Archive for January, 2011

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MyYearbook launches new social gaming features

Monday, January 31st, 2011

Clearly taking queues from what “The” social network has done in the past, but also trying to improve upon the system, social networking site myYearbook has recently announced the addition of a new social gaming system to the platform. Titled “myYearbook Live,” the service is now available to the platform’s 25 million members. The secret in the myYearbook sauce relies on the system’s tech, which offers users the opportunity to find other games hungry users on the site and filter by age, gender, and location, as well as the ability to play synchronous, multi-player games with video chat.

“myYearbook Live brings the visceral social interaction you get with a real-life board game or card game to the web,” said Catherine Cook, founder of myYearbook in a statement. “We started from the premise that WHO you play is as important as WHAT you play. In the last five years, we’ve never seen more positive feedback on a new product launch than this one.”

And while the offerings aren’t exactly bountiful at this point, everyone’s got to start somewhere right? To this end, myYearbook Live isn’t opening it’s doors without a title or two that’s sure to grab users’ interest. From the get-go, myYearbook users will have access to OMGPOP, Viximo, and Heyzap titles, with more developer deals in the works. myYearbook is also reporting that Come2Play has already signed on to develop content for the site, and currently features popular titles Nine Ball and Coiny Coins. They’ve also tapped Lexulous, the multi-player crossword puzzle title (and development company name), as well as Absolutist, makers of Bubble Shooter, and Clusterz and Mysteriez. Rounding out the bunch, Geewa’s offerings are on tap, including a number of their board games including Reversi.

The key standout feature here, and one that myYearbook has beat Facebook to, is the real-time video chat. “We are excited to bring Lexulous to myYearbook and enable users to have video chats while playing our game,” comments Jayant Agarwalla, co-founder of Lexulous. “myYearbook’s highly engaged audience is an immense platform to showcase our award-winning word game to a broader market and we’re thrilled about the possibilities.”

The platform released a beta version of the Live service in late 2010, and according to myYearbook, the adoption rates have been off the charts. As we’ve seen female dominance in the social networking scene previously, and myYearbook is reporting the same, with female participation much higher than expected. Likewise, myYearbook is noting considerably longer time spent interacting with other site members, with an average of 20 chats per session over the course of an average 3 minute chat. From the monetization side of the table, myYearbook Live has seen a massive spike in on-platform spending, as users are spending nearly half their Lunch Money (the platform’s proprietary currency) in games each day. Again, see opening statement.

And more on that … myYearbook is taking queues from, but not exactly replicating the Facebook model. The social network has already pushed the boundaries on what to expect from games on similar platforms by adding video. Through this video channel myYearbook will also be monetizing via video advertising. Naturally, they’ve included a healthy mix of virtual goods sales, and VIP Club subscription based memberships.

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Nexon North America reports a 42 percent jump in Q4 revenues

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Nexon America, the North American publishing arm of Nexon global, is reporting a healthy revenue jump of 42 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. Nexon is pointing to a strong showing in December, when Nexon reports a 60 percent increase in revenues YoY when compared to 2009’s revenues.

Nexon North America’s microtransaction based revenue generators include their highly successful FPS Combat Arms, classic MapleStory, Vindictus, Dungeon Fighter Online, Mabinogi, and PopTag! While now available for consideration on the “classics” list, Nexon’s one-that-started-it-all, MapleStory continues to drive revenues and expansion at Nexon North America, as the “Big Bang” expansion was a large driver of late 2010 revenues, bringing in not only a host of new players, but perhaps more importantly, pulling back lapsed players. As a point of reference, in mid-December, Nexon reports a massive 136,000 concurrent MapleStory players, a number that shattered the title’s previous record, in fact, nearly doubling the former record.

“It was a tremendous fourth quarter and year for Nexon and MapleStory’s Big Bang had a lot to do with it,” said Daniel Kim, Nexon America’s CEO in a statement. “Nexon has perfected a formula for gameplay with a business model that attracts players and keeps them loyal. Players don’t have to pay a cent to enjoy Nexon’s games, but our players who do pay to enhance their gameplay experience tend to spend more than the typical social gamer or subscription-based game player. Evidence of the success of this formula was seen with the release of the Big Bang expansion and the resulting increase in concurrent players and revenues.”

