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In a bid to unseat Zynga’s CityVille game on Facebook, Electronic Arts has launched SimCity Social today.

The new city-building simulation game represents the culmination of a large team of developers at EA’s Maxis and Playfish game studios, and it’s EA’s big counterattack against Zynga’s CityVille, which has 27.6 million monthly active users and is still the No. 3 game on Facebook 21 months after its launch.

The game is an interesting experiment since EA is launching a more casual version of SimCity for Facebook at the same time it’s readying its new SimCity, a more traditional, $60 PC game, for launch in 2013. EA views the titles as targeting different audiences, where SimCity Social could target a broader audience — a new generation of urban planners — that could eventually try out the $60 game. The risk, of course, is that the social game might reduce demand for the $60 title.

“SimCity Social will entice a new generation of urban planners with its easy-to-use tools that allow anyone to expand and grow their own unique sprawling metropolises and watch as it comes to life in fun and unexpected ways,” said Jami Laes, the vice president of Global Studios for Playfish. “SimCity Social is about playing with your friends. Whether you do that with kindness by helping put out a fire or through mischievous acts like helping a criminal escape, the decisions you make with your friends will determine how the story of your cities plays out.”

Zynga and EA are in a big struggle for the emerging social games market. Zynga is No. 1 with 246 million monthly active users, according to AppData. EA has 41.2 million monthly active users, and its biggest game is The Sims Social, which has 15.3 million monthly active users. This is pretty far below its peak last year.

With SimCity Social, the player doesn’t follow a linear path. Cities evolve as a direct result of player-driven choice, allowing for more creative freedom than a game that leads you directly down a path. As mayor, the player deals with unforeseen problems like fires, crime, and pollution. The fun part of the game is making decisions to solve those issues. Players can also compete on a social level, creating friendly or competitive relationships with other cities. The Facebook game already has more than 750,000 fans.

EA plans to integrate advertiser Dunkin’ Donuts into the SimCity Social game; players can gift coffee and donut “boosts” to friends during the game.

Filed under: games, social

Many game developers have moaned about the lack of quality and real gameplay in Facebook games. Checkpoint Studios was founded to do something about that, and the company is launching a high-end flight history simulation game today dubbed AviNation.

Inspired by Japanese titles where you can play as an airline manager or air traffic controller, AviNation lets players build an aviation empire through key decades of flight history from the 1930s onward. The game has rich 3D graphics and runs on the Unity 3D engine, giving it a leg up on other Facebook titles in graphics quality. And it’s the kind of game that hardcore player Brian Wiklem, co-founder and chief executive of Checkpoint, always wanted to play. AviNation will launch in June.

Your goal is to become a modern-day airline mogul. You manage your flight crew, run daily operations at the airport, and control air traffic by directing planes in and out of gates. You can open a network of friendly airports to increase your passenger traffic or ship freight. If you do your job right, the population of your town will grow, and you’ll earn achievements for completing quests.

“We’ve seen a lot of games that were flat and linear, ” Wiklem said in an interview with GamesBeat. “We were bored with point-and-click gameplay and virtual chores. They’re glorified activities, not games. You are led from one activity to the next, with no sense of discovery.”

Simulation games are still the biggest category on Facebook thanks to titles such as Zynga’s FarmVille and CityVille. But the airline genre is a fresher concept. It takes skill to run your airline and master the included minigames, Wiklem said.

The whole point is to move the industry forward from Social Games 1.0 to Social Games 2.0. That should increase engagement and lead to more loyal fans. The game is social because you can send flights to friends within your social network in real-world locations.

The 3D cartoon-style world has changing weather and day-to-night effects. The characters are cartoonish yet customizable and detailed. You can adjust the camera angle to zoom in close or get a bird’s-eye view.

The game has 250 aircraft, including authentic historic and modern aircraft that are licensed from Boeing and others. Other features coming include the ability to play any time, anywhere on smartphones and tablets. And Wiklem says the game has an innovative feature where spectators who watch messages from the game in a Facebook activity stream can click on the messages and actually help out. Such peer-to-peer interaction can happen even if your friends aren’t currently playing. Checkpoint has actually filed for patents on its cross-platform strategy.

The Costa Mesa, Calif.-based company was founded in 2011, and it has 30 employees. Rivals include Kixeye, Idol Games, 6waves, and Kabam. Larger rivals are Zynga, EA, and Disney-Playdom. Checkpoint’s investor is Marvelous AQL, a Tokyo, Japan-based publisher headed by Haruki Nakayama, former chief executive of Sega. Checkpoint has raised $5 million.

Wiklem said that he always remembered the answer that Pixar’s founders gave when they were asked why they made movies for children. They said they didn’t. Rather, they said they made movies that they wanted to see. By the same token, Wiklem said that social games don’t have to be crappy.

“I set out to change that,” he said.

