SPYR Inc (OTCMKTS:SPYR) is a micro-cap player in the digital gaming and app space that recently put out an update on its plans and objectives for the year of 2017. We were impressed and wanted to update the narrative given the company’s recent moves. Most importantly, the company just announced that its flagship game, Pocket Starships, is set to be among the first games that can be played in the new Gameroom platform, now available in beta, for Windows PC gamers that was recently developed and released by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
As you may know, Pocket Starships is a popular mobile game that is one of the few titles that offers real-time, cross platform play allowing both PC and Mobile devices to play against other gamers simultaneously. Later this year, the Company plans to add eSports competition opportunities for its players. Given the stock’s recent pullback, we may see this move start to act as a key catalyst for new money flows into shares of the red hot stock.
SPYR Inc (OTCMKTS:SPYR) engages in the digital media and restaurant businesses primarily in the United States. The company engages in developing, publishing, co-publishing, and marketing mobile games and applications.
It also owns and operates American Diner theme restaurant under the Eat at Joe’s brand located in the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was formerly known as Eat at Joe’s, Ltd. and changed its name to SPYR, Inc. in March 2015. SPYR, Inc. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
According to the company’s materials, “SPYR, INC. is a holding company that through its wholly owned subsidiary SPYR APPS, LLC, is engaged in mobile application and game publishing and development. SPYR, INC. also owns and operates an “American Diner” theme restaurant located in the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called “Eat at Joe’s” through its other wholly-owned subsidiary, E.A.J.: PHL Airport Inc. The Company is currently exploring opportunities for additional acquisitions in these and other verticals, including mobile application and game development, to expand its holdings, to drive and increase revenue and to generate profits and build value for shareholders.”
Game On
SPYR, Inc may build the Gameroom exposure into a major new conduit of exposure. According to Facebook, its website has about 1.8 billion monthly active users worldwide as of November 2016, and the premiere social network expects to expand its monthly active users to more than 2 billion sometime this year.
Gameroom will be available and marketed to that vast user base, which means SPYR technology will as well.
This falls right into line with the company’s stated strategy from its 2017 view forward. As they noted, the first avenue is expansion of the scope and scale for the flagship brand for this company, “Pocket Starships”. The company is looking to press this through three main agendas: eSports, moving the gameplay onto the Windows platform, and more aggressive partnering with web portals.
Mike Turner, SPYR’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships states: “The inclusion of Pocket Starships, as one of the early games offered in the new Facebook Gameroom, gives the title exposure to hardcore PC gamers, which is an extremely desirable audience for us. Quality users of Pocket Starships play on all types of devices and this is a great platform for users to play with their Facebook friends no matter what device they are on.”
The company also notes that the cross-platform nature of the tech allows for the flexibility to take advantage of a variety of distribution possibilities. This is just a very good example. That flexibility is one of the reasons we gravitated toward the name in the first. That, and the extremely hot action for other stocks tied to the digital gaming space, such as Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS), ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH), and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).
“Mobile gaming has gotten the lion’s share of recent attention in the industry, but PC gaming is still very much a thriving market. According to PwC’s industry research, by the end of 2016, PC game sales were expected to reach $29 billion around the world, compared with $28 billion in sales for the console market,” said James Thompson, CEO & President, SPYR. “Between the explosive growth of eSports and strong PC sales, we don’t see that appetite for PC games going anywhere anytime soon.”
