Robot Unicorn Attack: Evolution is the third incarnation of Adult Swim’s simple but addictive platform game to hit Facebook. Rather than being a straight port or reskin of the original Flash game with some rudimentary leaderboard support, however, Robot Unicorn Attack: Evolution adds a significant amount of new mechanics to the game, allowing for a greater focus on monetization, viral promotion and user retention.

The basic premise of Robot Unicorn Attack is very simple, which gives the game its enduring appeal among casual and core gamers alike. Taking on the role of the titular robot unicorn, players are thrust into a randomly-generated 2D scrolling play area and tasked with jumping over gaps or using a “dash attack” move to smash through obstacles. The longer the player survives, the more points they get but the faster the scrolling becomes. Additional points can also be scored by jumping through floating butterflies or breaking star-shaped objects.

“When we originally brought Robot Unicorn Attack to Facebook, we focused on leaderboards as its social hook — playing against your friends, trying to beat their scores,” explains Chris Johnston, senior games producer at Adult Swim. “As our first Facebook game, it was an experiment and we kept it simple; we always wanted to bring more to that experience. We’d have these brainstorms of ways to expand the gameplay and its social elements, but we knew we’d have to do it in a way that made sense and kept people coming back. We partnered with Mediatonic for that effort, and they took some of those initial thoughts and ran with them in Robot Unicorn Attack: Evolution.”

These new ideas for Evolution include a combo system. Smashing through four stars in succession without missing any causes an “Evolution,” whereby the background art changes and the unicorn transforms into a different animal — first a panda, then a wolf and onward into other forms depending on player skill. Missing a star causes the player to drop back down an evolution “level,” however, while maintaining a combo in the higher forms gives bonuses to score.

Evolution also adds leveling, powerups and currency to the game. Completing a level earns experience points and “Fairy Dust.” Once the player hits level 3, they unlock a powerup slot, with new powerups and additional slots becoming available with each subsequent level up. These features can also be unlocked early by spending Facebook Credits. Activating a powerup costs a certain amount of Fairy Dust each time it is used, but generally offers some sort of enhancement to the player that makes gameplay slightly easier — one slows the game down slightly, another allows the player to survive one collision with a star if they are not using the dash attack. None of these powerups significantly unbalance the game, however — it is still a very challenging experience.

Fairy Dust is earned after each level, with more earned if more friends are playing. Larger bonuses are also provided upon leveling up, and the player may purchase more using Facebook Credits if they don’t wish to grind for more.

The game also offers daily challenges, with big bonuses on offer to those who complete the challenge five days in a row. This is a feature designed for those who believe themselves to be skilled at the game, however, since trying again after an initial failure costs 1,000 Fairy Dust each time. The base game, meanwhile, can be played as much as the player wants for free, with Fairy Dust optionally being expended on powerups.

The game strikes a good balance between the simplicity, addictive nature and broad appeal of the original Flash game while adding a variety of features that will help to both promote and monetize the game. Its optional Wall posts are also all somewhat sarcastic and humorous in tone, which might appeal more to those players usually disinclined to share their game activity with friends.

“We’re promoting Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution in a number of ways: by cross-promoting with the original Robot Unicorn Attack on Facebook and on AdultSwim.com as well as on TV via advertising during the Adult Swim programming block,” says Johnston. “We’ve got some great plans for the game’s future expansion and ways to give players more ownership over their unicorns and use the Fairy Dust they’ve acquired while playing. I can’t go into specifics right now, but it will be awesome.”

2012 also looks set to be the year of Adult Swim taking bolder steps into the social games market.

“[We're] working with talented developers on new social game concepts with quirky, absurdist Adult Swim twists,” says Johnston. “Developers who find that idea enticing can contact us via game.submission@adultswim.com and get more info on pitching to us.”

Robot Unicorn Attack: Evolution is, rather aptly, a well-considered evolution of the original game’s concept, well-designed for the Facebook platform and social play. The good reputation and recognizable name that its predecessors carry will likely allow the game to build up a healthy and dedicated following, in turn leading to success and profitability.

Look for the game on our traffic tracking service, AppData to track its MAU and DAU progress as the game matures. In the meantime, you can try out the game here.

Play

A much-loved Flash game gets a well thought out social overhaul.

Digital Chocolate has unveiled its newest Facebook game, New In Town. The game is a life simulation game that allows players to customize an avatar and take another shot at life after high school, choosing a career and establishing themselves in a fictional city.

