Company:Skyworks Interactive
Skyworks Interactive, formerly known as Skyworks Technologies, is a mobile media and video game development company that pioneered advergaming. It was founded in 1995 by Garry Kitchen and David Crane, video game industry veterans formerly of Activision and Absolute Entertainment. Kitchen and Crane sold their interest in Skyworks Interactive in 2007, and subsequently left the company in 2010.
Skyworks was the creator of the Candystand, one of the first, large scale branded gaming sites online. Nintendo DS games include ATV and Texas Hold 'Em Poker.
In 2007 Skyworks developed the ESPN Arcade, a sports-themed casual gaming site published in partnership with ESPN, which it operated for two years, powering the site with over 70 games from its library.
In December 2007, Skyworks Interactive was acquired by Anedom Company, a privately funded start-up founded by Nasir Wajihuddin and funded by Sharon Fordham, a former Nabisco senior executive and the former President of Weight Watchers Online. Following the acquisition, Wajihuddin became CEO, Fordham became Chairwoman, and Garry Kitchen was named COO. The company was re-booted to develop a real-time 3D virtual world, conceptualized by Anedom Company.
In late 2008, Skyworks entered the iPhone business with the release of their first game title, Arcade Hoops Basketball, developed by Garry Kitchen, based on an online game created by David Crane. Based on the success of Arcade Hoops, and the lack of cash after the September 2008 market meltdown, Skyworks abandoned the development of its massive virtual world, rebooting as a media company focusing on the emerging mobile gaming market.
By the end of 2011, Skyworks Interactive had had five #1 game apps and 21 top 100 apps in the Apple App Store, with an estimated share of over 5% of sports game downloads. Leading game apps included Arcade Hoops Basketball, Arcade Bowling, World Cup Table Tennis, Goaaal!, and Field Goal Frenzy Football. Its World Cup Table Tennis HD iPad game, which was launched during the summer of 2011, had been a #1 app in the Apple App Store in 70 countries, and was noted by Apple in 2011 Apple Rewind as a Top 100 Free App of 2011.
In 2010, Kitchen and Crane left the company. After their departure, Skyworks successfully fought efforts to put the company into bankruptcy.
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