Social game company and
City of Wonder developer Playdom this week
revealed a new game portal that lets users play Playdom games outside of the dominant Facebook network.
The launch of a game portal on Playdom.com comes just a few months before Facebook
makes Facebook Credits the mandatory currency for Facebook games and apps in July. Disney-owned Playdom now offers several ways to pay for games on its portal.
By launching a games portal independent of Facebook, social game companies can allow users to pay for game items and services through a variety of methods outside of Facebook Credits. Facebook takes a 30 percent cut of Facebook Credits revenue.
The launch of the game portal comes after leading social network game company Zynga revealed plans to launch its own portal independent of Facebook, reportedly called Zynga Live, slated for a mid-year launch.
Like other social game makers, both Zynga and Playdom both have signed exclusive deals with Facebook to use Facebook Credits. But those deals only apply to Zynga and Playdom games that are on Facebook.
Games currently playable directly on Playdom's game portal are
Wild Ones and
City of Wonder, although more titles that don't require a Facebook account are expected to come to the portal.
