Riot Games has raised $8 million from Tencent and returning investors Benchmark and FirstMark Capital, said the Culver City, Calif.-based publisher, which develops free-to-play, digitally distributed games with a microtransaction/virtual goods revenue stream. Such a model has worked extremely well in Asia, and is showing promise… Read More »
Online Games
Smith & Tinker, a Bellevue, Wash.-based game company, today announced it’s raised $29 million from Alsop Louie Partners, DCM, Foundry Group, Leo Capital Holdings, and Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital. The money will primarily fund Nanovor, an ambitious kids’ game that will extend across multiple platforms,… Read More »
What with its e-reader, the Kindle, and its cloud computing efforts, it can be easy to forget that Seattle-based Amazon is really an e-tailer, one that has grown to become the online equivalent of super retailer Wal-Mart. But while we all know that Jeff Bezos’ company… Read More »
Roughly 12 percent of Americans, or more than one in 10, have bought a virtual item at some point in the last 12 months, according to a new study by analyst firm Frank N. Magid Associates and commissioned by virtual currency provider PlaySpan. With the… Read More »
Play Sushi, a gaming portal, has attracted 3 million visitors less than three months after launching, reports site owner Future Ads, yet another example of the explosive growth taking place in the free online gaming space. Sites offering free games clocked 87 million U.S. visitors in… Read More »
When the Rock Band Network — essentially an App Store for musicians who want to upload and sell Rock Band-playable versions of their songs — opens for business later this year, it has the potential to transform the music industry by giving musicians large and small… Read More »
Mochi Media is adding a virtual currency/microtransaction system to its network of online Flash games today. Players can use Mochi Coins to buy in-game upgrades for 16 titles from its game developer partners. Want a “tactical chain saw” in SAS Zombie Assault II>? (And really, who… Read More »