Unlike Digital Chocolate’s most recent title, the space strategy game Galaxy Life, New In Town is likely to appeal to a more casual, female demographic, which could help the developer regain many of the monthly and daily active users it has lost over the past six months.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Digital Chocolate had 18.9 million MAU and 2.5 million DAU back in August. Since then, however, the company has steadily lost users on Facebook, dropping to 7 million MAU and 1.2 million DAU.

While Galaxy Life has hit its stride with 1.5 million MAU, 320,000 DAU and a retention rate above 20 percent, many of Digital Chocolate’s other titles on Facebook have gone into decline. Its hit Zombie Lane shrank from 5.7 million MAU to 1.9 million; Army Attack dropped from 4.5 million MAU to 990,000; and Millionaire Boss — which struggled to find an audience after its July 2011 launch — peaked at just over 690,000 MAU before sinking to 9,000 MAU and 400 DAU.

Rough patch on Facebook aside, Digital Chocolate has been diversifying its product offerings, launching its own games portal and taking Zombie Lane and Millionaire City to Google+. The company also launched Zombie Lane on iOS and announced it would be bringing Zombie Lane and Army Attack to Android and other browser-based channels. If New In Town finds its footing on Facebook, we may see it spread to other platforms.

Zynga’s Reynolds, Nexon’s Kim appointed to ISAS board – Zynga’s chief game designer Bryan Reynolds and Nexon America’s co-founder Min Kim have been appointed to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ board of directors.

Harmonix working on Facebook Game – Boston-based Harmonix, best known for its Rock Band and Dance Central franchises is working on a Facebook. Shacknews reported the news based on an updated resume for the company’s lead designer Brian Chan. There is currently a Dance Central Facebook app called Dance Central 2 Challenge. It has 2000 MAU.

Square Enix adds Facebook to FFXIII-2 – Andriasang is reporting that the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII-2 has been patched to add Facebook support to the game, allowing a player to post information about their game to their wall.

Crytek unveils GFace, a PC-mobile social game network — PC game maker Crytek has created a PC to mobile social gaming network. The GFace network is currently in beta and focuses on cross-platform, multiplayer gameplay.

Final Fantasy Brigade now has 1 million players – Square Enix’s first mobile social game Final Fantasy Brigade is proving to be extremely popular. The game, which is available on DeNA’s Mobage network, now has over 1 million users according to Andriasang.

Monster Hunter coming to Mobage – Capcom’s ultra-popular Monster Hunter series is coming to DeNA’s Mobage Platform. The game will be a collectible card-battle game and will be called Minna to Monhan Card Master, according to Andriasang. It will launch on both smartphones and feature phones on Feb. 21.

Japan’s social game market to double value by 2016 – The Nomura Research Institute has predicted that the Japanese social gaming market will be worth $5.1 billion dollars by 2016 according to industry watcher Serkan Toto, who translated the report.

Nintendo will allow devs to offer microtransactions - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said his company will now allow third part developers on its Nintendo Network to offer microtransactions. Iwata revealed the information at Nintendo’s third quarter financial results briefing on Jan. 27.

DeNA, GREE continue legal slugging match — DeNA and GREE are continuing to play out their rivalry in the Japanese courts. In November, GREE sued DeNA, claiming the company was pressuring developers to sign exclusive contracts. According to Serkan Toto, DeNA is now suing for damages related to GREE’s actions.

[Launch] NASA releases new Facebook Game – NASA has released a multiplayer Facebook game called Space Race Blastoff that tests users knowledge of the space program.

[Launch] ESPN Return Man comes to Facebook - ESPN.com’s popular casual arcade game ESPN Return Man is now available on Facebook. The game was a collaboration between ESPN and Disney Social Games, and is the third collaborative release between the two studios. Our full review of the game can be found here.

[Launch] Microsoft Research launches new Facebook game - Microsoft Research has released its second Facebook, Doubloon Dash, in order to study the reactions of real people engaging in game theory like interactions.

Seattle-based casual game developer GameHouse is still working to make the transition from a downloadable gaming company to a freemium social game leader. In September, the company’s CEO Matt Hulett told Inside Social Games his goal was to break into the top 10 social game developers by daily active users on Facebook.

According to AppData, GameHouse is currently the No. 27 most popular game developer on the platform according to DAU, an increase over the No. 33 spot the company held when Hulett announced his plans. GameHouse now has 821,150 DAU on Facebook and the number has been slowly but steadily increasing. To support the transition, GameHouse recently announced it was doubling the headcount at its Facebook-focused Canadian studio.

