Game developer Disruptor Beam announced today that it has teamed up with publisher Tilting Point to bring its mobile game Star Trek: Timelines to more audiences. Under the deal, Tilting Point will spend $29 million to promote Star Trek: Timelines, and the two companies will co-develop another role-playing game based on an existing intellectual property.
Star Trek: Timelines is a free-to-play game that came out for iOS and Android in early 2016. It features characters and ships from across all Star Trek shows and eras. Players can spend real money to randomly unlock crew members and ships.
The deal value could increase based on the additional scale that Tilting Point can achieve for Star Trek Timelines through its user acquisition (UA) efforts. It follows on the success of an agreement signed last year between the two companies in which New York-based Tilting Point funded UA for Boston-area Disruptor Beam, which also counts the long-running Game of Thrones Ascent in its portfolio.
Under the new arrangement, Tilting Point will not only fund the growth of Star Trek Timelines, but also handle the game’s marketing, sales, and distribution. Star Trek Timelines has been downloaded nearly 6 million times since its debut on mobile devices in early 2016, reaching the Top 50 Grossing games list and earning over $72 million to date.
“Our expanded partnership with Tilting Point will drive significant growth for Disruptor Beam for years to come,” said Jon Radoff, CEO of Disruptor Beam, in a statement. “First, it provides the growth capital necessary to reach the global Star Trek audience. Second, we’re excited to begin co-developing an additional licensed game that builds on our expertise in the character-collecting genre, continuing our mission of bringing fans deeper into the worlds that they love.”
In an interview, Radoff said that Tilting Point will provide minimum guarantees for growth in users for Disruptor Beam’s game. That helps ensure that Disruptor Beam can keep on investing in its game and develop new ones as well.
As part of the agreement, Tilting Point will also co-fund the development of a new licensed collectible character RPG built on the same successful game engine that drives exceptionally high retention and revenue-per-user for Star Trek Timelines. Tilting Point will publish the to-be-announced game, with Disruptor Beam providing development, ongoing liveops, and support.
“Time and again, Disruptor Beam has proven they can transform cherished entertainment properties into truly top-notch character collection RPGs,” said Kevin Segalla, CEO of Tilting Point, in a statement. “We are excited to deepen our relationship by bringing the full weight of our publishing and marketing expertise to Star Trek Timelines, and of course, we are thrilled to take the next step — developing a brand-new game together.”
Star Trek Timelines is available on iOS, Android, Facebook, Steam and Amazon Kindle. CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures license the Star Trek IP to Disruptor Beam.
