EA PopCap Games announced today that it’s launching both a new Bejeweled adaptation and a freemium version of its Facebook game, Bejeweled Blitz, on iPhone and iPod Touch. Bejeweled 2, which is currently available on both devices, will be retired.

The move is part of a as part of a new strategic direction for the franchise on mobile. As far as we can tell from the language contained in the press release, this strategy is based on making “expandable, evergreen game experiences suited to every gaming taste and budget” available on mobile devices. The new Bejeweled game for iOS is available as a 99 cent download, while the freemium Bejeweled Blitz can be downloaded for free with microtransactions available in-game to boost scores.

On Facebook, Bejeweled Blitz went through several iterations and feature sets in the last year to convert the classic match-3 game into a social network experience. The primary feature that makes the game social is the leaderboard, where friends’ weekly scores are charted. Power-up items and extra lives for additional gameplay are the main monetization features. Over the summer, Bejeweled Blitz served as a launch title for Google+’s competing games platform. According to our AppData traffic tracking service, Bejeweled Blitz currently enjoys 8.6 million monthly active users and 2.7 million daily active users on Facebook alone.

Bejeweled Blitz for iOS features nearly identical gameplay to the Facebook original, with tweaks to the user interface and retina display support. The new Bejeweled for iOS features:

◊         New high-res graphics and retina display support

◊         3 game modes: Classic, Zen (featuring 6 ambient sound tracks and 6 mantras) and Diamond Mine

◊          In-game leaderboards to track personal high scores

◊          User profiles with gameplay statistics and 30 PopCap icons to personalize the experience

◊          7 achievement badges with 4 levels each (bronze, silver, gold, platinum),  plus 3 elite badges

◊          A player ranking system

Kabam’s newest strategy role-playing social game, The Godfather: Five Families, comes out today on Google+ for a 45-day exclusive launch period.

The Godfather marks a couple of firsts for Kabam: It’s the developer’s first licensed game, developed with Paramount Pictures’ digital entertainment branch. It’s also the first time we’ve seen Kabam launch a game on a social network other than Facebook, where the developer originally got its start (as Watercooler Inc.) with social applications and later with hardcore massively-multiplayer combat titles like 2009’s Kingdoms of Camelot. Based on our early look at the game, The Godfather builds on Kingdoms of Camelot’s combat and citybuilding gameplay mechanics with more emphasis on narrative, art quality and shifting player rankings.

The decision to launch the game on G+ before all other platforms seems like a vote of confidence in G+ social games. To date, Google hasn’t released much information about the growth of its social network and even less data is available on the health of the social games platform, which is segregated from the rest of the social network. We don’t know much about how games are selected for the G+ platform; but we’ve heard that it’s a more intimate and competitive submissions process than what developers experience on Facebook’s games platform.

Speaking to Inside Social Games, a Google spokesperson stresses that at five months in, it’s still early days for the social network. An announcement made at the Web 2.0 conference in October claims that G+has 40 million users. While we’re sure not all of those people are playing games on G+, Google tells us that rapid game launches from major developers like Kabam, Digital Chocolate and Zynga are validation of the market.

Based on the performance of Edgeworld and Dragons of Atlantis — both Facebook games the served as G+ launch titles — Kabam tells ISG that the developer is “pleased” with monetization and traffic on the platform. This was a key factor in determining the exclusive launch period for The Godfather.

“While pleased, we’re not entirely surprised,” a spokesperson says. “We know from experience and research that core gamers actively seek out their games. Equally important is our operational experience to date. The G+ team has been very responsive and supportive of our efforts — they’ve provided excellent service and a willingness to get things done quickly and efficiently.”

Kabam goes on to say that it will evaluate The Godfather’s performance on G+ before rolling it out to other networks and platforms. Additionally, the developer will continue to run The Godfather in open beta on Kabam.com as a means of testing new features. Kabam tells us that it uses a new proprietary technology to adapt and deploy games across multiple platforms more quickly, which will make it easier to facilitate simultaneous releases in the future.

Currently, G+ offers 30 titles in its Games tab — many of which are ports of existing Facebook and mobile games. The Godfather: Five Families has been in beta testing on Kabam.com since the fall.