And although Nexon has been at it for some 10 years now, first introducing the world to the free-to-play, pay small bits of money in the game, aka microtransaction, model, the company doesn’t show any signs of resting on it’s collective laurels. 2011 hold a new title in store for Nexon America, the anticipated Dragon Nest – a fantasy based action MMOG. Initially unveiled at the 2010 E3 expo, Dragon Nest has been received with fervor in Korea and elsewhere.

“Dragon Nest will continue to raise the bar for microtransaction-based games and should energize the North American market with stylized graphics, fast action and immersive gameplay,” Kim said.

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Diner Dash: now served up hot and fresh on Facebook

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

One of “the” all-time gaming classics, Diner Dash, has finally made its way to Facebook’s social/casual gaming platform via PlayFirst. As of late yesterday, Diner Dash is up and running, albeit an early beta version, on the world’s most popular social network.

Not much can be said about Diner Dash that hasn’t already been said, but if you’re new to the scene, or perhaps a bit young to remember Diner Dash, at it’s heart, it’s a time management game, with the ultimate goal of keeping patrons happy. Over it’s history, Diner Dash has been downloaded over half a billion times, thus making it the seventh most popular game of all time.

“Diner Dash is the first Facebook game to embed robust time management gameplay in a truly social environment,” said Eric Hartness, Vice President and General Manger of Social Games at PlayFirst in a press statment. “We’ve taken the addictive gameplay that has made Diner Dash so popular on PC, Macs and iOS mobile devices and accented it with a rich ensemble cast and narrative elements that bring new depth to the Dash experience. Diner Dash propels restaurant games on Facebook to an entire new level!”

The storyline revolves around head waitress Flo’s fight to not only keep her Diner patrons’ bellies full, but also putting a stop to Mr. Big’s treatment of the local park. His incessant dumping of broken down bulldozers, construction cones, flat tires, oil spills, etc. are keeping paying customers away from visiting Flo’s (and Darla’s) diner(s). Flo puts the screws to Mr. Big by using her tip money to restore the park to it’s former glory, with the hopes of bringing more and more customers into the diner, so that Flo can make more tips, to beautify the park, so more customers come…an so on.

“We’ve brought together all the compelling Diner Dash elements that have made it the number one time management franchise and married that to the social experience of Facebook,” said Mari Baker, CEO of PlayFirst. “Diner Dash on Facebook points the way forward to a new class of time management game while retaining the authentic Dash gameplay that made the series so popular.”

One of the strongest elements of Diner Dash is it’s time management based gameplay. As a stand alone game, this secret sauce was clearly a hit with gamers, and now given the typical Facebook gameplay time format, i.e. usually quick in, play, and quick out, if done right, PlayFirst could have a major hit on their hands. While most of Facebook’s top games are usually new skins of some classic gaming formulas, PlayFirst is skipping one step, and offering gamers the same old classic format they’ve most probably grown up playing.

Available now on Facebook, PlayFirst promises activities and surprises in store for Flo over the next few weeks and months. They’re not revealing the entire game roadmap, but first on tap include restaurant star ratings, restaurant upgrades (presumably available for purchase through a microtransaction mechanism), decorations, and what PlayFirst is calling “others.”

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Cloud gaming firm Playcast raises $10 Million series B funding

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Cloud gaming. Love it or hate it, it’s a form factor on the rise. With Gaikai and OnLive already duking it out for the hearts and minds of bandwidth hungry gamers, it appears as though there’s another player on the scene ready to make an impact, one that MK Capital and JVP are putting their money on. $10 million of their money in fact.

Playcast Media has recently announced a $10 million injection of series B capital to expand and grow their global streaming gaming service. Chicago/LA based MK Capital and Israeli VC firm JVP have now joined existing funders Xenia Venture Capital and C.Mer Industries. Both Xenia and C.Mer also contributed in this round of funding.

“The Playcast service combines the latest in cloud computing with top-tier content to provide a AAA experience over existing pay-TV and cable networks,” said Guy de Beer, Playcast Media CEO in a statment. “The partnership with JVP and MK Capital, with their deep understanding of the global media technology space, allows us to continue to grow throughout the world following the success we have experienced in Europe and Asia.”

An addition to the cash investment, Playcast now has it’s newests board members, with Gadi Tirosh of JVP, and Yair Landau from MK Capital. Tirosh is a former senior exec at NDS, a leading pay-TV technology firm, while Landau was the long time Vice Chairman at Sony Pictures. Noteably, Landau built and managed Sony’s Digitial Entertainment division, including, you guessed it, Sony Online Entertainment.

