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December 19, 2012

SGN Deploys Cross-Platform Development Mobile-Social Games Tool - MasterKey

SGN, (Social Gaming Network), a major developer of cross-platform social and mobile games, recently announced the official launch of MasterKey, a proprietary technology that speeds the development of cross-platform titles.

Created as part of a company-wide strategy to streamline SGN’s development process, MasterKey significantly reduces the time, effort and cost required to publish a game across Facebook, iOS and Android.

Chris DeWolfe, cofounder and chief executive officer for the Social Gaming Network, said he's found a solution in MasterKey, which his company recently launched for cross-platform game development technology.  

DeWolfe, also a cofounder of MySpace, has been talking about the vision behind MasterKey for a while, and how this will be "the year of convergence" and that SGN would be able "develop once and publish anywhere."

DeWolfe said the recent launch of MasterKey goes on to signify that the company is now "fully deployed" across all the games SGN is publishing, including Panda Jam and Bingo Blingo.

The objective of the new platform, he said, is to enable SGN’s developers and third-party developers to build games that can run on multiple platforms and which include Facebook, iOS and Android.

The process is not as simple as it seems, though, or as simple as developing a Facebook game and converting it to mobile – but compared to the normal porting process, “it is like hitting a button.”

“You shouldn’t force a developer to either build on Facebook or on iOS or on Android, and make them decide on one,” he said. “That puts the small guy at a disadvantage.”

DeWolfe acknowledged that mobile and social game mechanics aren’t interchangeable, and that some Facebook games don’t really make sense on mobile. However, he pointed to casino games like Bingo Blingo as one category where the SGN strategy seems to be working.

Mobile and social gaming, he argued, are ultimately “the same thing” – you just have to put some thought into each experience up front: “The mobile game as an afterthought won’t work.”

SGN has significantly increased revenue quarter-over-quarter, is now profitable, and after a year and a half without acquisitions, may be ready to do some more buying. “We think it’s a buyer’s market out there,” DeWolfe said.




Edited by Braden Becker


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