Introduction
Mike, can you give us a little intro about your story and your new company, Ares Interactive? What do you and your company specialize in?
I’ve spent most of my career building and scaling free-to-play games, particularly in genres where execution and live operations matter more than a single launch moment. I’ve been fortunate to work with teams that built meaningful, durable businesses around games millions of players love, at companies such as Scopely, Mattel, Glu, Kabam, and others.
Ares Interactive was founded with a simple thesis: in today’s market, disciplined execution beats novelty. We focus on building fun games that our fans enjoy playing and scaling free-to-play games using proven core loops, strong live operations, data-driven user acquisition, and increasingly, AI-enabled workflows. The fun factor of a game isn’t something we take lightly, as it is one of the most important things for a game company.
We operate across multiple studios and genres, from action roguelite shooters like Heroes vs. Hordes, to new licensed experiences like Baseball Hits 26. We specialize in scaling our games for live service, user acquisition, and mobile hardware optimization. The Ares team and developers in our studio group have been in the gaming industry for a long time, and we are leveraging our experience to develop new titles that utilize proven gameplay mechanics and player engagement strategies.