Massive New Market: Fantasy Sports - Gameplay Media Invests in Berlin Start-up Company Stryking

NEU-ISENBURG, Germany, February 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

• Online gaming media specialist invests six-figure sum in fantasy sports platform 

• North American fantasy sports market is already worth USD 26 billion and still growing fast 

Social and iGaming specialist Gameplay Media is investing in the Berlin start-up company Stryking Entertainment, which has developed a fantasy sports platform for the German and European market. These platforms have already become a huge success in North America and now represent a multi-billion dollar market, where over 56 million people play fantasy sports games such as American football or basketball, spending an average of USD 465 per year according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association - an enormous market worth around USD 26 billion a year that is still growing rapidly. This successful type of online gaming is still virtually unknown in Germany and Europe. Stryking Entertainment aims to change this and become the trend-setter and market leader for fantasy sports in Germany. In order to accomplish this, the company will soon launch a completely new fantasy football platform, making this fascinating skill game appealing to the mass market in Germany for the very first time.  

Every German is a football expert. Ever since winning the World Cup, Germany has become a nation of millions of football coaches who know exactly what blunders their favourite teams' managers have made. Stryking has set its sights on precisely this target group with the new fantasy football game Bundesliga-Stars.com, which has been live since the beginning of the year, providing a real Bundesliga feeling with authentic players and club logos thanks to an official German Football League (DFL) licence. Each player is given a virtual budget to assemble the best possible team. Each week their team's results are matched with the actual players' game results and Bundesliga statistics. Players receive points for this and they can compete with their friends or compare their league table positions or overall rankings. This requires skill, experience and great knowledge of football.

The next few months will see the continual development of the game into a so-called 'Daily Fantasy Platform', where players participate in special challenges every matchday to win prizes, no longer needing to compete throughout the entire season in order to have any chance of lifting the trophy. This is precisely the model that has become extremely successful in the US, seeing massive growth in recent years. With Gameplay Media's participation, the platform is to be developed into a 'Daily Fantasy Sports' platform.

Engaged in the field for years as a pioneer in the digital economy and as one of the market-leading media agencies for gaming in Germany, Gameplay Media quickly recognised the enormous potential of these online games. The company headed up by CEO and industry giant Jochen Martinez is investing not only a six-figure sum but also its valuable know-how into the development of Stryking Entertainment's fantasy sports platform. They plan to support the company with online and mobile marketing, and with the acquisition of new investors and users, amongst other things. 'Fantasy sports will be the next big thing in Europe. As a pioneer of the digital world, the US has started a trend which will very soon splash over to Europe and Germany. In Stryking we have found the perfect partner to help shape the future market', says the pleased founder and current CEO of Gameplay Media, Jochen Martinez. The industry expert has worked in the gaming industry since 1998 and has held positions at Universal, Atari and Greentube.

Stryking CEO Dirk Weyel, himself no stranger to the industry, having successfully founded and sold the online games provider Frogster Interactive, is convinced: "This gaming concept is very exciting for the huge community of football fans in Germany, so we're expecting massive growth and are already working on developing this concept further for the international market."

Information about the company and more products by Gameplay Media can be found on their website at http://www.gameplay-media.com.

Media Contact:
Deutscher Pressestern^®
Bierstadter Str. 9a, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany
Felix Schirrmann, email: f.schirrmann@public-star.de
Tel: +49-611-39539-17 / fax: +49-611-301995