More Moves into Gaming from Google and Facebook
by Eoin Carroll, posted on 10 August 2010 / 1,037 Views
Last week Google bought Slide for $182 million, a major social gaming site, and the week before they were rumored to be in talks with major online games developers including Zynga, which they had bought a major stake in recently. It's all reported to be part of a major competitor to Facebook they're developing which will heavily incorporate online social games. The story continues to develop as now rumor has it that Google has bought Jambool. Meanwhile Facebook is looking for a new executive to develop deals and relations in the video games industry.
Techcrunch.com is reporting that Google has acquired Jambool for $70 million, which means they will have ownership of Social Gold, the platform integral to many online social games for the monetization of virtual goods. This service was hurt when Facebook forced developers to use their own Facebook Credits payment system, so no doubt they are quite happy to aid the rise of a competitor platform.
Facebook has posted an ad looking for an executive with at least ten years experience in the games industry in order to encourage development on the Facebook platform and quite possibly to work on first party games as they will "manage a high performance team." “Facebook is seeking a leader for our Strategic Partner Development team to develop and enhance successful partnerships and influence internal and external partners and industry stakeholders in the Gaming industry” the ad reads.