Wiklem formerly worked at THQ’s Heavy Iron Studios and at Shiny Entertainment. He managed teams of 80 or more developers. He also spent eight years at Sony working on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games. He’s a commercial aviation enthusiast and founder of Jet-X-Models, a maker of die-cast model airplanes. He is joined by Todd Morgan, executive producer and head of studio operations (formerly of Obsidian Entertainment, Super Villain Studios, and Shiny Entertainment); Chris Masterton, chief technology officer (formerly of Heavy Iron Studios); and Chris Naves, art director (formerly of Foundation 9 and Shiny Entertainment).

Game industry veterans David Perry and David Jaffe both liked Wiklem’s idea but told him he wouldn’t get funding unless he made a Facebook game. So Wiklem reworked what he had into an idea that could be executed on Facebook. He happened to know a friend who knew Nakayama. He made the pitch and after a 15-minute pitch that turned into two hours, he sold Nakayama on the idea.

Check out the art gallery below.

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your early-bird tickets here.

Filed under: dev, games, gbunfiltered, social, VentureBeat

TinyCo, a mobile gaming startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz, is yet another major game developer that has come forward to show that revenue per user on Amazon’s appstore is tracking much higher than it is on Google Play.

The company looked at its title Tiny Village, a prehistoric-themed simulation game that’s available on iOS, Google Play and Amazon Appstore, and found that when you break it out by platform, Amazon’s store monetizes 80 percent better per user than iTunes. If you break out the tablet market, Amazon Kindles monetize 43 percent better per user than iPads do. So Amazon is doing even better than Apple is, according to their numbers.

This is not to rag on Google Play though. TinyCo’s numbers are actually not that bad when looking at Google’s store. When you look at just Android phones (which would exclude any Amazon devices since they don’t offer a phone), these devices generate 82 percent of the revenue-per-user that iPhones do.

TinyCo’s numbers are a little bit different from recent data out of mobile analytics provider Flurry, which looked at a basket of apps that were available across all three stores. Flurry found that for every $1 generated per user in the iOS store, Amazon’s store generated $0.89 and Google Play produced $0.23. Another big, independent developer also shared some promising stats about Amazon’s Appstore a few weeks ago: Storm8 said it generated $700,000 in revenue during its first month in Amazon’s store.

There are a couple things to think about with any early data out of the Amazon store, however. 1) Google hasn’t had the years experience that Amazon has in processing payments and managing an e-commerce-centric revenue model. 2) They lack the database of credit cards that both Amazon and Apple have, which creates extra friction for consumers when they want to pay and have to enter in their personal information. 3) It’s still early days so Amazon Kindles may just be selling to early adopters, who have more disposable income. Over time, revenue-per-user numbers may trend downward as a device or platform crosses over into the mainstream. 4) Amazon’s Appstore is still only available to U.S. consumers. So the iTunes and Google Play numbers are averaging in customers from less lucrative international markets.

Disney and Japan’s DeNA have agreed to collaborate on mobile social games to be launched on a worldwide basis. The deal is part of a larger entertainment collaboration.

Under the deal, both companies will collaborate to produce games for DeNA’s Mobage mobile social gaming platform.

The companies launched their first jointly developed social game, Disney Party, two days ago on the Mobage network in Japan, where DeNA has 35 million users who spend so much money on mobile entertainment that they generated $1.4 billion in revenues in the past year. A second title, Disney Fantasy quest, will debut on April 2. A third title based on Disney’s Marvel Comics characters will debut this summer in Japan. Disney Party is a free-to-play social party simulation game for mobile phones. Players can opt to buy virtual goods with real money. Players can decorate their rooms with objects that will draw visits from Disney characters. The players can then pose (or, rather, have their avatars pose) for pictures with the Disney characters.

Local versions of thse games are scheduled to be launched as smartphone apps after July on the Mobage networks outside of Japan. Those titles are the first jointly developed games that DeNA has released outside of Japan and more are in the works. The focus will be on mobile games, but the collaboration will extend beyond that as well to Disney movies, Disney TV programs, and Disney smartphone apps.

“Disney’s characters and stories have cross-border and cross-generational appeal,” said Isao Moriyasu, president of DeNA, in a statement. “DeNA has enormous reach around the world with its proven cross-device platform for mobile social games. Together, we can delight millions of players with games featuring Disney’s and Marvel’s beloved characters.”

Disney Fantasy Quest is a social card-collection game, while the Marvel game will be a free-to-play social card battle game.

Filed under: games, mobile, social

Social game startup Seismic Games is launching CelebrityMe, a new Facebook title that lets players live out the fantasy of being a celebrity.

The new game is an attempt to find a niche — in the genre of character-driven games related to celebrity culture — that big companies such as Zynga haven’t occupied on the social network. While everyone else is building social worlds, Seismic wants to create fun characters.

