Social Gaming : Quarter 1 2012
03/14/2012 : Online gambling industry covering the period December 17, 2011 through March 17, 2012.
SOCIAL GAMING:
Another sector showing promise and increased convergence towards online gambling is the social gaming market. The possibilities of cross-platforming and monetizing casino-style games looks attractive to, amongst others, social gaming giant Zynga who has made clear its intention of tapping into this potentially lucrative market, launching several casino-style games and its own gaming platform during the period. On the reverse side the online gambling industry recognises the potential reach in the social gaming network sector and the period has seen a move towards covering that market in acquisitions, gaming platforms and game releases.
Social Gaming Industry Snapshot:
– Online, mobile and social gaming technology provider, Cozy Games, launched a U.S.-focused, fully managed, social gaming platform on Facebook comprising five variants of Bingo and over eighty side games.
– Berlin-based software developer, Crowdpark, launched a slot machine game and a peer-to-peer betting game branded AnteUp.
– US land games and machine developer International Game Technology acquired social gaming company DoubleDown Interactive for $500 million.
– Leander Games, the Argentina-based internet gambling software developer, signed an online slots supply agreement with Bejig, the creators of “Avatingo”, a virtual world of multiplayer slots, bingo and games on Facebook.
– Online portal and Facebook App TeePee Games partnered with Gibraltar-based gaming start up Nektan. Established by St Minver founder Gary Shaw, Nektan’s Click and Clear game is available via TeePee’s games portal. Nektan subsidiary St.Endellion is Gibraltar licenced and owns and operates sklots.com and skilljuice.com. It is also associated with game development studios ROOT9 and Arcadelia.
– Newco Entertainment Limited launched a Dragonfish-powered social network game titled “Gossip Bingo”.
– UK gaming company Praesepe in collaboration with Enteraction entered the social gaming sector using a vehicle titled "Beacon Bingo Special" with a planned Facebook launch date during Q1 2012.
– NYX Gaming Group launched ‘SlotsPoint' on Facebook, the company's first social media customer, utilising its new social media gaming suite.
– Popcorn Games, a social gaming development start-up released its first social game for Facebook titled "BingoVillage" that includes, what the company claims to be, a new patent pending solution for virtual goods.
– Socialitize Ltd launched a new social betting game 2BET2 on Facebook. In essence the game provides players with an online sportsbook betting on current real-life sporting events using BB$, the game's virtual currency.
– Zynga:
– Launched its own Zynga.com gaming platform in beta.
– Zynga Poker is to make its first direct foray into the smart TV market using the Google TV platform via a new native app.
– Went on an acquisition blitz acquiring social gaming giant Gamedoctors (the German-based developer of the hit mobile game "ZombieSmash"), San Francisco-based games companies Page44 Studios (who developed the iOS platform game "World of Goo"), mobile technology firm HipLogic and New York-based games development company Astro Ape Studios (the creators of "Mosterz Revenge", a free-to-play iOS social game). The terms of the deals and considerations paid for the four companies were undisclosed
– Launched Zynga Bingo, part of its new casino-style suite of games that includes Zynga Poker .
OTHER CHANNELS:
– Sports media firm PERFORM has developed multiple Google Chrome applications which will integrate sports content across Google platforms and YouTube channels for its LIVESPORT.tv and Goal.com.
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InfoPowa Quarter 1/2012 Review: Dec 17 2011 to Mar 17 2012
