The collaboration will spur the onboarding of top game publishers on Blacknut's gaming platform and drive cloud gaming adoption among consumers

SINGAPORE and PARIS, March 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridge Alliance, the leading alliance of premier mobile operators and cloud gaming service Blacknut have inked a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership to accelerate the growth and adoption of cloud gaming across Asia Pacific, in a collaboration that will bring exciting new opportunities to the ecosystem of game publishers, mobile operators and consumers.

Game publishers can gain new growth channels and scale through Bridge Alliance's large regional footprint of tier-1 mobile operators, while participating Bridge member operators (BMOs) will benefit from collective triple-A games sourcing deals that will enrich the library of games available to their customers. BMO customers are the real winners as these end users will enjoy a whole new range of premium gaming content seamlessly across their compatible devices, on demand and without the need for expensive hardware.

Blacknut will open up its Content Club, a worldwide marketplace for content acquisition of video games for distribution by BMOs keen to offer these games to their subscribers. Blacknut's catalogue of more than 600 premium games will be further strengthened through collective efforts with Bridge Alliance and BMOs to source, onboard and jointly promote game titles from leading publishers in local markets.

"Bridge Alliance's member operators collectively serve over a billion customers and offer a unique opportunity for game publishers to gain new distribution channels and create innovative gaming experiences designed around cloud gaming, amplified by our group scale and multi-market capabilities. We're delighted to partner with Blacknut and provide access to not only new game titles, but also a smooth and consistent gaming experience to consumers in the region. They can now enjoy cloud gaming at any time, anywhere, enhanced by the blazing speeds of 5G networks in many markets where we operate. We welcome more collaborations with gaming industry partners and game publishers," said Dr Ong Geok Chwee, CEO of Bridge Alliance.

"The partnership with Bridge Alliance not only creates a fantastic opportunity to promote cloud gaming through Blacknut's platform in participating BMO markets, it also creates the groundwork for the gaming industry and the carriers to closely work together and benefit from the development of this new market," said Olivier Avaro, CEO of Blacknut.

Cloud gaming is already a rapidly developing market which is estimated by latest Newzoo forecasts to grow to US$8.2 billion in revenues and reach a market of 465 million people by 2025^[1]. The collaboration between Bridge Alliance and Blacknut, together with the rise of 5G deployments and gaming in APAC, will pave the way for BMOs to continue to expand their catalogue of new and exciting services.

About Bridge Alliance

Bridge Alliance is the leading mobile alliance for premier operators and their customers in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Our alliance covers 34 members who serve over 1 billion customers collectively across these regions. Our goal is to build group capabilities and create value for our members by enabling compelling roaming services and experience, offering multi-market enterprise and IoT solutions, and delivering savings and benefits through leveraging group economies.

Bridge Alliance's members and partners include: Airtel (India, Sri Lanka and the Airtel subsidiaries in Africa: Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia), AIS (Thailand), China Telecom (China), China Unicom (China), CSL Mobile (Hong Kong), CTM (Macau), Globe Telecom (Philippines), Maxis (Malaysia), Metfone (Cambodia), MobiFone (Vietnam), Optus (Australia), Singtel (Singapore), SK Telecom (South Korea), stc (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait), SoftBank Corp. (Japan), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan), and Telkomsel (Indonesia).

For more information, visit www.bridgealliance.com.

About Blacknut  - www.blacknut.com

Blacknut is the world's leading pure player cloud gaming service dedicated to the general public, distributed both direct to consumers and B2B through ISPs, device manufacturers, OTT services & Media companies. Blacknut offers the largest catalogue of premium games with 500+ premium titles carefully selected for the whole family, all included in a monthly subscription. The service is now available across Europe, Asia & North America on a wide range of devices, including mobiles, set-top-boxes and Smart TVs. Blacknut was founded in 2016 by Olivier Avaro (CEO) and is headquartered in Rennes, France, with offices in Paris, Seoul and San Francisco.

Contact press@blacknut.com

[1] https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/cloud-gaming-revenues-to-hit-2-4-billion-in-2022-up-74-year-on-year-revenues-will-triple-by-2025