The Belgrade social gaming company Nordeus is slowly but surely coming out of a sort of stealth mode in which it has been with CEO Branko Milutinović taking ever greater part in regional conferences, the latest of which was WebFestME held in Montenegro. (Future appearances include Startup Week and How to Web.)
Being one of the most important tech companies in Serbia and probably the wider region too (one of the leading social gaming companies globally) it is great to hear how they came to this position in a relatively short period of time, how things are going and what is next for them. So here’s a recap of what we could hear from Branko on the first day of #webfestme.
The guys who made the company’s flagship product, Top Eleven (the most popular sports game online), moved to Microsoft’s Denmark development center after graduating, where they gained experience, built up confidence to compete globally and contact networks which were to come in handy later on.
After exiting Microsoft the team decided to go for gaming which was their passion (not the case with ERP), as it is for many boys interested in IT since these are the initial points of interaction with a computer for most.
Since founders spent “half their lives” playing computer games, with football managers as one of the favourite types, that theme was an enjoyable choice for their social game. This was also a great choice since it was a relatively empty space at the time, which was soon to change with Disney’s and EA‘s entry, a significant challenge.
One of the main risks with products like Top Eleven is it’s dependence on a platform which is beyond the creators’ control, which is of course – Facebook, which has had a rocky relationship in the past with the main player in this space, Zynga.
Asked about this, Branko shared with the audience that the relationship with Facebook is very healthy and that they are “very close“.
The Vision
Be that as it may, Nordeus’s vision is to become platform independent, one of the steps in this direction being it’s coming release of an Android version of the game, showing how important mobile is to the company’s future.
The overall goal is to become one of the top global companies in the social gaming space.
One of the points which I found most fascinating is that Nordeus has a very active social agenda, something we in this region need oh so very much. Branko shared with us that an important part of their vision is to be a pioneering force of change of “how things work in our country and the region.”
Exciting times are ahead for Nordeus and the regional ecosystem as a whole, be sure to follow this space and be in the loop.
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