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East Side Games

Game developer & publisher

East Side Games logo
101-200 employees
  • B2C
  • Gaming
  • Entertainment
  • SaaS
  • Mobile
Fairview, Vancouver, BC

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Company mission

To create games that are easy to pick up, hard to put down, and don't suck!

Our take

East Side Games is a developer and publisher of free-to-play mobile games and has been in the market for over a decade now. In that time, the explosion of mobile users and design developments has meant the industry changed fast. East Side Games, however, has managed to keep up - and the studio has held its own against giants like Supercell and Playrix.

The free-to-play gaming market took a hit when Apple changed their use of IDFA, making targeted advertising and therefore user acquisition much harder. East Side Game’s strategy, however, is savvy. The team have focused on using buzzy topics (‘stonks’) or leveraging the hugely popular TV shows (The Office, Drag Race, Doctor Who) to tap into existing bases of engaged and content-hungry users. It’s seen them win some hard-to-chase consumer choice awards, too.

This speaks to both the quality of the games and the ability of East Side Games to keep abreast of consumer preferences. With the nearly $74B free-to-play mobile games market looking set only to grow, this studio is in command of a sound strategy and good prospects.

Steph headshot

Steph

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Benefits

  • Flexible work schedules, virtual group fitness classes, manager training programs, team-building exercises and more
  • 100% top-up for 15 weeks of maternity leave and 100% top-up for as many as 8 weeks for parental leave
  • Up to $1000 reimbursement for career development and up to 2 paid days off per calendar year for professional growth-related courses or training
  • Extended health and dental benefits through Canada Life as well as a $900 health spending account
  • 7 days personal time off and 3 weeks paid vacation
  • We want you to get paid what you're worth! We offer salaries based on role and experience, and out annual salary reviews to match market salaries and your growth

Company values

  • Take ownership: “We own our successes and our failures.”
  • Have impact: “We believe we can drive change.”
  • Be humble: “We don’t compete, compare, or take ourselves too seriously.”
  • Communicate: “We cut the BS, and more importantly, we don’t forget to listen.”
  • Move forward: “We learn, we adapt, we grow.”
  • Hustle: “We get shit done.”

Funding (1 round)

Nov 2020

$0.3m

SEED

Total funding: $0.3m

Leadership

Jason Bailey

(CEO)

Previously founded Super Rewards, then startup accelerator GrowLab. Also served as an Executive Producer for Grade Five Films Inc.

Galan Akin

(Creative Director)

Has over a decade's worth of experience as a senior designer at Radical Entertainment, and then moved on to serve as Creative Director at DES Games.

Joshua Nilson

(GM)

Worked in a project management role at Sitemasher, created an original animation series concept at Pony Productions, and finally served as Studio Manager at DownTownEastSide Games.