Located in Victoria, British Columbia, GameHouse Canada started life as Backstage Technologies, a financial services company that pivoted into Facebook games in 2007. Its game Scratch and Win was one of the first games to integrate with the Facebook API and monetize through the free-to-play model. GameHouse’s parent company RealNetworks bought Backstage in September 2010 to bolster its social game talent, but it’s only now that the company has moved into a much larger downtown office is it ready to push forward with an aggressive expansion plan that will see it grow from 25 to 45 people in the next couple of months, according to Alex Mendelev, GameHouse Canada’s general manager and head of studios.

Inside Social Games had a chance to visit the company’s new offices and speak with Mendelev about the company’s plans in the social gaming space.

Inside Social Games: What can you tell me about GameHouse’s larger Facebook strategy? Earlier this year GameHouse’s CEO Matt Hulett said the goal was to be in the top 10 by DAU within six months?

Alex Mendelev, general manager and head of studios, Gamehouse Canada (pictured right): I think our strategy on Facebook is not necessarily take all the users from our other platforms and bring them to Facebook. I think our strategy is to operate our businesses that run really well. Our casual, downloadable business continues to function really well and we will continue to grow that business in its own way. Social is a giant opportunity to capitalize on. Backstage has been doing it for a long time and at this point we have two studios hitting directly into that market with good numbers and growth to show. Backstage primarily contributes to the social game area of the effort.

ISG: So will you be focusing on new IP or porting existing hits? Are you worried about cannibalizing a casual game’s existing audience by bring it onto Facebook? 

Mendelev: I think regardless of what we do, there are new platforms and new, exciting experiences that people want to partake of. Whether you’re on one platform or another, as new platforms come in, users will want to try them. Some of them will stick and want to play games there and some of them won’t. I think our approach is more to give people a place to play, regardless of what platform they’re on. In that regard, we’re very well positioned with casual downloadable, mobile and iOS and social.

ISG: There’s certainly a precedent for games from casual game portals to find success on Facebook. 

Mendelev:  We’ve seen some great results from some of the titles we’ve had as GameHouse for a long time, such as Collapse, and bringing them to Facebook. Collapse is kind of a classic GameHouse game and it’s shown great results so far and is continuing to grow. Some of the recent titles we’re really excited about are Bayou Blast.

ISG: What is GameHouse Canada working on right now?

Mendelev:  We’re working on a slots game and we’re going to release it early this year.

ISG: With your history working on slots and games of chance, how do you feel you would be positioned if Facebook does make real-money gambling available on the platform?

Mendelev:  It’s really hard to say because Facebook is very good at pivoting very quickly around things. Just because there was an announcement that certain kinds of business would be open doesn’t mean it will happen soon if at all. We’ve learned to kind of temper our expectations in terms of what’s actually going to happen in the platform, so we not actively considering it.

ISG: But if something were to come up?

Mendelev:  We’re always open to looking at new opportunities and consider that as part of our strategy but we haven’t made a decision to move in that direction. It’s really hard to make that decision before Facebook.

ISG: Gambling companies have shown an interest in the platform with some large social game investments like Double Down Interactive and Playtika. What do you think of that?

Mendelev:  I would say that with gambling companies moving into Facebook, they’re recognizing that Facebook is a large revenue opportunity and they’re actively investing in that space. We’re already in that space, so it makes sense for us to continue to invest in the space. If you look at GameHouse as a whole and our entire social gaming effort we have lots of games coming out and they’ll be across multiple genres.

King.com is expanding its standalone Facebook game portfolio again with Hoop De Loop Saga, the fifth game from its website to make make the jump to the platform as a Saga title.

Hoop De Loop Saga is a combination puzzle and arcade game that challenges players to shoot colored balls into an advancing chain of balls to make matches of three or more. The chain curves back around itself several times to amplify the difficulty and increase the skill required to make shots. The game is similar to PopCap’s Zuma Blitz, but is slower-paced and focuses more on puzzle elements than on achieving a high score in a limited period of time.

When a player makes a match, balls are removed. If the player manages to set off a chain reaction where multiple groups of balls are eliminated with a single shot, a gem is created. The goal of the game is to create gems and move them to the front of the advancing chain of balls. Each round is timed and a player must create as many gems as possible and move them to the front of the chain before time runs out.

