Bigpoint partners with Mail.Ru Group to take its online games to Russia

Bigpoint, the German online gaming outfit, has signed a partnership with Russia’s Mail.Ru Group, which will see the two companies offer select gaming titles on each of their respective portals. The idea is to help Bigpoint expose its wares to the Russian speaking markets, while Mail.Ru gets broader European distribution.

Targeting Russian speaking gamers, Mail.Ru will house Bigpoint games including Farmerama, DarkOrbit, Seafight and Battlestar Galactica Online. Additionally, they’ll be integrated into the Mail.Ru Group’s social networks, Odnoklassniki and My World.

In return, visitors to Bigpoint.com, which claims 200 million registered users, will be able to access MMORPGs such as Legend Legacy of the Dragons, Juggernaut, Empire Craft, and GodsWar Online.

It’s a smart deal for both companies but Bigpoint potentially has the most to gain. Russia’s Internet economy is fast growing and hooking up with Mail.Ru is a way to fast track entrance to Russian speaking markets, which is bound to please the company’s latest investors.

As recent as this April, Bigpoint took a $350m majority share investment from Summit Partners and TA Associates in what was described as a recapitalization of the company, while co-CEO and founder Heiko Hubertz (yes, the company has two people in the top job) is talking up Bigpoint as having the potential to grow to a billion dollar company. Big talk indeed, although today’s partnership with Mail.Ru adds more weight to that claim.

Bigpoint has over 700 employees and offices in Hamburg, Berlin, San Francisco, São Paolo and Malta. Free to play, it generates 100% of its revenue through virtual in-game sales.