SocialGaming Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Gree closing down OpenFeint on December 14

by Mike Schramm (Nov 19th, 2012)

I believe we've now reached the end of iOS' first generation as a platform -- it's almost every week now that we're hearing about a major startup losing a founder or a big franchise shutting down. This time it's OpenFeint, the social gaming platform started up way back by Jason Citron and ...

Amazon announces GameCircle, similar to Apple's GameCenter

by Mike Schramm (Jul 11th, 2012)

Amazon has announced a new service for its Kindle Fire platform called GameCircle, which is akin to Apple's own GameCenter service. It's set to provide a series of APIs for leaderboards, achievements, and other socially-centered game-related features. GameCircle has already been tested with a ...

Zynga acquires Draw Something dev OMGPOP for $200 million

by Mike Schramm (Mar 21st, 2012)

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how App Store fortunes are made. We've posted already about the almost overnight success of Draw Something, an app that has picked up over 30 million downloads and even beaten Zynga at its own game on Facebook. And because everyone knows that Zynga has plenty ...

Mobile is the fastest-growing segment of social games

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 21st, 2012)

The iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices are a growing source of revenue for those selling virtual goods, says a report from Inside Virtual Goods. The report looks at the virtual goods market and tracks sales from mobile devices and social games like those on Facebook. Though social games ...

Zynga buys Newtoy, studio rebranded as Zynga With Friends

by Mike Schramm (Dec 2nd, 2010)

Well how about this -- Facebook and social game giant Zynga has bought up iPhone developer Newtoy, makers of the popular Games with Friends apps, including Words with Friends and Chess with Friends. Newtoy has now been rebranded as Zynga With Friends, and will apparently be working on new titles ...

OpenFeint's Jason Citron talks Game Center and Aurora Feint 3

by Mike Schramm (Apr 9th, 2010)

The first thought on everyone's minds as we heard during the event yesterday that Apple would be forming their own social gaming network on the iPhone called Game Center, was probably, "What about OpenFeint?" Since almost the very beginning of the App Store, OpenFeint founder Jason Citron has been ...

Freeverse goes with ngmoco's Plus+ for iPhone social gaming

by Mike Schramm (Jul 31st, 2009)

Freeverse has picked a partner in the ongoing dance of social gaming networks on the iPhone. They've joined up with ngmoco and their Plus+ system for all of their games, including Flick Bowling, Flick Fishing, and Moto Thunder. The first Freeverse game to use the system (which allows players to earn ...