Game developer 5th Planet Games today announced the launch of Dawn of the Dragons on the iTunes App Store. Previously released on Facebook, Kongregate, Armor Games and its own site, Dawn of the Dragons’ is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and 5th Planet’s top-performing title.

The game features a deep single-player storyline, as well as optional multiplayer gameplay that includes player alliances with raids and player-versus-player action. The single player campaign contains zones filled with energy-based missions and boss battles, while raids and PvP elements are played by spending stamina and honor. Dawn of the Dragons is free to play and available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices here.

We talked about the project with CEO Robert Winkler, COO Braden Moulton and Brian David-Marshall at GDC Online back in October 2012. Shortly after that chat, 5th Planet hired Rob Carroll as its Chief Mobile Officer, who began overseeing the development of both Legacy of a Thousand Suns and Dawn of the Dragons on iOS.

You can read our preview of the game here and look forward to a review soon.

Sega today announced it’s partnering with Icelandic social mobile studio Gogogic to develop Godsrule: War of Mortals, a cross-platform “build and battle” game for both iOS and the web.

Godsrule is a new fantasy-themed game that seeks to mix social mechanics with core strategy elements. Players are tasked with managing a kingdom, harvesting resources and battling with one another for contested land. Users choose a side between two warring factions and then create their own clans to control contested territory.

The game will be available to play via browser and iPad, allowing for a cross-platform play experience. Sega is clearly looking to tap into the lucrative core-games market, which is especially popular on iOS as evidenced by the runaway success Kabam has experienced with its Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North. Although Sega isn’t known for these mid-core games, Sega has been a presence on iOS mainly due to ports of beloved console games like Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi, and a port of Sonic Jump, an old mobile phone game first published in 2006. Gogogic, in turn, already has produced hits like Tiny Places on iOS and its social massively multiplayer online game Vikings of Thule.

For more information about Godsrule: War of Mortals, or to enroll in the game’s public beta program, head over to the game’s official website.

Kabam is shutting down its vampire-themed core score social game, Thirst of Night.

The announcement was made via an email sent out to the game’s players, revealing the game (which is still technically in beta) will be shut down on Thursday, Jan. 31; this includes taking all of the title’s servers offline. According to the shutdown FAQ, players will no longer be able to buy hard currency Rubies and the Thirst of Night Payments System has been turned off.

If players have Rubies left over, Kabam is offering to transfer the last six months of Ruby purchases (up to $5,000) to one of its other games. Kingdoms of Camelot will be the default title the developer will transfer players’ accounts to, but players can contact the Thirst of Night team if they want to have their account transferred to a different game.

Thirst of Night is one of Kabam’s older games, having been a flagship title that was available on Pokki’s platform, Google+ and as a full-screen downloadable app from Download.com. Interestingly enough, though, the game never came to Facebook, so it’s not possible to use our AppData traffic tracking service to investigate its traffic levels. However, the majority of Kabam’s revenue comes from off-Facebook sources (like its iOS hit with Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle For The North), so it’s not surprising Kabam never brought it to the social network.

Core social games shut down by larger developers typically have fewer than 50,000 daily active users, but can stick around for quite some time with even fewer (witness: Dragon Age Legends managed to limp along for quite some time with 10,000 DAU before EA announced its closure). On the site providing details about the shutdown, Kabam mentions Thirst of Night’s “declining lifespan”, so it’s likely the game’s audience had shrunk to similar numbers.

For more information about the shutdown and what options are available for users looking to continue onto other Kabam titles, users can visit the official closure FAQ.

KingsIsle Entertainment today officially launched Grub Guardian, an iOS and open web “satellite” game tied to its popular kid-friendly massively-multiplayer online title Wizard 101.

The game is a tower defense (in this case, “guardian defense”) title where players position guardian animals around a map, which then snipe enemies as they try to steal a bowl of food at the end of the winding path. Players level up their mythical guardians using the in-game currency earned by wiping out enemies. Aside from the generic animals, players also play a unique guardian who earns experience across levels.

Grub Guardian can be played as its own game, but it’s also designed to serve as an extension of the Wizard101 universe. Players with active Wizard101 accounts can use their in-game pet as the unique guardian in Grub Guardian. If this players pursue this option, the experience their pet earns in Grub Guardian will carry back over to Wizard101. Likewise, players will be able to access premium items from the in-game store if they’re using their Wizard101 pet.

