Scoreloop, a Munich startup, announced today with a press release a free SDK that allows iPhone developers to build social features into their games.
Social gaming is the direction that online and mobile gaming is inevitably taking. Developers now have an easy way of implementing this strategy, while gaining other sources of income.
Scoreloop works in any game that results in a score. With each win, the gamer is awarded coins and points. Coins allow for playing new challenges. Points express skill and ranking. When gamers run out of coins, they repurchase them for more challenge play.
“Nothing is better at motivating gamers to play more than seeing someone out there with a better score. And the only thing that comes close to that is the ability to brag about it on social media like Facebook,” said Scoreloop’s CEO, Marc Gumpinger. “We’re bringing that level of play and functionality to the mobile device in your pocket now.”
I think this can be a nice way for small developers to implement social gaming technologies while not having to develop it. We all know that apart from the big hitters, making a living out of the AppStore is pretty hard, with this solution there are no extra costs as Scoreloop handles all server operations/costs and implementing typically takes less than one day and does not require dedicated skills.
In 2008, the German based venture capital company Target Partners invested in the company, but Gumpinger said that he might seek a further round of investing to finance the company development. While partnerships with some of the world’s largest game publishers/portals and independents will be announced in the coming months we will update you on their business model.
We wish Scoreloop the best of luck.
You can watch a 15 minutes introductory video here:
[...] I had the pleasure to have a chat with Scoreloop’s CEO, Marc Gumpinger. I recently wrote about their SDK and their vision about mobile gaming. He told me they are announcing a game-changing iPhone [...]