According to Landau, “With its unique technology, numerous game-publisher agreements and worldwide MSO/Telco relationships, Playcast is poised to build a meaningful business around the world. We are very excited to help Guy and his team take Playcast to the next level.”

With Girosh adding, “Playcast is at the nexus of some of the most powerful trends in the media business today – turning media from DVD sales and broadcast to on-demand streaming, enabling a new release window for AAA games, over-the-top TV services and the introduction of cloud computing to media services. This new investment allows Playcast to tap into a new pool of resources and expertise and position itself as a de-facto leader in the cloud gaming space.”

While Playcast is primarily European based, having launched in November of 2010, this newest addition of funding and management clearly signals a North American expansion program. Currently Playcast counts Activision, THQ, Capcom, Atari, and Codemasters amongst it’s offerings.

Over the course of 2011, I expect cloud based gaming to grow, not only is size and scope, but distribution and acceptance. With that said, we’ve now got three major players on deck; let’s see who has the best offering, but more importantly, can conquer the “which is cooler?” factor.

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SOE brings free-to-play Magic: The Gathering – Tactics to PC

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

If you’re any type of gamer, admit it, you’ve probably played a round or 10 of Magic: The Gathering. Love it or hate it, the franchise has one of the longest and most successful track records of any card/tabletop game in history. To this end, Sony Online Entertainment is hoping to draw current and lapsed Magic: The Gathering players into a whole new experience, as they’ve recently released a Magic: The Gathering themed free-to-play tactical strategy game for PC.

“Working to expand the boundaries of the world’s best-known trading card game – a game I’ve played and loved for years – has been our goal from the very beginning to capture each enchanting aspect of the Magic franchise – the challenge, collectability and fierce competitiveness – into one fantastic online community,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment in a press statement.

Titled Magic: The Gathering – Tactics, the game transports players to a mystical far off world where they play the role of a Planeswalker, a powerful mage. Players’ Planeswalker is tasked with commanding powerful spells and well known creatures from all five colors of Magic. This summation of powers is put to use in rich online tactical battles set in lush 3D environments.

“By bringing Magic’s Planeswalkers and iconic creatures such as Mahamoti Djinn, Nightmare, Bogardan Hellkite and Force of Nature to a 3D animated, tactical battlefield, we’re continuing the storied tradition that has mesmerized Magic fans for years while introducing the world of online gamers to the magic of the Multivers,” adds Smedley

Magic: The Gathering – Tactics is developed and published by SOE, in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast LLC, and seeks to reinvent the popular card game like no other. Gamers compete against each other on a global scale in head-to-head battles, competitive tournaments, or solo. Players can level their character, with optional in-game booster packs and campaign chapters available via microtransactions.

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Zynga now coast to coast, acquires New York’s Area/Code

Monday, January 24th, 2011

While Zynga’s been a bit quiet on the acquisition front as of late, it looks like they’re back in the purchasing mood, as New York’s Area/Code social game developer (CSI: Crime City, Parking Wars, Drop7) has announced that they’re now members of the Zynga family, more specifically Zynga: New York. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2005, Area/Code made major headway in 2008, when they closed a major deal with A&E, launching a branded Parking Wars social game. Toss in a healthy dose of thei iPhone puzzle game hit, Drop7, and a Ubisoft published CSI: Crime City, along with targeted games for Nike, CBS and Nokia, and you’ve got a decent competitor in the field, and obvious acquisition target for Zynga.

“Zynga is the undisputed leader of an industry in the midst of an important transition. Social games have demonstrated massive popularity and commercial success even as they are still developing; Area/Code’s ideas, passion and experience will now participate in that development,” cites an official statement.

When it comes to who’s going where and who’s staying put, co-founder Kevin Slavin will leave the studio to pursue new opportunities, while General Manager Demitri Detsaridis will stay on board, as will other co-founder Frank Lantz will stay on as Creative Director. Interestingly, Gamasutra points out that at 2008’s Austin GDC, specifically the Worlds In Motion Summit panel, Lantz commented that Facebook is, “a space in which a new kind of game design would flourish.” To me, it’s exactly that type of forward thinking that Zynga is/was most interested in snatching up.