The Sims 3 PC franchise’s latest expansion, Showtime, introduces a multiplayer feature that builds on a popular social game mechanic that drives engagement in The Sims Social.

In Showtime, player characters (Sims) can earn a living by performing at clubs and venues in-game. A new “SimPort” feature allows players to send their Sims to other players’ games to perform at their venues, netting both players in-game rewards. Sound familiar? It’s a common mechanic in social games, where players visit each other’s farms, houses, homesteads, etc. in order to gain additional resources.

It’s also a driving gameplay loop in The Sims Social, the wildly successful adaptation of The Sims franchise for Facebook, where players complete most in-game quests by visiting friends’ Sims to perform social interactions. These asynchronous multiplayer activities net both players rewards and soft currency that can be spent on decoration and activity items. Some of the interactions also feature a viral component, where both Sims participate in an activity (dancing, composing music, Whoo-hooing — the game’s term for sex — etc.) and then the visiting player may leave a Wall post of the activity for the home player. The Sims 3 SimPort feature perhaps doesn’t copy the viral element of visiting from the social game adaptation, but it is interesting to see content flow from The Sims Social back to the parent game series.

As for content flowing in the other direction, we have been told to expect a large-scale expansion for The Sims Social in 2012. The Sims 3 currently has expansions that cover show business, pets, child and teenage activities, late night activities, exotic jobs and travel. Technical limitations and gameplay parameters may rule out some of these areas for Sims Social expansions; for example, the Facebook game does not allow Sims to age and currently players cannot have more than one controllable Sim on their lot. The Sims 3 Showtime expansion hints, however, that emphasizing shared activities (like performing for a crowd of Sims) c0uld be the next direction The Sims Social may take.

With an up-to-$2 billion IPO that Zynga may file in the coming weeks to fund its continued global expansion, Facebook’s migration to Credits, Google’s launch of Google+, and the continued rapid growth of in-app purchase-based businesses on the iOS and Android mobile platforms, virtual goods are impacting businesses across the media landscape. Virtual goods, and the companies that distribute them, are continuing to bring about one of the largest disruptions entertainment, communication, and e-commerce infrastructure businesses have seen in years.

Inside Network is proud to announce a new original research report by Charles Hudson and Justin Smith that presents a comprehensive examination of the size and future of the virtual goods market in the United States, entitled Inside Virtual Goods: The US Virtual Goods Market 2011 – 2012. This is Inside Network’s third annual edition of the US Virtual Good Market report. The big picture? The US virtual goods market will reach $2.9 billion overall in 2012.

Where will the virtual goods market go in 2012 and what are the biggest opportunities left unclaimed? How will existing players fare as Facebook, Apple, and Google reshape the mobile gaming landscape, and larger and more sophisticated players enter the market? Inside Virtual Goods: The US Virtual Goods Market 2011 – 2012 provides deeper insight into monetization, development, and the key questions facing the space in 2012 than you’ll find anywhere else.

Get the Annual Membership Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495 OR Buy Single Report: $995

About the Report

Inside Virtual Goods is a new report researched and created specifically for entrepreneurs, investors, and analysts interested in the growth of this exciting new category of online commerce that is fueling the growth of games-as-a-service businesses. During a research phase spanning the last few months, co-authors Justin Smith and Charles Hudson have spoken with dozens of executives and entrepreneurs from all parts of the ecosystem in order to form what we believe are the most detailed estimates, analyses, and predictions for 2011 and 2012.

We focused and organized the report around the following areas:

1. Social Networks, Applications, and Games - The continued growth of the virtual goods market on social networks is one of the biggest stories of 2011. We delve deeply into the trends, stats, key players, opportunities, and challenges facing the space this year and next.
2. Mobile Applications and Games – Mobile application developers that have been early adopters of the free-to-play model are have seen significant growth in 2011, making mobile the fastest-growing component of the US virtual goods market. Our study breaks down the key opportunities and challenges facing this emerging space going into 2012.
3. Casual  and Hardcore MMOs - Developers in the MMO / MMORPG space have been among the earliest adopters of the free-to-play model, while Virtual worlds and casual MMOs continue to represent a share of the virtual goods opportunity in the United States. Our study breaks down the key trends in monetization and engagement, and the prospects for the future.
4. Console Games – The console market continues to be one of the areas where microtransactions are establishing a meaningful foothold in the market. We explore why the model is succeeding, revenue and user trends, and the key issues facing this space as we head into 2012.

