After 4.5 million downloads of MyTown, Booyah is back with MyTown 2, a new take on gaming that incorporates more of a CityVille approach while still using the real world as a game board. The app extends Booyah’s work in location-based gaming. Read more »
Booyah had its first hit last year with MyTown, the real-world Monopoly-like game for the iPhone. So the stakes were high when the company looked to move to another platform — nobody wants to be a one-trick pony. But in stealth, Booyah already has Facebook down. Read more »
Booyah, which makes the location-based mobile gaming app MyTown, has raised $20 million in a round led by Accel Partners and including Kleiner Perkins and DAG Ventures. The company also added Accel’s Jim Breyer, well-known for being a Facebook board member, to its own board. Read more »
Though services like Foursquare and Gowalla eat up techie mindshare, they still have very few users; something like 150,000 for Foursquare and 50,000 for Gowalla. However, an iPhone app called MyTown that also features a location-based check-in system game acquired 250,000 users within two weeks. Read more »
Booyah, which is available as a free iPhone app, is a new social MMORPG from a well-funded startup of the same name. But here’s the twist: Unlike all other online role-playing games (GigaOM Pro, sub required) , you don’t improve your character by performing fantastic otherworldly […] Read more »
In recent years, virtual worlds (also known as massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs) have shown tremendous growth in terms of user numbers and revenue. However, the market for them is currently in tremendous flux, with the most well-known sub-genre — the subscriber-based fantasy role playing games (MMORPGs) — suffering a growth plateau, due to the dominating success of World of Warcraft. At the same time, user activity in “freemium” virtual worlds continues to explode, most especially in the tween/adolescent market, which is likely to reach a market saturation point soon, though monetization prospects for all but the established players remain uncertain. The explosion of social networks, which share numerous traits with virtual worlds, have created a new potential audience for this genre, while the mass adoption of web plug-ins and smartphones like the iPhone have opened up new markets for the genre.
In this transitional period, many of the best investment and growth opportunities to watch are not the worlds themselves, but the solution providers offering developers the means to better monetize their existing MMOs. Opportunities also exist in niche MMOs that appeal to consumers seeking entertainment outside the established fantasy and kids social MMO space. However, new players that would enter this already crowded market must foster a community of users by rewarding user-created content and continued engagement, while also being architected with multiple revenue streams and play platforms. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
