Silicon Valley’s Gamenauts to bring Asian indie mobile games to international markets

Gamenauts is on the lookout for independent game developers from around Asia, and will help co-develop their games and apps for a Western market.

The game publisher, founded by former Yahoo! Games Lead Designer Stanley Adrianus, has launched an initiative to provide almost everything needed by independent mobile game studios to compete in Western markets: end-to-end support in game design, user interface, funding, marketing strategy and financial analysis.

Founded seven years ago, Gamenauts already has several successful games in its portfolio, which started with PC-based Spacebound in 2006, followed by Burger Rush, Cate West, Cate West – The Vanishing Files, Restaurant Rush, Stickbound, and Ninja Fishing.

Ninja Fishing, one of Gamenauts’ games released in partnership with Malaysian indie game developer Menara Games.

“We explore new frontiers of fun” is the company’s slogan, and it is looking toward the region for more opportunities, says Stanley, who serves as the company’s CEO. The company is currently partnering with independent game developers, and has actually ted up with Indonesia-based Menara Games in bringing success to its Ninja Fishing title on iOS and Android.

Despite a controversy in which Ninja Fishing has been accused of copying another game, the fitness-challenged ninja gameplay app has managed to climb up to the Top 10 Paid Game lists on the iTunes App Stores in the U.S., UK and nine other countries. Overall, the game is ranked #7 and has clocked 10 million downloads to date.

Another collaboration is with Malaysia-based Nerdook Publications, which is set to release its upcoming Nuclear Outrun Game. Gamenauts brought in another Asia-based game developer, Nightspade, to do the mobile port, given Nerdook’s limited resources in this field. Gamenauts also worked with an art studio to revamp the game’s graphics, and actually funded the port project from start to finish.

Apart from these companies, Gamenauts is also adding Kurechii studio and Artlogicgames into their partner list. But it does not end there, as the company is seeking more partners doing independent work on Android, iOS, PC, Facebook, Wii and DS platforms.

Gamenauts is not exactly popular yet in the mobile gaming space, compared with big names like GREE or Tencent. But in an interview with Pocketgamer earlier this year, Stanley says being small helps with the developer dynamics. “[W]e’re still nimble enough that we can function as an integral part of the development team with the added perspective of a fellow developer.”

And because Gamenauts is self-funded, Stanley says developers can focus on building great apps without having to worry about external pressure from investors. “As a company, we’re still 100 percent self-funded, so we’re not beholden to expectations from outside investors.” If this is the development environment you are looking for, you can get in touch with Gamenauts directly to pitch your app or development team.