And now that Area/Code is officially Zynga: New York, they’ve got expansion on their minds. From the official company blog/press statement, “We want to make great games on a large scale. Our ambition is to contribute in a major way to the evolution of games on social networks, to make games in this space that are deeper and more interesting, games that reward the time and attention of the millions of people who play them with complex, meaningful experiences. We believe our best shot at doing this is working with Zynga, the biggest, most successful company in this space,

Again, while it appeared as though Zynga’s buying spree had come to an end, it looks like it was more like a breather (or chance to pay the monthly payment on the company Amex?). The Area/Code acquisition now makes Zynga’s ninth purchase in eight months, and based on the run away success of CityVille, it should be quite interesting to see what the social gaming giant has in store for us in 2011. Given their worldwide conglomeration of studios and developers, the question is…can they successfully fuse these various elements, and redo, if not out-do they previous string of successful social games.

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MXP4’s PUMP IT brings in 1M+ users in its first month

Friday, January 21st, 2011

MXP4, a social music gaming focused studio has recently announced that their inaugural title, PUMP IT has exceeded 1 million users within its first month, with 40 percent of all PUMP IT players sharing and competing against Facebook friends.

PUMP IT is MP4X’s first title out of the gate, and their unique blend of social, tech, and music successfully bridges the gap between music players and the revenue potential of social games on Facebook. While not quite yet monetizing, the firm has laid the ground work (and a garnered a healthy 40 percent virality rate) to begin testing in-game monetization features in Q2 2011.

If you’ve not yet had a chance to play PUMP IT, the title seeks to transform passive music listeners into active game players through actively distributing their favorite tunes, and according to MXP4, these same users are far more likely to make music related purchases. Adding a dash of stickiness, PUMP IT players are encouraged to revisit the title on a daily basis to discover new tracks. The more you play, the more tracks you can unlock. PUMP IT features a number of game standards including score keeping, social tools, a ranking system, including “super-fan” status tracking; a feature that displays the top five user scores to both artist and other fans. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a promotion develop from this, i.e.ring ring….”Hello?”, ”Hi Dan, This is John Taylor from Duran Duran….”

As we reported earlier this month, former EA/Playfish executive Xavier Louis is now a member of the MXP4 team, and together with CEO Albin Serviant, the company has deep plans for social gaming. “We are elated that so many top artists have adopted our solutions to give their fans the social, interactive and fun experience that brings them to social networking sites. By combining the music, our patented interactive music technology and social gaming, we are able to offer one of the most powerful fan engagement and monetization platforms available,” said Serviant in a press statement.

And if the jury is still out on whether or not a music based social game is for you, with over 30 major artists now featured within PUMP IT, surely there’s something for you. Artists include:

  • Enrique Iglesias
  • David Guetta
  • Cheryl Cole
  • Tiesto
  • Nelly Furtado
  • Lloyd Banks
  • Adam Lambert
  • UnderOath
  • Duran Duran
  • Neon Trees
  • Ingrid Michaelson
  • 10 Years
  • Scorpions
  • iSQUARE
  • Tonic
  • …and more.

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Mobile gaming platform Scoreloop bringing home 1M users per week

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Leading mobile cross platform social gaming platform Scoreloop has recently announced that they’re now adding one million new players per week. In November 2010, Scoreloop reported approximately 3 Million users per month coming through their doors.

This number shouldn’t come as a surprise, as mobile gaming is predicted to be a major market this year, as Android comes of age, and Apple’s iOS continues to make advancements in the gaming field. To this degree, Scoreloop is reporting a massive 100 million sessions served in 2010. This figure is qualified by Scoreloop as, “…where a gamer has actively used the social connectivity features of a Scoreloop-enabled game.” Additionally, the San Francisco based firm saw 350 million user submitted high scores, or, 11 scores submitted per second.

“One million new users a week is a magic number for Scoreloop, and it’s proof that users are actively taking advantage of the social element that we’re enabling thousands of developers to creatively integrate into their mobile games,” said Marc Gumpinger, CEO of Scoreloop. “Today’s announcement represents an accelerating rate of growth that’s no doubt driven by the significant SDK uptake and an increasing number of developers using our tools to leverage the freemium model.”

While these are fantastic numbers for Scoreloop, as noted above, 2011 is heating up to be the year of the mobile game. Scoreloop will face stiff competition from some big names, including, OpenFeint, what does DeNA have in store, and then there’s Kongregate who was, and then wasn’t admitted to the Google Android Marketplace.

