February 18th, 2010 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial, Platforms: iOS | No Comments »
OpenFeint is one of the more popular social gaming platforms on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now, the company behind it is launching a new iteration aimed at Free-To-Play or Freemium developers.
With OpenFeint X, developers get all the tools to create games like the ones of Zynga where money is mainly made through micro transactions for virtual goods and/or credits. Besides adding virtual wallets, the system also allows developers to create incentives for recommendations toward contacts. Just like the current OpenFeint system, OpenFeint X’s core features will be free for developers (and that hints to possible paid services as well).
The platform launched in private beta with strategic partner DeNa yesterday and will be rolled out to the general public in several phases over the coming months. Developers who like to include OpenFeint X into their new platform are free to apply on the dedicated X website.
"OpenFeint X is by far our most ambitious and transformative effort," said Jason Citron, Founder and CEO of Aurora Feint Inc. "We know that there is tremendous interest in creating the next Zynga, CrowdStar, and PlayFish of the iPhone. We also know that developers who aspire to these ambitions want the platform on which they can build these kinds of lucrative businesses. OpenFeint X is exactly that platform.”
"OpenFeint X is the culmination of bringing the best of Xbox Live and Facebook’s App Platform to the iPhone, and extending the multi-billion dollar virtual goods social gaming economy to mobile," said Peter Relan, Executive Chairman of Aurora Feint. Relan also holds the same position at CrowdStar, the #2 Social Game developer on Facebook, which makes huge hits such as Happy Aquarium, Happy Island and Happy Pets.