Collecting gems increases a player’s score, but gems are also used to craft bonus items called boosters, a new feature to the Saga series of games. Boosters are single use items that players can use to help them in the game. If a player lacks sufficient gems to craft a booster, they can purchase extras with Facebook credits.

Hoop De Loop Saga currently has 70 levels and requirements needed to earn a three star score on each level increases in difficulty as the player progresses through the game. Social elements King.com has used in other Saga games also make an appearance, such as the gifting of items and inviting friends to play to unlock new areas of the game.

King.com is currently the fourth-largest social game developer on Facebook with more than 24.7 million monthly active users and 6.1 million daily active users, a position it has gained in under a year with the success of its Saga games — a process the company is aiming to repeat on other platforms according to Alex Dale, King.com’s chief marketing officer

“In general what we’re doing with King.com is taking games from www.king.com and putting them on to Facebook in the Saga format, then we’re taking them from Facebook to Google+ and we’ll be launching mobile versions of the games as well,” explains Dale.

Although Bubble Witch Saga only launched on Google+ a week ago, Dale revealed the company is “pleased with performance so far” on the platform. According to Dale, the company’s Bucharest studio is also nearing completion on a mobile Saga game, a project King.com has been working on since last year.

Hoop De Loop Saga already has 210,000 monthly active users and 70,000 daily active users according to our AppData traffic tracking service.

RockYou is throwing its hat into the bingo sub-genre of social games, announcing today that its third party publishing unit Studio Partners will now be publishing Ryzing’s Bingo by Ryzing.

Available on Facebook since July of 2010, so far Bingo by Ryzing has shown the slow growth that most other bingo games have on the platform, with the game’s monthly active users peaking this month at 250,000 according to our AppData traffic tracking service. What sets Bingo by Ryzing apart from the other bingo games on the platform are the game’s real world prizes, which are awarded via a sweepstakes method to skirt Facebook’s restrictions around cash payouts.

“Facebook doesn’t allow gambling and Bingo by Ryzing does not incorporate gambling as there is no purchase required and purchasing does not improve a player’s chances of winning,” explains Ryzing’s CEO Manu Gambir when asked about the game’s prizes.  “Bingo by Ryzing is a sweepstakes exactly like other sweepstakes you may be familiar with, such as the popular McDonald’s Monopoly sweepstakes.”

According to Gambir, the game uses multiple types of bingo cards, only some of which allow players to win prizes, which can be either cash, merchandise or gift cards.

“The first, and primary type of bingo game, is played using blue-colored bingo cards. Players purchase these bingo cards using virtual currency which can be obtained for free (by playing often, completing achievements, inviting friends, or watching videos) or by purchasing,” he says.

While blue bingo cards don’t allow players to win prizes with any real monetary value, one of the prizes a player can win with them are gold and silver bingo cards. Those cards function like entries in a sweepstakes. Like other sweepstakes, no purchase is necessary — players can either win gold and silver cards, ask for them, or be awarded them for free when purchasing in-app currency for the game. Players must be at least 21 years old to win or earn the gold and silver cards.

Other than its cash prizes, Bingo by Ryzing drives engagement with social features like live chat, gifting and voting on charity initiatives. According to Josh Grant, RockYou’s GM of Studio Partners, the company is targeting fans of bingo games and fans of what he calls “traditionally social parlor games” as a core demographic.

Under the terms of the agreement, Studio Partners will provide analytics, product management support, user acquisition, advertising and monetization help for the game and Ryzing will continue to manage the game’s  product development, customer service, prize fulfillment, game operations and sweepstakes compliance.

Overall, competition in the bingo sub-genre on Facebook is beginning to heat up as bingo games continue to gain traction on the platform. The current leader of the crowd is Buffalo Studios’ Bingo Blitz, which currently has 3 million monthly active users and 980,000 daily active users, according to AppData. Other competitors in the genre include BitRhymes Bingo Bash, Mytopia’s Bingo Island and SpiceRack Media’s Bingo!. Zynga’s take on the genre, Zynga Bingo has just gone into closed beta.

Bingo by Ryzing is RockYou’s first foray back into publishing since confirming it would be laying off more than half of its staff, selling Playdemic back to its founders and parting ways with Loot Drop in November.

Tagged sunsetting hi5’s gaming network – Social network Tagged has revealed what it will be doing with hi5, the rival social network it acquired in December. According to an interview on TechCrunch, the company will be sunsetting hi5’s gaming platform and replacing it with games developed by the Tagged team.