Each section contains:

1. A brief history on the evolution and growth of this space in the US, including a description of key players.
2. Estimates on the size of the US virtual goods market in 2011 in that area.
3. A diagnosis of the key opportunities and issues facing the growth of that space, including our outlook and projections for 2012.

In addition, prior to delving more deeply into each market segment, we’ve provided an overview of the emerging payments ecosystem that is growing to serve these new businesses. Traditional e-commerce infrastructure providers only offer a partial solution, and the virtual goods payments layer is currently in a major state of flux. In the report, we describe the variety of solutions that have been brought to market to date, and the key challenges facing the industry from a payments perspective as a whole.

For more details, check out the full table of contents below.

The annual membership, which includes the report and three additional quarterly updates, is USD $2,495. Alternatively, you can obtain just this report for USD $995.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

• How We Got Here: A Brief History of Virtual Goods Worldwide
• Defining Terms
  • Registered users
  • Active users
  • Average revenue per user (ARPU)
  • Average revenue per paying user (ARPPU)
  • How do different developers manage their businesses?
• Growing Virtual Goods Markets in the US
  • Social Networks, Applications, and Games
  • Casual MMOs and Virtual Worlds
  • Hardcore MMOs and Free to Play Games
  • Mobile Applications and Games
  • Emerging Areas: Consoles, Subscription MMOs
• Methodology

2. The Virtual Goods Payments Ecosystem: An Overview

• Large Payment Platforms
• Mobile Payment Providers
• Offer Providers
• Direct Payments vs Offers
• Pre-paid Cards
• The Migration of Facebook Credits
• Platform Payments – Facebook, Google, and Apple
• Managing Fraud
• Related Companies

3. Social Networks, Applications, and Games

• Introduction
  • The Global Rise of Facebook
  • The Virtual Currency Payment Ecosystem and the Migration to Facebook Credits
  • Increased Optimization for Virtual Goods
• Social Networking Platforms Today
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Others
• Significant Changes to Facebook Platform Dynamics in 2011
  • Distribution & Engagement
  • Monetization
• Social Application and Game Genres: How Do They Perform?
  • Role Playing Games and “Hardcore” Mini-MMOs
  • Simulation and City Building Games
  • Pet Games
  • Poker Games
  • Gifting Apps
  • Arcade Games
• Who’s Buying Virtual Goods?
  • Gender Breakdown
  • Age Breakdown
  • Geographic Breakdown
• How Are They Spending Money?
  • Item Type Breakdown
  • Payment Method Breakdown
• Market Size Estimate
  • Total Number of Monthly Paying Users
  • Total ARPPU Per Month
  • Total US Virtual Goods Revenues from Social Networks in 2011 and 2012
• 2012 Outlook
  • Growth Rate
  • Major Risks that Could Hamper Growth
• Leading Companies

4. Mobile Applications and Games

• Introduction
• History of virtual goods model in US
• Major genres for free-to-play iPhone apps and games
• Resource management and simulation
• Platformers
• RPGs
• MMOs
• Board / Casual

• Mobile Application and Game Platforms Today
• iOS
• Android
• Others

• Mobile Application and Game Genres: How Do They Perform?
• Analyzing the Market Opportunity
• Total Player Base
• ARPU
• ARPPU
• Distribution of monetization between virtual goods, advertising, and initial purchase of downloadable product
• Payment methods
• Total US Virtual Goods Revenues from Mobile Applications and Games in 2011

• 2012 Outlook

• Predictions and Growth Rate
• Major Risks that Could Hamper Growth

• Leading Companies

5. Web-based MMOs, Free to Play Games, and Virtual Worlds 

• Introduction
  • History of free to play MMOs
  • Emergence of the free to play MMO market opportunity in the US
  • Major genres for free-to-play MMOs and hardcore games
• Payments
• Analyzing the Market Opportunity
  • ARPU
  • ARPPU
  • Market Size Estimate
• 2012 Outlook
  • Growth Rate
  • Key Challenges
• Leading Companies