Reading between the lines, this means Grub Guardian is a clever way for KingsIsle to bring in new players into the Wizard101 world. According to KingsIsle VP of Marketing Fred Howard, Grub Guardian’s inclusion of the Wizard101 makes the game appealing for casual and core gamers (both of which are strong populations in the MMO). “The pet system is really complex,” he tells us. “For the casual player, it’s a lot of fun with minigames. But for the core players there’s a whole genetic code behind the pets so you can hatch them and have the genetic code pass over. You can create new hybrid pets and have them get buffed up.”

When asked if KingsIsle Entertainment is planning to launch more satellite titles for either Wizard101 or the newly-launched Pirate101, Howard doesn’t go into detail but says, “we see a lot of opportunity in this space… we can’t talk about our road map, but it’s safe to assume this is the first of many to come.”

Grub Guardian is available for free on iTunes, free to play on the open web and can also be played on Android web browsers.

Galaxy 2.0 developer IGG  is continuing to expand its presence in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game market with its new Facebook title Moonlight Online, an action-heavy, 3D MMO inspired by European mythology.

The game can be seen as bit of  a return to IGG’s origins as MMO developer.  The fantasy-themed game asks players to take on the role of a human, vampire or werewolf in order to stop war that has been prophesied to end the world.

As opposed to IGG’s previous game Galaxy 2.0, Moonlight Online’s gameplay is much faster-paced. Players can use the acrobatic free-running of parkour and/or mounts to explore the 3D world, engage in multiplayer tower defense matches or engage in real-time player-versus-player combat in the game’s arena. The PvP mechanics are also expanded via player guilds and castle sieges, though this option seems to be limited to higher-level characters. The game is free-to-play and monetizes through microtransactions for in-game currency, items and equipment, as opposed to the social game standard of refilling energy bars.

As opposed to most Facebook games, Moonlight Online isn’t a universal title. Instead, it’s currently only playable with a computer running Windows. IGG COO Kevin Xu tells us this is because the game is designed to initially appeal to a midcore audience and the PC version allows players to set the graphics to a high quality setting. IGG plans to offer a downloadable version of the game next month for hardcore players, and Apple users will be able to play the game when its Flash version is released in two months.

Free-to-play MMOs can be extremely popular, both as web browser games and full-fledged titles. With Facebook, though, the genre hasn’t really caught on, especially with 3D titles. Milmo, which launched in December 2010, peaked within a few weeks at 516,000 monthly active users and 32,000 daily active users but wasn’t able to expand on its success. The game currently sits at 20,000 MAU and 1,000 DAU. By comparison, Moonlight Online has nearly 83,000 MAU and 18,000 DAU.

IGG has a large player base to promote Moonlight Online to, largely due to its success with Galaxy 2; the English-language version of the game peaked in April 2011 with 1.3 million MAU and 138,000 DAU and now is holding steady at 130,000 MAU and 40,000 DAU. Non-English versions of the game, meanwhile, are still regularly appearing on our lists of weekly gainers. Xu tells us IGG is happy with how Galaxy 2 is performing, particularly across non-English-speaking territories and the company is planning to support the game for the foreseeable future. Xu also tells us IGG plans to launch six more games over the next two months.

Little has been heard from Zynga Japan since the company shut down the Japanese versions of FarmVille and Treasure Isle on social network Mixi, but now the studio seems to be making up for lost time with Montopia, a new iOS RPG that has a lot in common with Nintendo’s Pokémon games.

According to Dr. Serkan Toto, Zynga Japan is billing Montopia as a “Monster Battle RPG.” The core gameplay consists of players going out on adventures where they capture, raise and train monsters to fight for them. Along the way, players can engage in activities like gacha gameplay, breeding more powerful creatures, collecting virtual items and battling other players. At the time of launch, there are 200 different types of monsters available to collect.

Social gaming market to be worth $5 billion by 2015 — BI Intelligence is predicting the US social gaming market will be worth more than $5 billion by 2015, and will be propelled the the strength of tablet computers. The US social gaming market is currently worth about $3 billion by BI’s estimates.

Mail.ru revenues up 59 percent year-on-year, reports $207.6 million in net profit – Russian social network Mail.ru has reported its total revenues increased 59 percent year-on-year in 2011 to $515 million. The company’s net profit was $207.6 million, up 157 percent year-on-year. According to Mail.ru, mobile usage is now a major growth driver, with 43 percent of monthly users accessing the site from mobile devices.

