Official Flaii Blog

Google, which has been on a spending spree lately, has made SocialDeck its latest acquisition as part of the company’s efforts to build up its social networking and gaming capabilities.

Founded in 2008, SocialDeck is focused on enabling “anywhere, anytime, anyone” gaming. The Canadian firm’s  titles, which play on iPhone, Facebook, and BlackBerry, include Pet Hero MD, Shake & Spell, Shake & Spell 3D and Color Connect. The company’s social gaming platform technology enables simultaneous game play across multiple mobile devices and social networks.

“We started this company with the goal of connecting friends through social games on all kinds of exciting new mobile devices. We’ve been amazed and humbled by all of the stories and experiences our customers (you!) have shared with us,” SocialDeck wrote on its website.

Google has been busy on the acquisition front, especially as it relates to social gaming. Over the past month it has acquired social game and app developer Slide, virtual currency provider Jamboll, online retailer Like.com, and Ångströ, a small startup that connects news and social contacts.

The gaming and social networking acquisitions should help build up the capabilities of Google’s Android operating system.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a really cool story that shows how big the market is for virtual goods:

Susan Choe, head of the San Francisco-based online video-game startup Outspark Inc., figured she’d found the right strategy when a family of four spent $35,000 for virtual goods on her site.

“We actually called their bank to make sure they could afford it,” said Choe, 40, who serves as chief executive officer. “Apparently they can.”

Outspark offers free Internet games and then makes money by selling extras, such as $2 magic potions, $200 rings with special powers, and even $5 licenses that let players get married virtually (divorces are free). Several hundred families have now spent tens of thousands on the site…

The average paying Outspark customer spends about $55 a month, or as much as $400 during the life of a game. That compares with the $10 to $20 that paying customers typically spend monthly for a game like FarmVille, the most popular title on Facebook, said Atul Bagga, an analyst for ThinkEquity LLC in San Francisco.

Wow! You could buy a car for $35,000. I see this market just growing like crazy – despite a general economic downturn.

ZYNGA PRESS RELEASE

Zynga today announced the acquisition of Austin-based social game company Challenge Games. Effective immediately, the Challenge Games office will become Zynga Austin, a game studio focused on product development. Today’s announcement expands Zynga’s studio operations adding to locations already in San Francisco, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Bangalore, and Beijing. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“Austin is an ideal location to extend our studio operations with its rich talent in the games business,” said Mike Verdu, senior vice president of Games at Zynga. “We look forward to building out our Zynga Austin studio with the best and brightest in the industry as we continue to bring social games to more users worldwide.”

Continue reading Zynga Acquires Challenge Games

Zynga is going back in time to the Old West with its latest game.

In FrontierVille, you start out with the very basics: a covered wagon and a plot of land. From those humble beginnings, you clear the land, plant crops, and build a homestead for your family and friends.

“FrontierVille is Oregon Trail meets Little House on the Prairie meets FarmVille,” says Zynga Chief Game Designer Brian Reynolds, who led the development of this latest offering. “FrontierVille gives users creative new ways to connect with people around the world while bringing out the pioneering spirit in all of us.”

FrontierVille is a big step beyond Farmville, offering brand new features for the first time:

• multiple avatars on a single screen under one player’s control
• virtual families where you can customize a spouse and raise children
• a “living world,” where players contend with wildlife encounters, varying weather, and vegetation growth
• the ability for your avatar to visit your friends’ farms and do work on them.

It’s all very cool. TechCrunch reports that Zynga is very pleased with the response to the new game.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus reports, “FrontierVille is the most successful launch we’ve ever had.” More than 100,000 people tried the game the first day, with roughly half of those coming from blogs and news sites. Pincus says the second-day retention rate (people who came back to play again on Day 2) was 70 percent. Less than a week later, the game has more than one million daily active users. Zynga spent more money developing FrontierVille than any other game so far. It lets players interact with their friends’ game boards, increasing the social aspect of the game beyond simply buying someone a virtual gift.

Check it out on Facebook!

The beta testing for our Flaii Social Gaming Dashboard has been going great! People have been downloading the program and really enjoying how they can play multiple Facebook games from one screen. Their comments have been a tremendous help to us in making the Flaii experience even better.

You can still be among the first to test this brand new gaming platform. Sign up here.  Start Flaiing today!

Great news everyone!

We have released a beta release for the Flaii Game Dashboard for folks to test. The dashboard lets you play your favorite Facebook games on one screen.

We’re letting a limited number of people test out this new application. If you want to be among the first to try it, sign up at http://www.flaii.com/install.html.