6. Console Games

• Introduction
• Analyzing the Market Opportunity
  • Total Player Base
  • ARPU
  • ARPPU
  • Payment methods
• 2012 Outlook
• Leading Companies

7. Investment Landscape

• Venture Capital
• M&A and IPO Landscape

8. Conclusion

• Overview: 2011 Market Estimates
• Looking Ahead: 2012

9. Appendix: Company Index

About the Authors

Charles Hudson

Venture Partner, SoftTech VC, CEO and Co-Founder, Bionic Panda Games

Charles Hudson is a Venture Partner with SoftTech VC and the CEO and Co-Founder of Bionic Panda Games, a mobile games company based in San Francisco, CA.

Until February 2010, he was the VP of Business Development for Serious Business, a leading producer of social games. Zynga acquired Serious Business in February of 2010. Prior to Serious Business, Hudson worked at Gaia Interactive, Google, IronPort Systems, and In-Q-Tel. Hudson also founded Third Power LLC, a conference and events company that was acquired by WebMediaBrands. Charles holds an MBA and BA from Stanford University.

Justin Smith

Founder, Inside Network

Justin Smith is the founder of Inside Network, the first service dedicated to providing news and market research to the Facebook platform and social gaming ecosystem. Justin leads Inside Network’s analyst services, manages Inside Network’s AppDataservice, and serves as co-editor of Inside Facebook and Inside Social Games. Inside Network was acquired by WebMediaBrands (NASDAQ:WEBM) in May 2011.

Prior to Inside Network, he was Head of Product at Watercooler, now Kabam, a leading social game developer on the Facebook Platform. Prior to Watercooler, Justin was an early employee at Xfire, the largest social utility for gamers, which was sold to Viacom in 2006.

Justin holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University, where he was a Mayfield Fellow and a recipient of the Terman Award in Engineering.

Get the Annual Membership

The annual membership, which includes the report and three additional quarterly updates, is USD $2,495. Alternatively, you can just download this report for USD $995.

Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495

OR Buy Single Report: $995

List of Related Companies: 6waves, A Bit Lucky, Acclaim, Activision, AdParlor, Aeria Games, Amazon, Applifier, Appstrip, Artix Entertainment, Bebo, Bigpoint, Blackhawk, Boku, Boomerang Networks, Booyah, Challenge Games, CrowdStar, Digital Chocolate, Digital River, Disney, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Frogster, Gaia Online, Gala-Net, Gambit, Gameforge, GMG, Google, GratisPay, gWallet, HeyZap, Hi5, IMVU, InComm, iovation, Jagex, Kabam, Kontagent, Limasky, Lolapps, Meez, Metaplace, Microsoft, MindJolt, MySpace, News Corporation, Nexon, ngmoco, Nintendo, Offerpal Media, OMGPOP, Outspark, Papaya Mobile, PaymentPin, PayPal, PeanutLabs, Playdom, Playfirst, Playfish, PlaySpan, Rekoo, Riot Games, Rixty, RockYou, Rovio, Scoreloop, Second Life, SGN, Six Degrees Games, Slashkey, Slide, SocialGold, Sometrics, Sony, Sony (Free Realms), Sparkplay Media, SponsorPay, Sulake (Habbo Hotel), Super Rewards (Adknowledge), SupersonicAds, SurfPin, Tapulous, Tencent, TheBroth, ThreatMetrix, Three Rings (Puzzle Pirates), TokenAds, TrialPay, Turbine, Viacom (MTV), Viacom (Neopets), Viximo, WeeWorld, Wooga, ZipZapPlay, Zong, Zynga

Brazilian social game developer Vostu has settled the June 2011 lawsuit filed against it by Zynga for copyright infringement. As part of the deal, Vostu paid Zynga an unspecified amount of monetary compensation and made changes to four of its games.

A joint statement sent to press outlets by both parties reads, “Zynga and Vostu have settled the copyright lawsuits and counterclaims against each other in the United States and Brazil. As part of the settlement, Vostu made a monetary payment to Zynga and made some changes to four of its games. The parties are pleased to have settled their disputes and to now put these matters behind them.”