Zynga to release fourth quarter results on Valentines Day – Zynga has announced it will hold its first earnings call as a public company on Tuesday, February 14th. The company will discuss its financial results for the full year of 2011 and its fourth quarter. The call is scheduled for 2:00 pm pacific, after the close of the stock market.

Amazon still hiring for mobile, social gaming - Amazon is ramping up its hiring of game developers for both mobile and social games, according to job postings spotted by Xconomy. The company’s a2z arm has positions open for mobile game developers, and in Seattle the company is recruiting specifically for social game positions. Last May Amazon posted a job for a game designer to lead the company in creating mobile and social games, which lead to the hiring of game industry vet Jonathan Tweet. While Amazon has been working on its gaming project for a number of months, so far no details have emerged.

Social game school opening in Japan – Japan is getting a school specifically designed to help developers create social games according to Japanese industry watcher Serkan Toto. The aptly named Social Game Academy will open in April in Tokyo’s trendy Roppongi Hills district.

The Sims Social is surprisingly sexy – According to some fun statistics released by EA, since the Sims Social debuted on Facebook, more than 11 million dirty jokes have been told and more than 70 million love confessions have been made. EA also noted that Sims in the game ‘woohoo’ more than 680,000 times a day.

Konami releasing Star Wars social game – Siliconera is reporting Konami will be releasing a social game based on the Star Wars franchise, but only in Japan. The game will be called Star Wars Collection and will be on GREE’s mobile social network.

Virgin Gaming platform now has 1 million members – According to Virgin, the company’s foray into a social gaming with its VirginGaming.com platform has paid off. The service has gathered more than 1 million members since it launched in June 2010.

Google+ now allowing nicknames and online handles – Google+ has added support for alternate nicknames to its service. While it will still require users to register their real names, alternate names will now appear alongside a user’s name.

DeNA partnering with Mixi to open virtual shopping mall - Mobile social games company DeNA has signed a partnership with Japanese social network Mixi to open an online shopping mall on the Mixi platform. Penn Olson is reporting the virtual mall will open in late march.

Andreessen Horowitz looking for $1.5 billion more for VC funds – The New York Times is reporting that Marc Andreessen is raising $1.5 billion to fuel two new funds at his high-profile venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The firm currently holds stakes in a number of well known social and mobile companies such as Zynga and Instagram.

CyberAgent’s growing social gaming business has pushed the company’s first fiscal quarter operating profit to a healthy 4.9 billion yen ($63.6 million USD), an increase of 38.1 percent year-over-year.

According to CyberAgent’s holiday quarter results, the company’s social games businesses saw sales increase to 3.2 billion yen ($41.7 million USD), up from the 1.7 billion yen ($22.1 million USD) the company reported in the same quarter a year ago. The unit is made up of eight consolidated subsidiaries with more than 600 employees between them.

Overall the company’s media businesses recorded an operating income of 909 million yen ($11.8 million USD) largely due to the expansion of the company’s social gaming business and CyberAgent’s net income was 2.05 billion yen ($26.68 million USD), up from 1.47 billion yen ($19.1 million USD) year-over-year.

CyberAgent’s social gaming companies make titles for Mobage, Mixi, GREE, Facebook and its own Ameba platform. The company did not report specific results for GCREST or CyberAgentAmerica, makers of the Facebook games TinierMe and Animal Land. According to our traffic tracking service AppData, CyberAgent currently has 757,510 monthly active users and 112,226 daily active users on Facebook.

Margaritaville Online is a new cross-platform game for Facebook and iPad. It was developed by Exploding Barrel Games and published by THQ.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Margaritaville Online currently has 30,000 monthly active users and 20,000 daily active users.

Margaritaville is described as an “everyday escape to a virtual tropical paradise.” The game is inspired by the song “Margaritaville” from singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, and takes the form of a role-playing adventure game. Taking on the role of a custom avatar, players begin in a bookstore on a snowy night and find themselves sucked into the tropical paradise of Margaritaville after finding a dusty old book written by Jimmy Buffett. Once safely on the island, players are then given a series of quests to introduce them to the main gameplay elements — exploring and collecting items; completing tasks for the island’s residents; building up the player’s business, a bar known as The Oasis; and taking part in a variety of minigames.

