HTML5 Mobile Game Developer Fund

BOSTON –  March 23, 2011 –  MocoSpace, the largest entertainment destination on the mobile Internet, today announces the first three companies to be selected for the company’s recently-launched HTML5 Mobile Game Developer Fund. The fund launched just one month ago and has received great interest from developers worldwide. The first three companies to receive funding are New Game Town, Joyplay, and Kooky Panda. In addition to cash for the game development, these three companies will also receive marketing to support their titles on the MocoSpace Game Platform.

New Game Town (NGT) is a mobile social entertainment company dedicated to creating and publishing engaging social games. Jeremy Wang, CTO of New Game Town, said that NGT was “ecstatic” to be one of the first recipients from the fund: "The MocoSpace Game Developer Fund enabled New Game Town to accelerate our development of HTML5 mobile games and launch at least six months earlier than we had planned." The funds were used to convert their game Happy Farm to HTML5. Happy Farm is launching on MocoSpace this week, and NGT is working on two other games, which they plan to launch on MocoSpace in the near future.

Joyplay’s goal is “to provide free online games such as online board games, card games & poker games.” Mobile games include casino games like poker, roulette, jacks and slots. With the funding from MocoSpace, Joyplay’s CEO James Adams has stated, “We were able to polish off our first HTML5 games and then publish them to MocoSpace’s established user base, with the seamless monetization of MocoGold, the virtual currency used on the site.” Adams says that their plans for the future include a spin on location and gaming: “We’ve got some really interesting location-based games in development that we’re going to bring to market.”

Kooky Panda Ltd. is a Beijing-based mobile social game development company which has been solely focused on browser-based mobile social games since early 2009. With partnerships globally, the Kooky Panda team is focused on creating world-class WAP, HTML5 and Flash Lite mobile social games, and have already created nearly 300 Flash Lite titles. CEO & Co-founder Cherry Wu described their reaction to receiving development funds from MocoSpace: "Kooky Panda firmly believes in mobile browser-based gaming and we've put all our chips on HTML5, so we were pumped to get some funding from MocoSpace to help turbo-charge Kooky Panda's growth in that direction." Kooky Panda has expanded their team in China to create HTML5 social browser games. Wu continues, “Our first game is a compelling fantasy game called The Lost World and we have a half-dozen other HTML5 games in the pipeline."

Developer interest in the Fund and the high quality of the games being produced are testament to the momentum that HTML5 is gaining in mobile gaming: “We are very positive on the future of HTML5-based mobile gaming and are proud to support our first three partners and their exciting titles, “ states MocoSpace VP of Games Robert Lindsley. “There’s still plenty of funding remaining so we encourage all interested developers to contact us and jump into the browser-based gaming space while it’s a green field opportunity.”

Developers and publishers interested in the  HTML5 Mobile Game Developer Fund should contact MocoSpace at  games@corp.mocospace.com

About MocoSpace

MocoSpace is the largest entertainment destination on the mobile Internet, with over 17 million registered users generating more than 1 million hours a day of games, music and more! For a young, multicultural, on-the-go generation, MocoSpace is the mobile community of choice for making friends, having fun and staying connected. MocoSpace is free and available on any web-enabled mobile phone in the world. Launched in 2005, MocoSpace is based in Boston, MA and is backed by General Catalyst and Softbank Capital. For more information, visit www.jnjmobile.com 

Follow MocoSpace on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/ mocospace 

CONTACT:

Rachael Himsel

415.677.9125 x 257/  rachael@vscconsulting.com

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