Press Kit
The Amber Press Kit is designed to help partners and journalists research our company for background information or follow-up stories.
Read below and visit the links to learn more.
The Amber Press Kit is designed to help partners and journalists research our company for background information or follow-up stories.
Read below and visit the links to learn more.
Amber is primed to support creative industries by offering a full range of turn-key product development and live service solutions. The company maintains five service pillars, including game development, co-development, live operations, custom engineering and development support. Established in 2013, Amber is an employee-owned company headquartered in Bucharest and Botosani, Romania, with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Also with offices in Guadalajara, Mexico and Montreal, Canada.
Guadalajara San Francisco Los Angeles Montreal Bucharest Botosani
Full Development Co-Development Live Ops Custom Engineering Tools Engineering Design Data Science Quality Assurance Quality Engineering
Amber founded in Bucharest, Romania
with 3 employees.
A QA discipline established alongside the engineering core.
Creative Studio formed.
Hit the first $1M in revenue and 31 staff, moving into our first proper office space (not an apartment).
Started our first full game dev project, Cinderella Free Fall, in collaboration with Disney.
Started developing
Little Leader for the
Apple Watch, in
collaboration with Glu.
Carbon spin-off
launched, an incubator
for local indie studios.
Started developing Link Twin, an original puzzle concept.
Live Ops discipline established, Amber hits 160 staff.
Moved into our current office, at Charles de Gaulle Plaza.
Mihai Pohontu joined as CEO in March 2017.
New offices opened in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Innovation labs established.
Amber reached over 280 staff.
Merged with Lorraine, studio based in Bucharest, Romania; released Rumble Heroes on mobile platforms.
Created strategic alliance with Fuero, Warsaw-based studio.
Reached $7.25M in annual revenues.
New location opened in Botoșani.
Merged with Scorpius Games, a Bucharest based PC/console studio.
Reached 400+ staff and $13.1M in annual revenue.
New Game Development studio in Guadalajara, Mexico
We aim to excel at providing world-class software development services, infused with design sensibility, pursuing uncompromising quality, on the bleeding edge of technology
Editia de Dimineata: VIDEO Amber Studio – Povestea românilor care fac jocuri pentru marile companii din lume
Romania Insider: Romanian gaming studio starts a game development network
Hotnews: Producătorul român de jocuri Amber lansează o reţea de studiouri de gaming şi face angajări
Startup café: Producătorul român de jocuri Amber lansează o reţea de studiouri de gaming şi face angajări
Profit: Studioul local de gaming Amber pune bazele unei rețele dezvoltatoare de jocuri
Biz: Amber își consolidează echipa de management
Angajatorul meu.ro: Amber recrutează doi “veterani” în gaming și își mărește echipa
With over 60 studios, 7 000 employees and over 140 million euros turnover, the gaming market in Romania became, also, a regional hub. It’s the place where are created some of the well-known PC, console and mobile games for buyers all over the Globe.
Ubisoft, Gameloft, Electronic Arts, King are just a few of the well-known names that activate in Romania, alongside local studios like Amber – that had an exponential growth in the past years.
Blazing Angels, H.A.W.X., Silent Hunter, N.O.V.A., Mortal Combat, FIFA, Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon, Bubble Witch, Asphalt, Brothers in Arms are some of the games that were developed in this Romanian Studios.
Moreover, this industry in Romania has become quite visible as different events were organized by companies from the field or by RGDA (Romanian Game Developers Association). DevPlay, the first local conference for this industry took place in 2016 and in 2017 there’s going to be the second edition.
The history of Amber started in 2013 in a small flat with just three people, three computers and the passion for games. Clients started coming, the number of people grew and a new accommodation was required. Now, in 2017, Amber has 250 people and are working with names clients like: Disney, Scopely, Kixeye, Little Labs, Oh Bibi.
October 2016 – iLikeIT (PRO TV) visited Amber, a gaming company managed by a Romanian iLikeIT a ajuns la Amber Studios, o companie de jocuri pentru mobil, condusa de un roman: “Avem programatori buni”
March 2017 – They took gaming to the next level. The story of two developers
Au dus jocul la nivel următor. Povestea românilor care creează pentru Disney
June 2017 – Romania the new gaming hub România, noul Hub de gaming
July 2017 – Analysis: on what level is the Romanian gaming industry and what are the prospects Analiză: în ce stadiu se află industria dezvoltării de jocuri video din România şi care sunt perspectivele
July 2016 – Outstanding turnover for the Romanian gaming studio – Cifră de afaceri impresionantă pentru studioul de jocuri românesc Amber Studio
July 2016 – The Romanian game developers: the growth of the larger independent gaming studio Românii creatori de jocuri video: cum se extinde cel mai mare studio independent
July 2016 – Local gaming studio, Amber, with 4 million EUR income in 2015, is extending and transforms its creation department into another studio – Studioul local de gaming Amber, cu afaceri de 4 mil. euro în 2015, se extinde şi transformă Divizia de creaţie într-un studio de sine stătător
July 2016 – Local gaming studio, Amber, is extending
Studioul local de gaming Amber, cu afaceri de 4 mil. euro în 2015, se extinde
July 2016 – Amber, 196 million RON, income in 2015 – Amber Studio, venituri de 19,6 mil. lei în 2015
July 2016 – Local game developer, Amber, is extending its activity with two new companies – Dezvoltatorul local de jocuri pentru PC-uri Amber Studio îşi extinde activitatea prin două noi companii
July 2016 – Romanian independent game studio reaches EUR 4.3 mln turnover – Romanian independent game studio reaches EUR 4.3 mln turnover
July 2016 – Amber Studio’s creative division to become autonomous company specialized in developing original IPs – Amber Studio’s creative division to become autonomous company specialized in developing original IPs
July 2016 – The biggest independent gaming studio is extending – Cel mai mare studio de gaming românesc independent se extinde
July 2016 – Amber – A Romanian success story – Amber Studio, afacere românească de succes
In April 2017 Mihai Pohontu, former Samsung VP and EA Mosaic GM has been appointed CEO of Romanian
game development services firm – Amber.
