Play Mechanix Partners with Skillz to Bring Mobile Competition to Legendary First-Person Shooter Big Buck Hunter

Partnership Expands Big Buck Hunter’s Reach to Skillz’s Millions of Competitive Mobile Gamers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The legendary arcade franchise Big Buck Hunter is coming to mobile with a new game built exclusively for Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ), the leading mobile games platform for fair, fun, and meaningful competition. The partnership will broaden the franchise’s fan base, reaching millions of mobile gamers competing on the Skillz platform. It also marks Skillz’s expansion into the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, one of the most popular categories in modern gaming.

With over 46,000 arcade machines sold to bars and restaurants across the world, Big Buck Hunter is one of the best selling arcade shooters of all time. The new Skillz-powered edition of the classic game will be available to both existing fans and the world’s 2.7 billion mobile gamers.

"Big Buck Hunter has been a cultural icon for 20 years,” said Andrew Paradise, CEO and founder of Skillz. “We’re proud to enable top game developers like Play Mechanix to put content into the palms of players’ hands – anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

Game developer Play Mechanix is custom designing the mobile version of Big Buck Hunter exclusively for the Skillz platform, with a focus on replicating the quintessential competitive arcade and console experience that players know and love. Mobile shooters like Call of Duty, Fortnite, and PUBG boast hundreds of millions of players, and now fans of the FPS genre will be able to utilize their skills to compete on the Skillz platform.

“Our partnership with Skillz opens Big Buck Hunter to a huge and rapidly growing universe of mobile gamers,” said George Petro, founder of Play Mechanix. “We’re thrilled to deliver the same excitement and core gameplay features fans love from the arcade version on mobile.”

Big Buck Hunter has built a loyal following and robust fan base that has evolved beyond the traditional arcade shooter to home consoles, plug-and-play games, social media platforms, pinball machines, and more. As one of the top arcade esports in the world, the game has continued to grow through both live and virtual tournaments in thousands of arcades and other venues worldwide. By partnering with Skillz, Play Mechanix will be able to achieve higher monetization than would be possible with ads or in-game purchases by providing mobile users with a competitive gameplay experience.

Through Skillz’s proprietary and patented player rating and matching technology, players will have the opportunity to compete in Big Buck Hunter on their mobile devices against users with similar skill sets across a variety of immersive outdoor environments. As part of this partnership, Play Mechanix will give away codes that let Skillz users play the arcade game for free and will be promoting the mobile version across all of its online-enabled arcade games.

For more information on Skillz-enabled games and implementing mobile gaming competitions, visit www.skillz.com or email [e-mail].

About Skillz Inc.

Skillz is the leading mobile games platform that connects players in fair, fun, and meaningful competition. The Skillz platform helps developers build multi-million dollar franchises by enabling social competition in their games. Leveraging its patented technology, Skillz hosts billions of casual esports tournaments for millions of mobile players worldwide, and distributes millions in prizes each month. Skillz has earned recognition as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in America on the Inc. 5000. www.skillz.com

About Play Mechanix, Inc.

Founded in 1995 by former Midway designer George Petro, Play Mechanix is a global leader in the design and development of arcade video games. Merging with Raw Thrills in 2006 to form the top arcade video game manufacturer in the world, Play Mechanix is responsible for hit releases such as the Big Buck Hunter series, Halo: Fireteam Raven, The Walking Dead Arcade, Terminator Salvation, Aliens Armageddon, MotoGP and many, many more.

Source: Skillz Inc.