punks social game creator Gravity Bear )〕 On June 19, 2012, Kabam acquired Wild Shadow Studios, developers of ''Realm of the Mad God''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kabam acquires Realm of the Mad God developer )〕 On January 27, 2012, Kabam acquired Fearless Studios, a company founded by ex-LucasArts employees.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kabam acquires game studio Fearless Studios led by ex-Star Wars game developers )〕 On September 19, 2012, CEO Chou announced that Kabam is considering an IPO.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kabam Weighs IPO as Game Maker Expands Beyond Facebook )〕 On December 3, 2013, Kabam acquired Balanced Worlds. On January 15, 2013, Kabam acquired Exploding Barrel Games. On November 4, 2013, Kabam shut down servers for ''Imperium Galactic Wars''. At the end of 2013, a secondary stock sale valued the company at $700 million and four of its games — led by ''Kingdoms of Camelot'' — grossed more than $100 million by the end of 2013, with $360 million in revenues for 2013. On March 10, 2014, Kabam acquired Phoenix Age. As of March 31, 2014, Kabam games are no longer available via the Yahoo Games platform. On June 20, 2014, Kabam shut down servers for ''The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age''. On July 2014, Alibaba is investing $120 Million in Kabam, which now has a $1 Billion valuation. Kabam will be able to distribute the mobile games through Alibaba's apps. On January 12, 2015, Kabam acquired TapZen and Magic Pixel Games. As of April 2015, Kabam is only focused on developing AAA mobile games. As a result, a number of Kabam games were shut down, older Kabam games transferred to other companies and Kabam support for 3rd party games decreased.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kabam」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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