MocoSpace Doubles HTML5 Mobile Game Development Fund To $2M

Mobile game community and HTML5 champion MocoSpace has doubled its HTML5 Mobile Game Developer Fund, the company said Thursday. A total of $2 million will now be allocated to mobile game developers to develop games for its HTML5-based MocoSpace Games Platform, with the intent being to allow games to be played on mobile browsers (thus bypassing traditional app stores). The initiative comes ahead of Facebook's "Project Spartan," an HTML5-based platform for games and applications. The funding will, in effect, help developers easily transition their games onto this new platform as well when it launches. Games that have benefited from the fund so far include New Game Town's Happy Farm and Cage Fighter, Upgraded Studios' In the Club, and Celendar US' Goosy Avatar and Goosy Pets. In addition, MocoSpace has launched its own browser-based HTML5 social games, Street Wars and Stage Hero, which the company says combine for over 700,000 monthly active users. "You want the user experience to be enjoyable and not frustrating. People want to be able to play games with their friends, no matter what kind of device they have. The best way to make a great cross-platform social gaming experience is to build with HTML5," said MocoSpace CEO Justin Siegel. "This is what Facebook is realizing -- and we can’t wait to see what Project Spartan is going to offer consumers and developers alike."