As we can already see just form Vostu’s updated MegaCity logo below, the presentation of the main female non-playable character doesn’t as closely resemble CityVille’s main female character, Samantha, as it did six months ago when Zynga filed suit. The other games with which Zynga took issue — Café Mania, Pet Mania, Vostu Poker and MiniFazenda — also appear to have received mini-makeovers in branding.

While it could be argued that Zynga isn’t hurting for the money, the settlement does point toward a lower tolerance for cloning in the social game industry than we previously saw in 2009 when the largest developers routinely released games with similar themes and gameplay modes within weeks of one another. Though Zynga has struggled with clone accusations — note the 2009 Mob Wars/Mafia Wars lawsuit — it appears as though the developer has made a conscious effort to avoid directly reproducing what works in other games, instead building new products within genres from the ground up. Vostu seems to be on a similar track, recently releasing Gol Mania, a soccer sim that doesn’t at all resemble any of Zynga’s current game lineup, on Facebook and Google+.

Australian developer Halfbrick has received government funding for its new Sydney studio. The Fruit Ninja developer will be one of several Australian high tech companies taking advantage of the $3 million New South Whales Interactive Media Fund.

According to a government-issued press release, Halfbrick’s Sydney studio will be working on a new iteration of the Fruit Ninja franchise. Halfbrick has recently brought Fruit Ninja to Facebook as Fruit Ninja Frenzy, released a new game called Jetpack Joyride, created a Fruit Ninja spin off to promote DreamWorks’ Puss in Boots movie, and teamed with Chinese developer iDreamSky to develop a version of Fruit Ninja specifically for the Chinese market and has even released Fruit Ninja plush toys. In the press release, New South Whales’ Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner says the game would take Fruit Ninja in a new direction, but Halfbrick Marketing Director Phil Larsen tells Gamasutra that the gameplay details have yet to be finalized.

According to our AppData traffic tracking service for social games and developers, Halfbrick’s mobile offerings outside its core Fruit Ninja franchise have been in decline. While Fruit Ninja is still the #4 paid app and the #20 top grossing app, Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots has fallen to the #166 spot on the top grossing apps list and Jetpack Joyride has dropped down to #263. On Facebook, AppData shows that Fruit Ninja Frenzy has also seen a slight drop in the past month, with MAU falling to 590,000 and DAU to 70,000.

Different week, same story — CastleVille leads the fastest-growing games by monthly active users while Bubble Witch Saga and Tetris Battle follow.

Gem Rush and PokeristClub (formerly titled The Pokerist Club — Texas Poker) squeeze past Words With Friends for the No.4 and 5 spots on our list, and 2009 title Icy Tower makes a bit of a comeback at No.18. Other than that, the movement on this week’s rankings doesn’t point to any major activity in the social game industry — which is to be expected as we draw closer to the holidays and fewer developers launch new games.

Top Gainers This Week – Games

	Name	MAU	Gain	Gain,%
1.	CastleVille	25,400,000	+8,000,000	+46%
2.	Bubble Witch Saga	9,200,000	+600,000	+7%
3.	Tetris Battle	7,900,000	+400,000	+7%
4.	Gem Rush	510,000	+360,000	+240%
5.	PokeristClub	2,000,000	+300,000	+18%
6.	Words With Friends	12,400,000	+300,000	+2%
7.	Coco Girl	2,800,000	+200,000	+8%
8.	FarmVille	31,000,000	+200,000	+0.65%
9.	Magic Land	2,100,000	+200,000	+11%
10.	المزرعة السعيدة	3,200,000	+200,000	+7%
11.	Storage Wars: The Game	340,000	+130,000	+62%
12.	TubeHero	700,000	+110,000	+23%
13.	Bejeweled Blitz	8,500,000	+100,000	+1%
14.	BINGO Blitz	2,700,000	+100,000	+4%
15.	Bubble Atlantis	1,200,000	+100,000	+9%
16.	Bubble Saga	6,300,000	+100,000	+2%
17.	Diamond Dash	11,300,000	+100,000	+0.89%
18.	Icy Tower	1,200,000	+100,000	+9%
19.	Mynet Çanak Okey	2,400,000	+100,000	+4%
20.	Pool Live Tour	3,200,000	+100,000	+3%

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.