“We’re not trying to do what everyone else is doing,” said Eric Gewirtz, chief creative officer and co-founder of Seismic, in an interview with VentureBeat. “Console game companies have become risk averse. We think there is room for innovation in social games.”

Los Angeles-based Seismic Games came out of stealth in January when it announced it had raised $2 million from DFJ Frontier, venture capitalist Tom Matlack, and other entertainment industry investors. The company was started by Gewirtz, Greg Borrud (chief executive) and Chris Miller. The 20-person team includes a lot of veterans of the hardcore game industry; they have worked at places such as Pandemic Studios, Activision and Vivendi Universal. Their approach is to try to create addictive games that emphasize fun, rather than analytics.

Their first effort is not unlike The Movies, the tongue-in-cheek movie career simulation game created by Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios for the PC in 2005. But there aren’t a ton of other games like it where you can pretend to be a celebrity.

In the CelebrityMe game, you start out as a new arrival in Venice Beach, Calif., and try to land gigs as an actor. You make friends, go to parties and buy clothes that gets you noticed. You learn the ropes and work your way up to being a star. You hang out with the rich and famous, avoid scandals, and try to land roles that will put you into center stage.

In that way, Gewirtz thinks of the title as a character-building game with a narrative. You can customize your celebrity with thousands of combinations of hair styles, facial features, clothing and accessories — all of which can provoke a reaction from your audience and critics. The game helps you create simple animated music videos or movie clips that you can share with your friends. The more people like those animations, the more you rise as a star.

“Facebook is all about expressing who you are to the world. CelebrityMe takes it one step further by tapping into players’ real world interests and dreams and delivers on the fantasy of living the celebrity lifestyle,” said Borrud. “CelebrityMe gives players the tools to express not only who they are, but who they want to be, and lets them live out and share these fun aspirations with all their Facebook friends.”

Activities include going to nightclubs and getting noticed by the paparazzi. If you get drunk and get into a fight, that will hurt your reputation. You get a “redo” if you bungle the task and want to try again. Over time, you build an entourage. You need help from casting agents, producers, directors, stylists and fellow stars. Eventually, you’ll be getting gigs for Oscar-quality movies, if you play your cards right.

There’s a limit to how much user-generated content is allowed. Initially, you have limited choices about what kind of film you want to shoot. You have to play certain mini games well to get your movie rated higher. If you want better ratings, you can bribe the critics with faux money.

The movie shorts have a few still scenes and may be good for some laughs. Players may enjoy sharing them with friends at first, but they will probably also get the urge to gain more control over the actual content over time. Gewirtz said the team will grant more freedom to experienced players over time, but exactly what that means isn’t yet clear.

“We think these are mainstream fantasies that appeal to both genders and they could get a wide international audience,” Gewirtz said. “On Facebook, the fantasies today are more like build a castle, a farm, a mafia or a city.”

The key to whether the game succeeds or not is whether gamers truly enjoy the short movies they create and the sense of humor that comes with them. They may (or may not) like the fact that you can’t do that many of the bad things that come with being a movie star: hookers, drugs, thugs and generally bad behavior. There are no limos or jets yet either. But the company will introduce a reputation system over time that will allow you to pursue alternative paths.

“It’s a light-hearted approach to celebrity,” Gewirtz said. “We stay on the family friendly side, though you can decide to be a ruthless bad-boy rocker.”

You can buy lots of clothes and, if these generate a better reaction from the audience, you’ll get higher ratings in movies. Rival games include the Electronic Arts’ The Sims Social and CrowdStar’s It Girl, but neither really highlights being a celebrity.

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your early-bird tickets here.

Filed under: dev, games, social, VentureBeat

Electronic Arts and Chinese social network Tencent are taking EA’s The Sims Social game to China.

Beijing-based Tencent, which has hundreds of millions of users, will publish the game on the Tencent Open Platform under the Chinese name Mo Ni Shi Guang. EA’s Playfish studio in Beijing is developing the title, which was a big hit last fall on Facebook. The move helps EA keep pace with rival social game maker Zynga, which has taken its CityVille game to China.

The game will be available to players on Tencent’s QZone social gaming network. The game will combine the gameplay from the original game with new features developed by Playfish for Tencent’s social game platform. The game is based on The Sims, the people simulation game that has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide in 20 languages. When it launched last year, The Sims Social grew to more than 50 million monthly active users in its first month, but the audience has since declined to 20.9 million monthly active users, according to AppData.

The Chinese version will have localized language and art. Tencent’s platform is now the largest social network in China. Closed beta testing of the game is under way and an open beta is expected in the coming months.

Filed under: games, social

At this point in his career, it’s safe to put John Earner in the “names as destiny” category. Following a hugely successful run with Playfish, he’s leaving the social game developer today to start as an entrepreneur in residence at Accel, according to sources.

