Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware, iPhone, SDK, iPod touch
OpenFeint drops dev fees as Chillingo announces social gaming network Crystal SDK
The social gaming market on the iPhone has taken two sharp turns recently. First up, right after announcing that their system hit a full million users, OpenFeint announced that their social gaming platform has gone completely free for developers. Originally, the SDK was free to download, and then there was a small cost-per-user fee for developers, but with this new change, that cost is gone, and OpenFeint will now make all of their money, as we were told by Peter Relan, from referring users to other games and in-app purchases, and then taking that cut from Apple.The popular publisher Chillingo has also announced a newcomer to the social gaming scene: they're planning to introduce another system called Crystal SDK, that will presumably both be free to all developers, and automatically included in most of Chillingo's games. Their release specifically tells us that "Crystal is iPhone's answer to Microsoft's Xbox Live," so they're officially throwing their hat in an already crowded ring.
With a million users, OpenFeint is still the biggest network going, but obviously Chillingo believes there's still many more to pick up. Should be interesting to see, as always, what users decide to do.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nate said 9:25PM on 7-15-2009
I haven't really enjoyed my time using OpenFeint. It's just a bunch of chatrooms limited to 10 people per room.
Although, I really like Plus+. Plus+ is ngmoco's stab at social networking and is featured in two of their latest games, Star Defense and Rolando 2 (top notch games). It's not fully fleshed out yet but it provides a slick integration of achievements, gamer points, and push challenges. And while Plus+ can post game high scores and stuff to your facebook status I would really like to see a FB connect integration with full profile views, etc. I would also like to see other people's gamer point totals.
I really hope that an evolved Plus+ wins out in this little iPhone Social Networking battle that's brewing. I think it's the best on the platform so far.
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Eros said 5:09PM on 7-16-2009
Hi Nate - Eros from OpenFeint here. You must be looking at an old version of OpenFeint (1.0 I'm guessing). Take a look at PocketGod, Stickwars, or Sentinel II. They have achievements, leader boards, chat, and all the goodies from OpenFeint 2.0 implemented so the games really take advantage of connecting with our 1 million users (and growing...)
Matthew said 1:17PM on 9-15-2009
there is much money to be made in this social space for gaming. As social network for gamer sites such as http://gamefriends.com emerge we will see even more apps and mobile games created.
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