Back when Playdom first acquired Acclaim Games back in May, we were surprised that the company published MMO and casual games, instead of games like Mortal Kombat. We were almost equally surprised recently to find that the company will be shutting down all of its games, leaving 15 million registered users out in the cold.
A short note on the Acclaim Games web site notes that "all Acclaim games will no longer be in service effective August 26, 2010," though as Gamasutra notes, games like RockFREE and the company's still-in-development MMO Kogamu seem to still be available. The company will be offering reimbursements for unused "Acclaim coins" virtual currency and for purchases made in the game 9Dragons over the past month.
So why purchase a company if you're just going to shut down its games a few months later? Well part of the decision might have to do with Playdom's own acquisition by Disney last month. Perhaps Playdom's new owners saw less potential in the company's games than the original purchasers did. Or perhaps both companies simply agreed that the real value in Acclaim was in its employees and its potential for future hits, not its current game catalog. In either case, It will be interesting to see what comes next for this piece of a growing social game conglomerate.
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Showing posts with label disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disney. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Disney's cleaning house, Playdom's ESPNU College Town is next
Did you get the email too? Social City--um, never mind--Gardens of Time maker Playdom has announced in a mass email sent to players that ESPNU College Town will be closed for good this Dec. 20. According to the message (the game features a truncated version), Playdom feels that the game has run its course." And players already appear quite upset in the forums.
No information has been given on whether players will be able to transfer their existing premium in-game currency to another Playdom game nor whether players will be reimbursed for their money spent. And that fact seems to have players more upset than anything.
"What a waste for everyone who ever did anything with this game," player Dean, Johnstown State writes. "I'm ashamed I ever signed up. Get an email saying I was one of the game's best, well, I hate myself for the money I spent playing this POS game and what it became and, now, how it's going out."
ESPNU College Town was one of the first major branding attempts in Facebook games, which enjoyed considerable success in 2010. And, at least as far as we know, ESPNU was the first social game to receive TV advertisement. As of this writing, the game welcomes just 150,000 monthly players and 20,000 daily players, according to AppData.
ESPNU College Town Closing Notice
This is the second game this week alone to get the axe, following Social City. A lack of players is certainly the primary reason, but you can imagine that Disney is looking to make room for its upcoming Facebook games to be developed by Playdom. It looks like the company's new social games head is already hard at work.
Were you a long time ESPNU College Town fan? How do you think Playdom should handle the shutting down of these games, and do you plan on picking up any other Playdom games?
No information has been given on whether players will be able to transfer their existing premium in-game currency to another Playdom game nor whether players will be reimbursed for their money spent. And that fact seems to have players more upset than anything.
"What a waste for everyone who ever did anything with this game," player Dean, Johnstown State writes. "I'm ashamed I ever signed up. Get an email saying I was one of the game's best, well, I hate myself for the money I spent playing this POS game and what it became and, now, how it's going out."
ESPNU College Town was one of the first major branding attempts in Facebook games, which enjoyed considerable success in 2010. And, at least as far as we know, ESPNU was the first social game to receive TV advertisement. As of this writing, the game welcomes just 150,000 monthly players and 20,000 daily players, according to AppData.
ESPNU College Town Closing Notice
This is the second game this week alone to get the axe, following Social City. A lack of players is certainly the primary reason, but you can imagine that Disney is looking to make room for its upcoming Facebook games to be developed by Playdom. It looks like the company's new social games head is already hard at work.
Were you a long time ESPNU College Town fan? How do you think Playdom should handle the shutting down of these games, and do you plan on picking up any other Playdom games?
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Club Penguin fires a salvo of fun with Puffle Launch for iPhone [Video]
Parents, secure the iPhones and iPads. If Club Penguin isn't going to slide onto Facebook anytime soon, we'll take the next best thing: the iPhone. Puffle Launch, first released as a mini game within the kids world of Club Penguin over a year ago, launches onto iPhone tomorrow, Sept. 15. The game, which will be available for the paltry price of $.99, puts players in control of Daredevil, one of the many Puffles available in the existing Disney-owned web game.
Just like in Club Penguin, kids can fire Daredevil from a cannon, careening into obstacles and collecting Coins. Better yet, those Coins can be transferred to kids' existing Club Penguin accounts to buy new items from the web game's store. As players advance through the game's many daring and dangerous aerial courses, they will eventually have to face the Crab Boss.
According to a Club Penguin representative, Puffle Launch is already played by 150,000 kids daily, and a new Puffle is adopted every second in the kid-friendly virtual world. (That amounts to more than 20 million of the little balls of love adopted in 2011 already!) With statistics like that, color us baffled as to why Club Penguin has yet to hit Facebook, especially considering the amount of preteens that are already active on the social network.
Hopefully, this is just the beginning of Club Penguin's expansion beyond its little home on the web and onto new platforms (aside from Nintendo's stable of consoles). Check out the game's trailer below, but you might not want to show the kids just yet, unless you're willing to buy it on every iOS device in the house.
Are you excited that Club Penguin has finally made it to iOS? Where or how else would you like to see the Club Penguin franchise go? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Just like in Club Penguin, kids can fire Daredevil from a cannon, careening into obstacles and collecting Coins. Better yet, those Coins can be transferred to kids' existing Club Penguin accounts to buy new items from the web game's store. As players advance through the game's many daring and dangerous aerial courses, they will eventually have to face the Crab Boss.
According to a Club Penguin representative, Puffle Launch is already played by 150,000 kids daily, and a new Puffle is adopted every second in the kid-friendly virtual world. (That amounts to more than 20 million of the little balls of love adopted in 2011 already!) With statistics like that, color us baffled as to why Club Penguin has yet to hit Facebook, especially considering the amount of preteens that are already active on the social network.
Hopefully, this is just the beginning of Club Penguin's expansion beyond its little home on the web and onto new platforms (aside from Nintendo's stable of consoles). Check out the game's trailer below, but you might not want to show the kids just yet, unless you're willing to buy it on every iOS device in the house.
Are you excited that Club Penguin has finally made it to iOS? Where or how else would you like to see the Club Penguin franchise go? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
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