Read our reviews of…

• CastleVille
• Bubble Witch Saga
• Tetris Battle
• Gem Rush
• Words With Friends
• Coco Girl
• Magic Land
• Storage Wars
• Bejeweled Blitz
• Bingo Blitz
• Bubble Atlantis
• Bubble Saga
• Diamond Dash
• Icy Tower

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms.

Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at Deep Fried Gaming, 6waves Lolapps, King.com,  W3i, Acquinity Interactive, Live World, SiXiTS New Media, Electronic Arts and Natural Motion Games.

• Product Manager

• Product Manager for Popular Social Gaming Company
• Support Engineer – Browser and Social Games

• Product Performance Manager, Skillgames – King.com
• Senior Systems Developer, Skillgames – King.com
• Front end Developer, Skillgames – King.com

• Online Media Buyer
• Online Marketing Manager
• Campaign Analyst

• Senior Flash ActionScript Software Engineer

• Technical Director, Mobile

• Customer Acquisition Manager
• Lead Programmer
• Design Lead / Manager

Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Social Games, Inside Facebook and Inside Mobile Apps through regular posts and widgets on the sites. Your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers, and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today.

A roundup of all the news Inside Network brought you between November 28th and December 4th

Inside Mobile Apps

Tracking the convergence of mobile apps, social platforms and virtual goods. 

Monday, November 28th:

• Free Version of Gamevil’s Cartoon Wars: Gunner Hits App Store
• Emerging Top Paid iOS Apps: Charlie Brown, Star Wars and Rat on A Snowboard
• Zynga’s Fruitless Attempts at a Big Ticket Acquisition in Mobile? A Closer Look
• App Marketing Network W3i Opens $10M in Funding, Credits to Developers

Tuesday, November 29th:

• New CTIA-ESRB Ratings For Mobile Apps May Not Have Teeth Without Apple, Google
• Ahead of Its IPO, Zynga to Kick Off Investor Roadshow Next Week
• Announcing Inside Virtual Goods: Tracking the US Virtual Goods Market 2011 – 2012
• Emerging Top Grossing iOS Apps: Blood & Glory, Dream Zoo and Battle Nations
• Glu’s Blood & Glory Enters The Free-to-Play Fighting Arena on iOS
• EA’s Next Version of Tetris Will Experiment With an Optional Membership Model

Wednesday, November 30th:

• Slide Soccer from Ludei Offers a Freemium Tabletop Sports Experience on iOS
• Emerging Free iOS Apps: Monster Magic, FairyFail and the Merry Manor
• Cost of Acquiring Users For iOS Apps Slips as Downloads Hit a Record
• New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: EA, SiXiTS, Natural Motion and More
• Unity Gets 750,000 Registered Developers For Gaming Platform
• New Speakers Confirmed for Inside Social Apps 2012 – February 8th and 9th in San Francisco
• Tapjoy Actively Explores a Sale With Zynga, Japanese Giants DeNA & GREE as Candidates

Thursday, December 1st:

• Zynga to Lower Prospective Valuation to $10B For IPO Amid Economic Uncertainty
• Crowdstar Moves to Android with Limited Kindle Fire Exclusivity for Top Girl
• PapayaMobile and Sega Team for Android Exclusive Fallen Realms
• Smule’s Acquisition of Khush Creates 30M Download Music App Empire
• New Hires in Mobile: Gameloft, GREE and InMobi
• Emerging Android Apps: Blood & Glory, ChuChu Rocket and Sleepy Jack

Friday, December 2nd: 

• Zynga Boosts Amount it May Raise in IPO to $1.15B at a $5.9 to $7B Valuation
• Facebook Poaches a Head of Mobile Developer Relations From Sencha
• Zen Pinball from Zen Studios Makes the Move from PlayStation 3 to iOS
• Facebook Reportedly Acquires Gowalla, No Confirmation From Either Company
• Mobile App Roundup: RIM, Angry Birds Hunt For Pistachios, Burstly Funding

Inside Social Games

Covering all the latest developments at the intersection of games and social platforms.

