Outfit7

Outfit7 Limited is a Slovenian video game developer, best known as the creator of the Talking Tom and Friends app and media franchise. The company was founded by Samo and Iza Login. The company operates in 7 studios worldwide and almost exclusively focuses on mobile games related to the Talking Tom and Friends franchise. In January 2017, the company was acquired by United Luck Consortium and then sold to Zhejiang Jinke for over USD 1 billion.

Outfit7 Limited
Subsidiary
IndustryVideo games, Web series distribution
FoundedJuly 2009 (2009-07) in Ljubljana, Slovenia
Founder
  • Samo Login
  • Iza Login
Headquarters
Pissouri
,
Cyprus
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Samo Login Co-founder
  • Iza Login Co-founder
  • Jure Prek Advisor
  • Žiga Vavpotič Chairman of the Board
  • Xinyu Qian CEO
Revenue$130 million [1]
Number of employees
250[2] (2020)
ParentZhejiang Jinke Entertainment Culture Co., Ltd. (2017–present)
Websiteoutfit7.com

History

Founding and early years

Outfit7 was founded by Samo and Iza Login, who had studied computer science in college and wanted to get into the mobile app business following the debut of the Apple App Store. In 2009, they invested $250,000 (€180,000) with six friends and set up on office in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where they developed some apps. Their first few attempts — a soccer app, a travel guide to Iceland and a "wealth affirmation app" were unsuccessful. After six months of attempts, they developed a children's app called Talking Tom Cat, in which an animated cat named Tom would repeat in a "high-pitched helium squeak whatever is spoken into an iPhone's microphone" along with other reactions to feeding and petting.[3]

Talking Tom and Friends
Main article: Talking Tom and Friends

The Talking Tom and Friends franchise was created with the launch of the Talking Tom Cat app. It focused on anthropomorphic cats and dogs repeating things said to it by the user, before shifting focus to other apps such as endless-runner games, virtual pet games and the like.

The franchise reached 300 million downloads 19 months after its launch. The app franchise then went on to hit one billion downloads in June 2013.[4] Talking Tom and Friends apps have been downloaded over 12 billion times as of April 2020.[5][6]

Products

Talking Tom and Friends

Apps

2010:

  • Talking Tom
  • Talking Baby Hippo
  • Talking Larry The Bird
  • Talking Harry The Hedgehog
  • Talking Rex the Dinosaur
  • Talking Roby the Robot
  • Talking Santa
  • Talking Bacteria

2011:

  • Talking Gina the Giraffe
  • Talking Lila The Fairy
  • Talking Ben the Dog
  • Talking Tom Cat 2
  • Talking News
  • Talking Pierre

2012:

  • Tom's Love Letters
  • Tom Loves Angela
  • Talking Ginger
  • Talking Angela

2013:

  • Angela's Valentine
  • Talking Ginger 2
  • My Talking Tom

2014:

  • My Talking Angela

2015:

  • Talking Tom Jetski
  • Talking Tom Bubble Shooter

2016:

  • Talking Tom Gold Run
  • My Talking Hank

2017:

  • Talking Angela Color Splash
  • Talking Tom Camp
  • Talking Tom Pool
  • Talking Tom Jetski 2

2018:

  • Talking Tom Candy Run
  • Talking Tom Cake Jump
  • Talking Tom Jump Up
  • My Talking Tom 2

2019:

  • Talking Tom Fun Fair
  • Talking Tom Hero Dash
  • Talking Tom Splash Force

2020:

  • My Talking Tom Friends

Web Series
  • Talking Friends (2012)
  • Talking Tom and Friends (2014-present)
  • Talking Tom Shorts (2014-present)
  • Talking Tom and Friends Minis (2016-2018)
  • Talking Tom Heroes (2019-present)

Other apps

Corporate affairs

Studios

Outfit7 operates offices in 7 cities in Europe and Asia. The company currently operates in London, Ljubljana, Barcelona, Mumbai, Pissouri, Hong Kong and Beijing.[12]

Acquisition and Leadership change

In 2016, Samo and Iza Login hired Goldman Sachs to arrange for a deal to sell their company.[3] On 20 January 2017 it was announced in a press release that Outfit7 was sold to United Luck Holdings Consortium, a China-based group for US$1 billion.[13] However, four days later, another press release indicated that United Luck would sell Outfit7 to a Chinese chemical company, Zhejiang Jinke Peroxide Company, which was renamed to Zhejiang Jinke Entertainment Culture Co. Ltd after it had purchased a Chinese game developer.[3][14] There was some confusion over who owned Outfit7 given that Jinke had disclosed plans to buy a 10% stake of United Luck. In March 2017, the agreement to sell Outfit7 to Jinke was signed.[15][16] Samo Login remained on board as company director, and Iza Login remained as an advisor.[17][13][18] In July 2018, Xinyu Qian became the CEO, while Prek took up the post of advisor.[19]

References
  1. "Owler - Outfit7". Owler. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  2. "About Us". Outfit7. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  3. "Why Did a Chinese Peroxide Company Pay $1 Billion for a Talking Cat?". 17 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  4. Langshaw, Mark (14 June 2013). "Talking Friends apps reach 1 billion downloads". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  5. N/A (14 June 2013). "Talking Tom – the Coolest Cat is Back – Bigger, Better and Cuter Than Before". Business Wire. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  6. "Outfit7". Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  7. "Tiki Tag – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  8. "Disco Ant – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  9. "Jigty Jelly – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  10. "Jigty Jigsaw Puzzles – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  11. "Swamp Attack – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  12. "Outfit7 - About Us". Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  13. "Talking Tom maker Outfit7 confirms it has been sold to United Luck Consortium for $1 billion". venturebeat.com. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  14. "China's Jinke Slumps on Plan to Buy Talking Tom Maker Outfit7". 25 January 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  15. Javier, Jomel (6 March 2017). "Jinke Signs Agreement to Buy Famous Talking Tom App Maker, Competes with United Luck Group". yibada.com. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  16. Ho, Jane. "Talking Tom App Maker Outfit7 Flipped To China's Jinke At Over $1 Billion". forbes.com. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  17. "- News 2TM". 2tm.si. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  18. "OUTFIT7 LIMITED :: OpenCorporates". opencorporates.com. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  19. "Outfit7 names Xinyu Qian as new CEO". Outfit7. 1 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
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