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Kongregate launches Kongregate Arcade – Google approves, and then disapproves.

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Leading free, browser-based flash gaming platform Kongregate has recently announced the launch of Kongregate Arcade, a feat that now places them on top and is the world’s largest collection of free mobile flash games. Needless to say, we all know that flash and iOS devices are a no go, and Kongregate seems to be capitalizing on this, as they’re sure to draw swarms of Android carrying gamers to their doors. Kongregate Arcade serves two vital mobile gaming needs: a growing library of over 300 different titles for Android users to choose from, as well as a a healthy blend of player achievements, profiles, and a snazzy navigation interface, giving players (almost) immediate access to almost every type of gaming genre they could imagine.

A strong feather in the Kongregate cap, the Arcade now allows gamers the freedom to play from their PC, and then seamless carry on with their gaming experience while on-the-go. Likewise, Kongregate’s publishing platform, a favorite of independent gaming developers, now has added value, in so much as these same (and new) flashing gaming based developers have an entirely new platform to consider when working with Kongregate.

As we’ve seen over the course of 2010, Android is clearly on the rise, overtaking Apple’s iOS, and rapidly closing in on Research In Motion’s dominant market share, according to the most recent comScore numbers. And while there’s still plenty of profit to be made on iOS devices, it’s clear that the spread of Android means a higher possibility of user uptake, thus…Kongregate is clearly banking on Android fans considering Kongregate as the “go to” source for all things gaming.

“In creating the Kongregate Arcade, we wanted to solve the game discovery problem that all Android owners have shared,” said Jim Greer, CEO of Kongregate in a statement. “It was important to reinforce our mission to provide gamers with great free games anytime, anywhere, and to broaden the reach of the Kongregate community across multiple platforms. The arrival of Kongregate Arcade is the perfect next step in that strategy.”

At launch, Kongregate Arcade is packed with over 300 free mobile flash based games, with more titles added every week. Arcade staff members will hand select new titles to be added based on compatibility with the mobile platform, as well as the ability to be played on a touch screen device. Building on these 300+ titles, Kongregate says that they’re actively courting Android/Flash gaming developers to create content exclusively for Kongregate Arcade.

Kongregate Arcade is available for download directly via Kongregate’s website.

Update: It seems as though for some unknown reason, Google has pulled the app from the Android Marketplace, just hours after going live. No statement has been provide by Google reps, however, I’ve got to wonder if Kongregate’s publishing methods are to blame. Meaning, games the are approved and published by Kongregate are not subject to the same stringent approval process as if they were published by Google directly.

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Goldman Sachs says no way José to U.S. investment in Facebook

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

U.S. investors who are chomping at the bit to get in on Goldman’s “preferred investor” program with Facebook appear to be left out in the cold. According to the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., heavy media attention around the offering may put the deal in violation of U.S. securities laws.

Obviously, this wasn’t the exact outcome that Goldman had envisioned when the investment/preliminary interest plan was revealed a few weeks back. Apparently, the news sent competing Wall Street firms into a tailspin trying to tee up similar deals in other hot internet properties. According to the New York Times, Facebook execs also aren’t too happy about the media attention, thus forcing a restructuring of the deal in the 11th hour. Regardless of whether U.S. investors are on board or not, it appears as though $1.5 billion in Facebook shares are on track to be issued to Goldman’s preferred investors.

Since the announcement, Goldman is reporting over $7 billion in orders, or $4 per $1 share offered. Shutting U.S. investors out may not be the worst thing for Facebook, as 70% of Facebook’s user base is located outside the U.S. Hand selected investors were specifically warned not to disclose any details of the deal, including the now-leaked information that Facebook may be going public and/or reporting financials as early as April 2012.

SEC regulation D states that private deals such as Facebook, “cannot be the subject of advertising, general promotional seminars or public meetings in connection with the offering.” Now, there’s not been any “breaking” of these rules, but as Goldman points out, the intense media coverage and speculation surrounding the deal, more or less amount to the same as “promotional seminars” and/or “public meetings”. The fear here is that the SEC will step in and regulate the program, obviously something that all invested parties would rather sideskirt.

Onboard investors have until the end of this week to pay for their Facebook shares, an investment that carries a minimum $2 million price tag, and a requirement that they hold these shares until 2013, a number that lines up nicely with the details regarding a Facebook IPO in early/mid 2012.

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