Pachter: social gaming “not a bubble” — Noted industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities has gone on record saying social games are an integral part of the gaming experience. “As for the social bubble, I don’t think it’s a bubble. I play Facebook games with my mother. This is not a bubble,” he said at the [A]List games marketing summit, according to VentureBeat’s report.

Nexon invests in Moyasoft — Nexon has acquired a 19.9 percent stake in South Korean social game maker Moyasoft, according to a report from Gamasutra. Nexon will working with Moyasoft to bring its games to international markets.

Social Vibe engaged users for almost 54 years in 2011 — Digital advertising company Social Vibe has reported several interesting milestones for 2011. During the year the company doubled the number of engagement ads served. The company also reported consumers watched the company’s ads for more than 1.7 billion seconds (54 years) during the year. Social Vibes reported that the average user spent 63 seconds with a Social Vibes ad.

Planet Cazmo secures funding, starts licensed content division – Entertainment portal Planet Cazmo has announced the formation of HappyGiant, a division of the company that will focus on creating licensed content for Facebook and smartphones. The company also announced it had received new funding from the Pritzker/Vlock Family Office Portfolio, but declined to specify the amount. The company is currently working on games for celebrities, films and comic books.

Viximo and Gaia Interactive Ink distribution Partnership — Global social game publisher Viximo has signed a deal with Gaia Interactive to bring several of its client games to Gaia Online and assist Gaia in launching its game Monster Galaxy on a variety of international social networks.

Advertising Agency BBH gets into the social games business — AdAge is reporting that advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) has opened its own social gaming studio. Named Chuck Studios, the company will make branded games for BBH client Perfetti Van Melle. The company’s first game is live on Facebook.

Bigpoint partners with GamesAnalytics for its free-to-play games – Bigpoint has signed a deal with monetization and analytics company GamesAnalytics to incorporate GamesAnalytics’ Predict platform into its games. Predict uses data-mining and predictive modeling to help developers target specific groups of players with customized messages and offers.

[Funding] HTML5 game maker Game Closure raises $12 million – HTML5 game development tool maker Game Closure has raised $12 million in Series A funding from Highland Capital Partners, Greylock, Benchmark, General Catalyst and CRV according to VentureBeat. The company’s JavaScript game SDK allows developers to create game that will run natively on mobile, tablet and browser devices.

[Launch] Pirates: Tides of Fortune moves to Facebook – Plarium’s pirate-themed social game is now available on Facebook, following the expiration of its 30 day exclusivity period on Google+. The game was previously available on Vkontakte.

Analysts say Zynga must add nine million new DAU per quarter - Industry analysts Cowen and Company have calculated than in order to maintain its current DAU count across its business, Zynga must add at least nine to 10 million DAU every quarter — approximately 100,000 new users every day — to outpace the number of DAU lost quarterly. According an interview on Gamasutra, Zynga’s games lose about 18.4 percent percent of DAU each quarter.

Japan gets mobile social games platform for adults only - Japanese video distribution company DMM has launched its own mobile social network featuring pornographic social games according to Japanese industry watcher Serkan Toto. DMM is a leading Japanese producer of adult video content.

Namco Bandai: free-to-play damaging game industry – Gamespot is reporting that Olivier Comte, Namco Bandai’s SVP for Europe has come out swinging against the free-to-play model, saying games that follow the model aren’t high quality, and that low-cost games lower the perceived value of games, ultimately harming publishers.

Sterne Agee: Zynga loses $150 to acquire every new paid customer – According to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, Zynga has spent $120 million on new player acquisition so far this fiscal year, or $150 for every new paying customer according to his interview with Develop.

513 million internet users in China - Penn Olson is reporting that China now has 513 million citizens online. According to the latest data from the China Internet Network Information Center, 38.3 percent of the country’s population now uses the internet.

MegaZebra appoints Godager and Goeldner to board - Munich-based social game company MegaZebra has appointed European video game industry veterans Gaute Godager and Jürgen Goeldner to its board of directors. Gaute Godager was a co-founder of Funcom.

Japanese social games market to be worth $4.4 billion in 2012 – Japanese market research firm Yano is predicting the Japanese social game industry — driven mainly by mobile social game companies like DeNA and GREE — will be worth $4.4 billion in 2012.

