Second Dinner
CompanyUnited States · Founded 2018
Documents about Second Dinner
Drake Star Global Gaming Report Q3 2023
Drake Star Partners, a global investment bank, published a Q3 2023 gaming report covering gaming M&A, private financings, public market comparables, and VC league tables for the quarter ending September 30, 2023.
- Q3 saw about $1B raised through 185 private financing deals, with roughly 85% of financings going to early-stage companies.
- Tencent and subsidiaries led strategic buyers with five deals in the quarter, including the majority acquisition of Techland.
- Goldman Sachs with General Atlantic and LEGO made a $1.72B all-cash offer to take Kahoot private.
Global Gaming Report Q3 2023
Q3 2023 saw a recovery in gaming dealmaking after an extended lull, with major strategic acquirers returning to consolidation.
- The global gaming industry saw a significant resurgence in consolidation during Q3 2023, with 120 deals totaling $11 billion in value, headlined by the Microsoft-Activision merger.
- M&A activity was concentrated in PC and console segments at 40% of deal volume, while mobile accounted for 21%.
- Tencent emerged as the most active strategic buyer with five deals, including the majority acquisition of Techland, while Goldman Sachs made a $1.72 billion offer for Kahoot!.
Gaming Deals Report: 2023 Q3
Gaming dealmaking in the first three quarters of 2023 fell to its lowest level since the pandemic period, as higher interest rates, weak exit conditions and macro volatility cut activity across private investment, M&A and public offerings.
- Gaming deal activity in the first three quarters of 2023 hit its lowest level since the pre-pandemic era, with private investment value falling to $2.3 billion across 325 deals.
- M&A activity totaled $8.5 billion, excluding the Activision Blizzard acquisition, while public offerings saw a 29% year-over-year decline due to a closed IPO window.
- Late-stage venture capital funding plummeted to $300 million as investors shifted focus from growth-at-all-costs to companies with proven financials and clear exit paths.
Marvel Snap: Road to $100 Million in Mobile Revenue
Marvel Snap has achieved over $100 million in mobile revenue, establishing itself as the top-grossing collectible card game (CCG) on mobile globally for the current year.
- Marvel Snap has surpassed $100 million in lifetime mobile revenue, establishing itself as the leading mobile collectible card game of 2023.
- The game generated over $73 million in in-app purchase revenue during the first eight months of 2023, outperforming competitors like Hearthstone and Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel.
- The United States is the primary market, accounting for 61% of total revenue and 24% of the game's 22 million global downloads.
Marvel Snap: The Definitive Deconstruction
This is a long-form industry deconstruction written by Christopher Brousseau for Deconstructor of Fun in May 2023, analyzing Second Dinner's mobile card game Marvel Snap, published by ByteDance-owned Nuverse.
- The author states that Marvel Snap amassed over $70M in net revenue to date and was on its way to crack 100M before the year ended.
- The article reports that during the first 30 days the game accumulated 8 million downloads, which it describes as a notable achievement compared with other CCG-Battle games.
- The author reports that the Recruit Season takes more than four hours of gameplay to finish, and before it is complete players can only spend real money on two specific packs (apart from Gold): the Welcome Bundle and the Pro Bundle.
Designing 'MARVEL SNAP'
The design of Marvel Snap centers on the philosophy that true strategic depth is achieved not through complexity, but through the elegant refinement of core mechanics.
- Marvel Snap achieves strategic depth by integrating the high-stakes doubling cube mechanic from poker with unpredictable, location-based board game variables.
- The game design prioritizes accessibility through minimal card text and intuitive, self-descriptive mechanics, ensuring a low barrier to entry while maintaining a high decision-making ceiling.
- To optimize for mobile responsiveness, the development team removed manual targeting and relied on implied mechanics, a process refined over four years of iterative prototyping.
2023 Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA)
The 23rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards served as a comprehensive celebration of both contemporary industry achievements and the historical foundations of interactive entertainment.
- Elden Ring dominated the 23rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards, winning Game of the Year, Best Design, and Best Visual Art.
- God of War Ragnarök secured three major awards, specifically for Best Audio, Best Technology, and the Audience Award.
- The industry recognized historical contributions by awarding the Lifetime Achievement Award to John Romero for his work in the first-person shooter genre.
Ex-Riot Developers Are Making "Breath of the Wild with Friends"
Believer, a new game studio founded by former Riot Games vice president Michael Chow and Steven Snow, chief product officer, has secured $55 million in funding from investors including Riot and Andreesen Horowitz.
- The Believer Company, founded by former Riot Games executives, has secured $55 million in funding to develop an open-world, cooperative multiplayer game.
- The project aims to support two to 12 players in a private-server environment, blending narrative-driven single-player design with session-based multiplayer mechanics.
- The studio plans a three-to-five-year development cycle and intends to expand the game into a multimedia franchise, including an animated television series.
Game Development Report 2023
Published by Rendered Venture Capital and Griffin Gaming Partners in 2023, this report examines the technology and practices behind game development, while noting that gameplay, community and IP also govern a game's success.
- 77% of studios reported that the cost of game development is continuing to rise, a trend the report places at the start of its market dynamics findings.
- 65% of developers reported iterative build times of 10 minutes or more, which the report says prevents efficient development processes.
- 68% of producers believe their pre-launch production pipelines are not suitable for live services.
Guest Host Trio Debates Marvel Snap
Marvel Snap represents a significant evolution in the mobile collectible card game genre, successfully translating high-fidelity design principles into a mobile-first experience.
- Marvel Snap achieved 12 million downloads within two months of its global launch, establishing it as a significant evolution in the mobile collectible card game genre.
- The game’s core engagement relies on three-to-four-minute sessions and a 'snap' betting mechanic that introduces poker-style risk-reward dynamics.
- Monetization is currently constrained by artificial spending caps on credits and gold, resulting in a low average daily monetization cap of $3.66 per user.
Why Marvel Snap Became a Hit and for How Long Will It Remain One?
Deconstructor of Fun analyses Marvel Snap, a mobile collectible card game (CCG) developed by Second Dinner and published by Nuverse, a ByteDance subsidiary.
- Marvel Snap's CCG-Battle sub-genre is niche, generating $376M and 59M downloads worldwide over the last 365 days.
- The authors state that Snap achieved over 8M downloads during its first 30 days, a figure they describe as far ahead of other CCG-Battle titles.
- The authors argue that Snap's monetization has limited spending depth because its collection is small, with roughly 250 cards.
Two & a Half Gamers Session #37: Marvel Snap Global Launch Case Study
This document summarizes a "Two & a Half Gamers" podcast session (#37) focused on a case study of the global launch of the mobile game Marvel Snap.
- Win rates are the primary driver of long-term player retention, making balanced game design the most critical factor for sustaining the title.
- Second Dinner successfully scaled the game by prioritizing a design philosophy that prevents pay-to-win mechanics and limits spending depth.
- Facebook served as the primary driver for user acquisition during the global launch, supplemented by a broad, shotgun-style approach across multiple ad networks.
