Mobile veterans launch casual gaming start-up
And their first game is a Facebook brain-trainer
More news from the convergence between mobile and web gaming. A new company called Playfish has decloaked, headed by Kristian Segerstrale, former European boss at mobile publisher Glu.
He's backed by "an international group of casual and mobile games industry veterans who believe that social games are the next big thing in the industry". With a staff of ten and $3 million of funding, Playfish is already ramping up.
"We want to combine the best elements from social networks, casual games, MMOGs and virtual worlds and create an entirely new way for people to experience games together," says Segerstrale.
The company has already launched its first game, Who Has The Biggest Brain?. It's a Facebook application that's inspired by brain training games on DS and mobile, with the added fun that you can see how your brain rates against your Facebook friends. It's rather marvellous (and you can play it here).
Why are we banging on about it? Well, there will hopefully be a mobile angle to all this casual gaming at some point, but more importantly, Playfish is an example of the kind of company that may spring up to cater to mobile and casual gamers.
That said, if there isn't a mobile angle, it's a worrying sign that some of the more creative games developers may be fleeing mobile for a platform where they have more freedom. Rest assured, we'll be following this trend closely in 2008.