Zynga moves towards online gambling – Zynga has confirmed what many already suspected, telling All Things D that it looking into real money gambling. The company is currently is undertaking “active conversations with potential partners to better understand and explore this new opportunity.” While Facebook does not currently allow real-money gambling on its platform yet, the company will soon in regions were it is legal.

Final Fantasy Brigade has half a million users – Square Enix’s first mobile social game based on the Final Fantasy franchise is now live on  DeNA’s Mobage network for both feature phones and smartphones. According to Andriasang, the game already has more than 500,000 users.

GREE buys stake in Mobicle for mobile social game development - GREE has bought a 6.8 percent share in Korean game company Mobicle. The two companies will co-develop a variety of mobile social games that will be available globally in the second quarter of 2012.

Nexon licenses Unity - Tokyo-headquartered gaming company Nexon has signed a deal to license Unity’s game development platform, reports Develop. According to a statement from Nexon, the company will be using Unity to develop multi-platform content.

[Launch] University of Washington releases Facebook game – The University of Washington Bothell has released its first Facebook game. Called UWB Wetlands Restoration, the game was created by undergraduate students and 100 percent of the proceeds go to restoration of the real UW Bothell wetlands.

Chinese social, online game markets booming - According to information released at the 2011 China Game Industry Annual Conference, China’s online gaming sector (MMOs, casual games and social games) is now worth more than 42.85 billion yuan ($6.8 billion), 32.4 percent more than it was worth in 2010, reports Penn Olson.

Persona 3 Social has 1 million members – Persona 3 Social, the social spin off game of PS2 hit Persona 3 has over a million members on Mobage, according Siliconera. The news bodes well for the Personal 3 Social creator Index Corporation’s next game, Persona 4 Social.

TeePee Game partners with OK! TeePee Games, a games discovery service based in the UK has signed a deal with The Express Group, the publisher of supermarket tabloid OK! to create a branded games discovery portal for the company’s UK Facebook group called OK! Games.

Vostu adds more Android games to its portfolio – Latin American social games developer Vostu is quietly expanding into mobile. The company soft launched three Android titles last year and will be releasing four more in the first quarter of 2012 according to Business Insider.

Monumental Games shuts down – UK-based Monumental Games, creator of the Facebook 3D MMO Little Horrors and the Prime toolkit for 3D browser and Facebook games has shut down, laying off 20 workers according to a report on Develop.

Cave pivots to social – Andriasang is reporting that Japanese developer Cave is shifting its focus to social games following a disappointing earnings report that predicted the company would only make $650,000 in operating profit this year. The company already makes social games for both Mobage and GREE.

Social games cheaters cheat in real life too – According to a new survey from EA’s PopCap Games, people who cheat at social games are likely to cheat in real life. Of the 1200 people polled, eight percent of social games players admitted to cheating, and of those 8 percent, almost half admitted to cheating in real life situations. Although more women than men play social games, men were more likely to admit to cheating in them.

Google Making its own social game – Google has released a video of an upcoming social game it is developing that uses Google Maps. The game will be available in February on Google+.

Kixeye releases Backyard Monsters expansion – As of today, the first expansion for Kixeye’s popular RTS Facebook game Backyard Monsters will be available on Facebook. Backyard Monsters: Inferno will allow players to explore below the surface of the earth.

Kabam expands Godfather: Five Families - Kabam has added another neighborhood to its social game, The Godfather: Five Families. Greenwich Village is now available to all players on the Kabam website, Google+ and Facebook.

Transformers social game coming to GREE – Beloved cartoon franchise The Transformers is getting a social game according a report from Andriasang. The game, titled Transformers for GREE was developed by Interspace and will be available next month.

Pulitzer Prize winner to pen social game – Gamasutra is reporting that Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is teaming with non-profit developer Games for Change to create a social game about female oppression. The game will be released on Facebook in late 2012.

[Launch] Mail.Ru releasing new browser-based MMO – Mail.Ru Games announced this week that it will be releasing a new browser-based MMO called RiotZone early this year. The game is a strategy game designed to appeal to casual gamers.

[Launch] PerBlue Brings Parallel Kingdom to Facebook - PerBlue’s location based MMORPG Parallel Kingdom is going against the tide of Facebook to mobile expansions and moving onto the web. The game is now available on Kongregate, Chrome and Facebook.