Monday, November 28th:

• CastleVille, Bubble Witch Saga Lead This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by MAU
• SNS Plus Lands $4M Round From WI Harper Group, Matrix Partners
• Zynga Finally Unveils Indiana Jones Adventure World

Tuesday, November 29th:

• Facebook’s Top 5 Player vs. Player Strategy Games by Traffic, With Gameplay Analysis
• Tetris Online’s Feevo Blaze for Facebook Adds Some Heat to Puzzle Game Recipes
• Announcing Inside Virtual Goods: Tracking the US Virtual Goods Market 2011 – 2012
• Zynga to Kick Off Its IPO Roadshow Next Week
• Disney Playdom Sunsetting Social City After 21 Months and 12 Million MAU

Wednesday, November 30th:

• CastleVille and The Sims Social Head to Head on This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by DAU
• Nival Invests in HTML5 Proficient Bytex to Fuel Pivot into Mobile, Social Gaming
• Puzzle Adventures from Ravensburger Wants its Piece of the Facebook Puzzle Game Action
• New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: King.com, Deep Fried, Lolapps and More
• EA Playfish After The Sims Social: Risk, Mobile, and Sims Expansions
• New Speakers Confirmed for Inside Social Apps 2012 – February 8th and 9th in San Francisco
• EA to Acquire KlickNation as it Moves Into Core Gaming on Facebook

Thursday, December 1st:

• Tapjoy Actively Explores a Sale With Zynga, Japanese Giants DeNA & GREE as Candidates
• Zynga to Lower Prospective Valuation to $10B For IPO Amid Economic Uncertainty
• Zynga Snags Sony’s Rob Dyer as Head of Partner Publishing
• Confirmed: EA Acquires KlickNation, Source Says Price is Roughly $35M
• New Hires in Social Gaming: Zynga, Tagged and Wooga

Friday, December 2nd: 

• Zynga Boosts Amount it May Raise in IPO to $1.15B at a $5.9 to $7B Valuation
• Feevo Blaze Burns Up This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Games
• Facebook’s Top Farming Games By Traffic
• Baseball Game Homerun Heroes Goes to Bat on Facebook for 6waves Lolapps
• What’s New on Google+ Games
• Social Gaming News Roundup: Tiny Speck, Sojo Studios and Zynga

Inside Facebook

Tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.

Monday, November 28th:

• Tabs, Quizzes, Newspapers, Skype, Spotify, “Twilight” and More on This Week’s Top 20 Growing Facebook Apps by MAU
• Featured Facebook Campaigns: Toys “R” Us, Taco Cabana, “Mission Impossible,” GLAAD, Walmart, Michael Kors, Macy’s and Visa
• Facebook Adds “Related Posts” with Questions and Comments to Sponsored Stories
• Facebook Updates Bookmarks, Canvas Page Layout, Adds Secure Video Embeds
• Facebook Buys WhoGlue, But Not Its Talent

Tuesday, November 29th:

• New Facebook Platform Industry Hires: Shoutlet, Wildfire, Work4 Labs and AdParlor
• Announcing Inside Virtual Goods: Tracking the US Virtual Goods Market 2011 – 2012
• Movies, LMFAO, Target, Macy’s, Poker, Football and More on This Week’s Top 20 Growing Facebook Pages
• Facebook Settles Federal Trade Commission Charges That It Tricked Users on Privacy Settings
• Facebook Reveals Most Shared Articles in 2011

Wednesday, November 30th:

• Yahoo, Klout, Bing, Scribd, Birthdays, News and SoundCloud on This Week’s Top 20 Growing Facebook Apps by DAU
• New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: Live World, W3i, EA and More
• Facbeook Highlighting More Early Results for Social News Apps
• TL;DR: Facebook Increases Status Update Character Limit From 5K to 60K+
• New Speakers Confirmed for Inside Social Apps 2012 – February 8th and 9th in San Francisco

Thursday, December 1st:

• Social Media Tracking Platform awe.sm Closes $4.25M in Funding
• Facebook Hires and Departures: Engineering, Recruiting, Sales and More
• Facebook Now Directing Typeahead Search Traffic Straight to Apps
• Facebook Careers Postings: Engineering, Mobile, HR, Marketing and More
• Facebook Marketing Showcase: Cosmetic Brands Want To Get You All Made-Up
• The Facebook Marketing Bible December 2011 Edition Is Now Available
• The Top 25 Facebook Games of December 2011