Venture Beat – Ex-Samsung exec Mihai Pohontu takes CEO job at Romania’s Amber game studio
Pocket Gamer – Romanian outsourcing studio Amber recruits former Samsung VP as CEO
PR Newswire – Amber Launches a One-Stop Live Operations Solution for Game Companies
Revista Biz – Mihai Pohontu, noul CEO Amber
Start-up.ro – Studioul românesc de jocuri Amber are un nou CEO: Mihai Pohonțu, ex-Samsung
Wall-street.ro – Mihai Pohontu, ex Samsung, este noul CEO al Amber
Forbes.ro – Mihai Pohonțu preia conducerea Amber, cel mai mare studio de gaming independent din România
Businessmagazin.ro – Mihai Pohonţu se întoarce în România pe funcţia de CEO al Amber
Capital.ro – Mihai Pohonțu, fost vicepreşedinte Samsung, numit CEO al Amber, cel mai mare studio de gaming independent din România
Businesscover.ro – Mihai Pohonțu este noul CEO al Amber
Profit.ro – Mihai Pohonțu, fost vicepreședinte Samsung, este noul CEO al Amber, cel mai mare studio de gaming independent din România
Startupcafe.ro – De la conducerea Samsung, in SUA, director la un producator independent de jocuri din Romania. Cine este Mihai Pohontu, noul CEO al Amber
9am.ro – Mihai Pohontu, fost vicepresedinte Samsung, numit CEO al Amber
Amber România şi-a luat CEO de la Samsung: Mihai Pahonţu s-a reîntors în ţară pentru a prelua conducerea celui mai mare studio independent de gaming
In the spring of 2017 we started a workshop dedicated to high school students – Crashcourse in game design. We wanted (and want, as we are working on other editions) to help the them with insights from an area that is a bit unknow to them, even if games are part of their everyday life. In the first two editions, the students that participated were from Mihai Viteazul and Tudor Vianu, Bucharest colleges.
Victor Kapra was one of our guests at the workshop with the students from Mihai Viteazul National College. In the article below he describes Amber’s history and how the first Crashcourse went. When they arrived at Amber, the high school students were a bit shy, but after visiting the offices and getting used to the cool atmosphere, they were ready for the course. Gabriel Stancu introduced them to what game design means and how he got to be one of the Amber People. Having a clear idea of the filed, the students were ready to imagine their own game. As they were guided by Ionut-Gabriel Solomon and Aurelian Talpasanu, they created their first game character Soseta (aka Sock), who was searching through out the Universe for his missing pair. Ideas piled up and everyone was more and more excited with each passing minute. The first edition was a success!
Victor’s Kapra article: Amber Studio. Cum să faci un joc pornind de la o șosetă ruptă
For the second Crashourse, Oana Cosman from StartUp.ro joined us and her impressions are in the article below. The event went quite smooth as the students got a lovely tour of the Amber offices from Ana Pohrib and Monica Farkas. After they became more familiar with the place, Gabriel Stancu was ready to talk to them about the exciting world of game design and how one can make a career while playing games. Moreover, Ionut-Gabriel Solomon and Aurelian Talpasanu helped them select ideas for their own game – The Semi Gods that will save the Planet! After the workshop ended we received a lot of good feedback from the students and the teacher that participated – even more, some of the scholars wanted to know when they could start an internship at Amber.
StartUp.ro article: “Semizeii” de la Vianu: elevii creatori de jocuri care salvează planeta
Antena1 – High Scholars @ Amber – Tudor Vianu (English Subtitles) High Scholers @ Amber – Tudor Vianu
November 2015 – Dragos Hancu: DRAGOS HANCU – fondator si CEO Amber Studio
July 2016 – Dragos Hancu Rockstar în 2016: gamerul care face milioane de euro
November 2016 – Dragos Hancu ZF Live. Dragoş Hâncu, CEO Amber Studio: Industria de gaming are nevoie de un sistem educaţional mai bun şi deduceri fiscale pentru start-up-uri
February 2017 – Tudor Postolache De la patru oameni într-o garsonieră la 300 de angajaţi, în patru ani. Interviu cu Tudor Postolache de la Amber Studio
April 2017 – Mihai Pohontu Ce planuri are Mihai Pohontu, romanul care a plecat de la Samsung America pentru a dezvolta business-ul unui producator independent local de jocuri
