The New York Times has broken the long-anticipated announcement. Cal players will be entering Memorial Stadium to play on ... Kabam Field.
Cal, as the university is known, has announced that Kabam, a video game maker, has been awarded naming rights to the field at California Memorial Stadium. Starting in 2014, the playing area will be known as Kabam Field for the next 15 years, at a cost to the mobile games maker of $18 million.
Kabam makes games like "Kingdoms of Camelot" (I almost feel obliged to link to it, because it's FREE!) and "The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age" (also FREE). Please tell me these games are good, because I want to rule a kingdom!
They are definitely doing well financially.
Mobile gaming company Kabam is raising its 2013 revenue forecast by about 8 percent to $325 million as recent hits like "Dragons of Atlantis" beat expectations and its publishing business for other developers' games is taking off, Chief Executive Kevin Chou said.
Kabam, which is considering going public, expects to be profitable this year, with revenue up 80 percent from 2012, the former Silicon Valley venture capitalist and investment bank analyst said in an interview late on Tuesday.
And they will be making their presence felt at the new stadium.
Kabam ... will also be establishing a scholarship program, library donations, internships, as well as executive exchanges, an "innovation lab" for developing projects, and an interactive gaming zone at the stadium.
I actually am pretty happy that we have alumni who are willing to give back to the university. Three of the four co-founders, including chief executive Kevin Chou, are from Cal, and it seems they're definitely going out of the way to help the university and the athletic department in numerous ways.
Still, I'm sure there will be some people scratching their heads about this part.
Kabam is well-known to gamers, but is a private firm with little public profile. It will get its name on the two 25-yard lines at Cal, and signage on the 50-yard line.
In their press conference, Kabam announced that they will be re-branding and will release a new logo in the spring. So let your fertile imaginations run wild with what might actually be displayed on our field.
What's your opinion on all of this?