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A Thinking Ape
Developer of social mobile video games
- 101-200 employees
- B2C
- Gaming
- Entertainment
- Mobile
- Video
- West End, Vancouver, BC
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Company mission
To build and create online games, communities and technologies that change how people socialize and play on mobile devices.
-2% employee growth in 12 months
Our take
Mobile video games have existed since smartphones first hit the market, often being associated with single-player novelty games aimed to pass the time. Whilst many mobile developers have attempted to make games that emulate the social communities that console and PC multi-player games host, these generally do not succeed due to lacking sufficient social infrastructure.
A Thinking Ape develops video games for mobile devices, focusing on integrating social features that facilitate communities which are commonplace on other video game platforms. The company's games include Kingdoms of Heckfire, Party in my Dorm, and Casino X, each of which is free-to-play with in-game purchases and revolve around independent in-game social features.
Whilst A Thinking Ape is not the first developer to produce games built around social features, most existing developers have focused heavily on PC and console platforms, frequently making lazy ports to mobile. The company has recognized this and found a gap in the market, ensuring each game has its own dedicated social ecosystem, developing it to be optimized exclusively for mobile platforms.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- Health & wellness: on top of our annual fitness reimbursement, we have on-site yoga sessions, a monthly massage clinic and our company-sponsored hockey and dodgeball teams. (Go Rampage!)
- Work-life flow - in addition to vacation days, we offer unlimited sick days, flexible scheduling and work from home options
- Keep learning - we support the growth of our team with professional development funding, regular lunch and learns, annual game jams and bi-weekly 1:1s with team leads
- Hungry? - we've got it covered! Our kitchen is always stocked with a wide variety of snacks and every Wednesday we provide catered lunch
- Money matters - our competitive salary and benefits packages make sure our team are compensated well and rewarded for their performance. We also take care of health and dental
- Get social - we celebrate monthly “Birthiversaries”, organize ad-hoc game tournaments and have random, pop-up team events. Oh, and our summer and holiday parties? They’re epic!
Company values
- Ownership - we take complete ownership of our work and act in the best interests of the company. We’re the type of people who care - a lot. It’s never “not my job.”
- Have wonderful arguments - we’re comfortable thinking deeply about important issues and care enough to respectfully challenge decisions when we disagree. Mutual respect and checked egos allow for productive debate and better outcomes than any we would have achieved individually.
- The best ideas win - we want everyone involved in problem-solving, regardless of their position. We frequently seek feedback from each other and our players in order to challenge our assumptions and make data-driven decisions when possible.
- Keep growing - we’re always building and improving our skills and processes. We understand that when we learn, we see exponential improvement in ourselves, our products, and our company. We’re never finished learning.
- We’re Remote - while our HQ is in Vancouver, BC, we are currently open to you working from anywhere in Canada and will support you with relocation if required
Leadership
Kenshi Arasaki
(Co-Founder & CEO)Experience as SDE for Amazon.
Eric Diep
(Co-Founder)Graduate in Mathematics and Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo. Founded A Thinking Ape as CTO.