A former naval officer, he joined as the company in 2008 as its first game producer, where he shepherded the development of its first big simulation game, Pet Society. Having figured out how to monetize virtual goods with it, he went on to launch the company’s next big hit, Restaurant City. These two games inspired competing ones from Zynga and many other developers, and provided the revenue and traffic numbers that got Electronic Arts to acquire Playfish in the fall of 2009 in a deal worth up to $400 million.

He also built out its product team as he moved up within the company. And after the acquisition, he helped EA to develop a variety of other titles using existing sports intellectual property, including soccer management game FIFA Superstars. His biggest win, though, has been Sims Social. The life simulator, based off of the long-running EA series, is now the single largest title in EA’s Facebook portfolio. It’s also one of the largest games overall on the platform today, with 3.9 million daily active users and 22 million monthly actives, according to AppData.

He will no doubt be missed, especially considering the general traffic decline of EA’s Facebook titles.

The gaming conglomerate is still one of the largest developers on Facebook, but its social game leadership has also continued to get whittled down. Of the Playfish founding team, only Kristian Segerstrale remains — albeit he’s moved up to be the executive vice president of EA Digital. Meanwhile, former division head Barry Cottle was recently poached by Zynga.

A Bit Lucky, a social gaming firm that is shooting to make high-end Facebook games, is launching its second game today called Lucky Space. The game is in the simulation and strategy category on Facebook, where players must build a space colony in a sci-fi universe. If it turns out to be a hit, the A Bit Lucky can consider itself to be a real player in the high-stakes social gaming market.

A Bit Lucky already has a good track record. The new game follows Lucky Train, which put the San Mateo, Calif.-based company on the map. Lucky Train was a train simulation game that was one of the highest-rated games on Facebook. That enabled the company to raise $5 million from investor Nexon.

Lucky Train was a big hit among young males, boys (who no doubt played on their parents’ Facebook accounts) and hardcore gamers. Lucky Space is a similar title, sort of like StarCraft, blending a lot of complexity with an easy-to-use interface and not so much fighting. Lucky Space is another title aimed at bringing hardcore gamers to Facebook.

“We are aiming to create high-end social games,” said Frederic Descamps (pictured left, on the right side), chief executive of the company, in an interview. “We are aiming for the players who might otherwise look down on Facebook games as inferior. We believe that video games and social games are merging, and we’re just at the beginning of it.”

A Bit Lucky stands out from the pack of Facebook game companies by putting a lot of emphasis on advanced graphics. It created its own custom Flash game engine so that the game could run fast, even though it is running on Adobe Flash within the Facebook user interface. Like Lucky Train, Lucky Space also has interesting graphical touches. For instance, the glowing lights in the space colony buildings are pretty unique for a Facebook game, said Jordan Maynard (pictured above, left), chief creative officer of A Bit Lucky.

Lucky Space is a social game, where you can help your friends build their own colonies and you can visit their creations. The game allows you to build out your planetary colony, but it also prompts you to go on missions in order to advance the larger storyline. The players can uncover the mysteries of extraterrestrial civilizations and develop their colonies into self-sustaining habitats.

They can mine for resources, explore new terrain, and defend their colonies from cosmic threats such as meteors. For instance, you can build a missile turret to shoot down meteors.

The goal is to create a game that keeps players engaged for a longer time. The game has a sense of humor from the start, when you find out that your dead uncle bequeathed you an alien planet, which you must cultivate in order to get rich. You can shop at stores such as Worm Whole Foods, and there are references to sci-fi lore from Dune, Star Wars and Star Trek.

The game world is hidden at first and you have to explore it little by little. You can check to see how well you are doing compared to your friends by examining details such as how many resources they collect per hour. Some resources are rare, and you have to collect a bunch of items in order to build some of your structures.

A Bit Lucky’s games are free-to-play, where users can play for free and pay real money for virtual goods. Like other Facebook game makers, the company focuses on developing communities, learning through iteration, fast development cycles, analytics and feedback. The company has learned from early testing that players play the game for 25 minutes for the very first time they play.

Descamps and Maynard co-founded the company in November, 2009. They raised a round of $2.7 million in angel funding in February, 2010, and launched their first game in June. They spent a lot of time enhancing that game after launch, and then broke off a new team to build Lucky Space in January. The company has 20 employees, including a number of veterans of game companies such as Electronic Arts, Trion Worlds, and others. The Lucky Train game peaked in November of last year at around 300,000 daily active players.

Descamps said he believes there is still room for a lot of different kinds of games on Facebook, just as Facebook game evangelist Sean Ryan has argued. A Bit Lucky is trying to make games that don’t compete head-on with Facebook leaders such as Zynga. Rivals include Kabam and Kixeye.

“We see tons of growth ahead, if you focus on innovation, new game play, new genres and better quality,” Descamps said.

Filed under: games, VentureBeat