Mobile Games

The Facebook tidal wave seems to be unleashing across the social gaming ecosphere. The latest extension of Facebook’s social connectedness comes from none other than Zynga itself which today unveiled Zynga Direct, an extension of its ZLive platform that will serve as a new discovery and distribution channel for the social gaming powerhouse. More after the jump.

Tapjoy and PapayaMobile today announced that they are partnering to launch Social Marketplace that provides users with recommendations on which apps to download. Both companies have released a flurry of announcements recently and this particular news could be great for developers and users alike. More after the jump.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.

Revenues from virtual goods sales in social games is growing exponentially each year and has the potential to reach $4 billion globally by 2016. Nonetheless, successfully monetizing social games is nowalk in the park, especially for those developers who may not have all the necessary resources. Luckily for them, the PlayPhone social gaming network just released PlayPhone PXP, a complete tool set ofadvanced virtual goods management tools supporting Android, iOS, and HTML5. More after the jump.

Personalization in games is less talked about compared to various other topics such as distribution and monetization. That’s because it is difficult to discuss as actionable insights get lost among the heaps of data developers collect. Making breakthroughs in this space is a company called Swrve that I had a pleasure to sit down with and discuss their emerging platform. More after the jump.

Mobile social gaming network GREE has recently announced its plan to launch a cohesive mobile gaming platform by mid 2012. In addition, the Japanese giant is also projecting net sales of around $1.7B, a 40 percent jump from the firm’s previous projections. This news comes at a time when DeNA is aggressively laying out its plans for Mobage Global after achieving a net income of around $105M for the quarter. More after the jump.

According to a recent SEC filing, music app developer Smule has raised $12M in another round of funding after having previously raised $13.5. Best known for its popular mobile apps such as the I am T-Pain autotune app and Ocarina, Smule will aggressively pursue the mobile social music market by continuing to innovate on its existing free-to-play apps. More after the jump.

In mid-August, Google announced the launch of Google+ games integrated directly into the search giant’s new social network. Silicon Valley consensus is that Google is finally making a direct attack at Facebook and that company’s commanding lead over social networking; the inclusion of social games, which comprise much of Facebook’s own user activity, seems confirmation [...]

Distimo, the app store market tracking service, continues to reveal the importance of the freemium model. Free app downloads have grown 34 percent since 2010 in contrast to paid app downloads which grew by 7 percent. In the past the firm also reported a 10x growth in freemium revenue from top releases on the App Stor. More after the jump.

As the lines between console and mobile continue to blur, Apple’s eyes remain fixated on conquering the living room experience. Its introduction of AirPlay Mirroring could be a key blow to console makers like Sony and Microsoft who are still trying to gain traction on the mobile frontier. The plethora of content on Apple’s App Store combined with portable devices could be the reason why Apple will be the first to deliver a seamless gaming experience. More after the jump.

OpenFeint has been the heartthrob of writers in the gaming space, notably for its departing personnel, as it navigates the murky waters of iOS. The latest news to come from the mobile gaming network is its launch of its app discovery platform Game Channel on Android. More after the jump.

Once again the popular social game discovery platform, Heyzap, is making the mobile gaming experience more even more user friendly. Today they announced the addition of a new ‘Play tab’ to its Android app. Conveniently located on the toolbar, the new feature makes it easier than ever for users to browse through their game library without having to search through their whole app library. The company assured us that an iPhone update will be coming soon as well. More after the jump.