Mobile, Social Platform Tapjoy Begins Publishing Program

Social app and game monetization company Tapjoy, formerly Offerpal, said Wednesday it would begin leveraging its distribution and monetization platform to help social and mobile game developers publish their titles. Tapjoy, which secured $21 million from a recent funding round, said it would use its capital and its resources to fund development of "early-stage and pre-launch games." The company stressed that developers selected for the program will maintain "complete ownership" of their users and properties. Tapjoy added that games selected by the firm for publishing will receive monthly marketing credits for new user acquisition through Tapjoy's network of over 200 million mobile users (determined via unique device IDs) and 100 million social gamers. The company said its service is facilitating over 1.5 million app installations per day on mobile platforms, and mobile apps using Tapjoy are generating over $35 million per month total. One of the first games that will be part of the initiative is the Facebook title Dawn of the Dragons from 5th Planet Games. Founder Robert Winkler said the partnership resulted in the "best revenue month ever" for the developer. Tapjoy said games will be chosen for the publishing program "based on the quality of the gaming experience and the talent of its developers." Interested parties can visit the program's official website. A spokesperson for Tapjoy added, "We’ve seen OpenFeint try it, Playfish, gWallet and others. But the difference between theirs and ours is that we’re the only company with real distribution to ensure that a game becomes a top hit."