Friday, December 2nd: 

• Christmas Apps, Photos, Ustream Live, Horoscopes, Store Locator and More on This Week’s Top 20 Emerging Facebook Apps by MAU
• Facebook Opening Engineering Office in New York City In 2012
• Facebook Roundup: Privacy, Gambling, Mobile, Spotify, WashPo Reader and More
• Facebook Reportedly Acquires Gowalla, No Confirmation From Either Company

CityVille Turns One – The most popular game on Facebook turned one this week. According to a Zynga press release, in one year CityVille players have made 1.4 billion neighbor connections, created 89 million coffee shops and captured 4.5 million bandits. On average, players log into the game 5 times a day. The most popular time of day to play is just after 12:00 pm PST.

Tiny Speck “Unlaunches” Glitch – San Francisco/Vancouver based developer Tiny Speck is taking its flagship game Glitch back to beta to make improvements to gameplay and accessibility. The social, cooperative online game was officially launched in September.

NYT Highlights Zynga’s Deadline Driven Culture – The New York Times called out Zynga this week with a highly critical story on the company’s working conditions. According to the article, Zynga’s employees are expected to log long hours to meet tight deadlines. While the article suggests that working conditions at the social gaming giant could harm long term acquisition or retention efforts, poor working conditions are an ongoing and persistent problem in the video games industry. As far back as 2004, spouses of EA employees were venting their frustrations online, and more recently, defunct Australian developer Team Bondi’s former employees brought their complaints about poor working conditions public.

Square Teams with DeNA for Final Fantasy Social Game - Andriasang is reporting that Square Enix and Mobage operator DeNA are teaming to release a new social game called Final Fantasy Brigade. The game will include standbys of the Final Fantasy IP like airships, jobs and summons. The game will debut in Japan on feature phones, but will be coming to the web and smartphones at some point.

WOW Subscriptions Still Dropping, Patches Rolled Out - Blizzard’s MMO World of Warcraft continues to lose subscribers, dropping from 11.1 million to 10.3 million in the third quarter. The game, which is over 7 years old, is a holdover from the days when MMOs required subscription fees, and most MMOs are now free-to-play. The game was patched this week with new raids, dungeons and abilities.

Social Games Fueling Growth of SouthEast Asian Game Market - Niko Partners expects that the SouthEast Asian gaming market will be worth $474 million this year thanks to the strength of social and free-to-play online games in region. Niko Partners defines SouthEast Asia as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The full report can be found here.

Discover Sponsors FarmVille Expansion - Financial services company Discover has teamed with Zynga to sponsor its own branded FarmVille expansion. The Winter Wonderland Expansion opens to the public on December 5th and includes branded content and financial offers for Discover cardmembers. While Zynga has run plenty of promotions in its games, Winter Wonderland is the first completely branded expansion the developer has authorized.

[Funding] Rumble Starts Big with $15 Million in Series A – Social and mobile gaming startup Rumble Entertainment has raised  $15 million in series A funding from Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures. The company was started earlier this year by former Bioware, EA and Zynga employees. According to a TechCrunch report, Rumble will be using the funding to develop a publishing platform and finish two games currently in development.

[Funding] Miso Raises $4 For Social TV – Miso, a social network that allows users to check in, comment and rate the TV shows they’re watching has raised $4 million in additional funding from Khosla Ventures. To date the company has raised $6 million.

[Launch] Tween Focused Social Gaming Network Sweety High Debuts – Sweety High, a social network and games platform for girls between the age of 8 and 16 has come out of beta. The platform lets users earn real life rewards while playing, such as meeting fashion designers and recording a song with a major record label.

[Launch] Vostu’s Gol Mania Comes to Google+ – Brazilian developer Vostu has brought its real-time multiplayer soccer game Gol Mania to Google+. The game debuted on Facebook and Orkut in September.

[Launch] Sojo Studios Releases “Social Good” Game WeTOPIA – New York based Sojo Studios has launched its first game, WeTOPIA, a city building game with a charitable twist. As players build online, they earn an in-game currency that can be applied to charitable projects. Sojo Studios also donates 50% of the profits from in-game purchases to its charity beneficiaries.