Cerberus Interactive

Cerberus Interactive, founded in 2017, is an Austin-based mobile games technology company operating in the location-based gaming market. The company was co-founded by Sami Khan, who serves as CEO, and Beau Button, the company's CTO and President. Khan, with a background in digital marketing and strategic growth for consumer-facing startups like Acorns and Honey, conceived of the company's core strategy. His frustration with the lack of originality in the mobile games market led to a business model designed to mitigate market risk by validating concepts prior to full-scale development.

The firm's business model is centered on a marketing-first approach. Cerberus Interactive builds and engages a player community early in the development process to crowdsource ideas and confirm demand for new titles before committing significant capital to research and development. This strategy was first implemented with their flagship title, "Atlas Empires," where a group of paying "Team Alpha" gamers voted on game elements like characters, providing direct feedback and early revenue. The company generates revenue through a free-to-play model, with income derived from in-app purchases and optional video advertisements that reward players.

"Atlas Empires" is a location-based, augmented reality mobile game that allows players to build empires in their real-world environments. Players can claim physical plots of land, such as their homes, and establish outposts like mining centers in real-world locations to gain strategic advantages. The game blends elements of base-building and strategic combat. In August 2019, the company announced it had raised $1.75 million in a funding round with investors including Mobilityware, Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, and TikTok's then-CBO Blake Chandlee to further develop the game.

Keywords: mobile games, location-based gaming, augmented reality games, Atlas Empires, Sami Khan, Beau Button, game development, free-to-play, in-app purchases, crowdsourced game development, community-driven design, strategic growth, digital marketing, gaming studio, AR, real-world games, base-building game, strategic combat game, mobile technology, Austin startup