Rather than taking the form of a 2D citybuilding game, Margaritaville Online takes place on a predefined map, rendered in 3D using the popular Unity game engine. The mobile version is also built in Unity, which a contributing factor in the near-simultaneous launch on Facebook and iPad. An iPhone companion app is soon to follow.

Players explore the game map by clicking or tapping, and can click on various items to interact with them. Progressing through the game’s quests rewards the player with additional tools, which allow them to interact with more diverse objects. Acquiring a hammer, for example, allows the player to break crates and barrels to retrieve the objects inside, while a machete allows for overgrown bamboo to be temporarily cleared, opening up new paths for exploration.

Many areas of the island are initially inaccessible, requiring the player to gather raw materials to rebuild bridges over rivers. As the player explores, they will find more items and characters to interact with, as well as a selection of minigames to play alongside the main exploration gameplay. These include a rhythm-based limbo game; a first-person shooter “pirate attack” game; a Bejeweled-style “match three” puzzler when resting in a hammock; and numerous appropriately-themed challenges. All actions cost Energy to perform, with playing a minigame costing three units at once.

A Facebook account is required to play, even on the iPad version, but this means that a player can start playing on their home computer then take their iPad with them to play on the go. In-game, players will see their friends’ characters wandering around their own Margaritaville island, and interacting with them grants a bonus of coins and items. Friends can also be hired into various positions in the player’s “Oasis” bar business, helping to increase income. There’s also the usual facility to send energy-restoring gifts to one another.

Monetization is largely handled through the sale of the game’s hard currency: Beach Bucks. These can be purchased on Facebook using Facebook Credits; earned using Facebook Offers; or purchased using in-app purchases on the iPad. Beach Bucks can be used for a variety of purposes — acquiring premium avatar customization items; purchasing energy restoration items; or gaining additional soft currency. THQ also offers a premium membership option for the game, known as becoming a “Parrothead,” which provides players with an increased energy limit, a cash bonus, special items and a variety of benefits promised in the future.

THQ’s plans for the future of the game are ambitious, with user acquisition strategies stretching far outside just Facebook and the App Store. Speaking with VentureBeat, THQ’s vice president of global brand management Michael Lustenberger said that the game would be promoted at Jimmy Buffett concerts; on the Las Vegas Strip; various restaurants and resorts; and also through the upcoming iPhone app, which encourages players to share real-world “Margaritaville Moments” in exchange for rewards in the game. A lot is riding on the success of the game for THQ, whose stock price has been plummeting recently thanks to disappointing sales of a number of its key titles in the console market.

You can follow Margaritaville Online’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking application for social games and developers.

After almost a year of anticipation, Angry Birds may finally be making its Facebook debut on Valentines Day.

According to an interview Penn Olson conducted with Rovio’s mighty eagle Peter Vesterbacka and senior vice president of Asia Henri Holm, the company will hold a launch event for the long-awaited Facebook version of the physics-based puzzle game on Feb. 14 in Jakarta, Indonesia

Angry Birds is already available a multitude of platforms including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Google Chrome, Google+, Symbian, Bada and even Sony’s Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable consoles, but the one platform where it has been notoriously absent is Facebook.

Inside Mobile Apps first reported Rovio would be bringing Angry Birds to Facebook in March of 2011 with a launch expected sometime in the spring. When Vesterbacka announced the Chrome Web Store launch of Angry Birds in May 2011, the Facebook launch date had been pushed back to “later in 2011”. Then in June, The Telegraph reported Vesterbacka had said Angry Birds would be live on Facebook within the next three months. Although Penn Olsen did not report any details about the launch except Angry Birds for Facebook would be released worldwide on Feb. 14, the announcement of a firm launch-date seems to indicate the long-delayed port will finally see the light of day.

Although the move to launch the game in Jakarta may surprise some, Indonesia is Facebook’s second largest market after the US. According to an interview Facebook’s vice president for mobile partnerships and corporate development Vaughan Smith gave in November, Indonesia currently has 45 million Facebook users and according to comScore, Facebook reaches 86.7 percent of all online users in Indonesia.

While the game is not officially active on Facebook (except for a Fan Page, which has more than 12.9 million likes) there are plenty of fake versions of Angry Birds already on Facebook. According to our traffic tracking service AppData, there are over 20 fake versions of Angry Birds on the platform.

Vesterbacka also revealed the Angry Birds franchise has now racked up more than 700 million downloads. In December the company reported Angry Birds had passed 600 million total downloads.