Indie game developers can qualify for some pretty awesome programs these days thanks to other major developers offering up programs to help the indie guys out. MocoSpace is another one getting into the developer helping arena with their new million dollar developer fund for HTML5 mobile game developers.
MocoSpace has developed some pretty popular social games such as Stage Hero which is quite popular with the Android casual gaming crowd. The fund is set up to help accelerate HTML5 mobile game development by funding select developers cash and marketing support for their HTML5 mobile games.
HTML5 is becoming quite popular as games developed using HTML5 are generally browser games that are compatible with mobile device. Think of them like Flash games but without so much Flash involved.
If you are interested or want to learn more, you can check out the full press release below. There are all kinds of programs like this for indie developers to get on board with and as more come to light, we will try to post all about them for all our developer readers.
Developer Website: MocoSpace
MocoSpace Launches $1 Million HTML5 Mobile Game Developer Fund to Support Mobile Browser Gaming
Selected Game Developers will Qualify for Cash and Marketing Support to Launch Titles on the MocoSpace Game Platform
BOSTON – Feb 23, 2011 – MocoSpace, the largest entertainment destination on the mobile Internet, today announces the launch of a $1million HTML5 Mobile Game Developer Fund to accelerate the development of games played on smartphone browsers. Developers are invited to submit existing games and game proposals. The selected developers will receive cash and marketing support to develop and promote their titles on the MocoSpace Games Platform.
Late last year, MocoSpace announced its push into gaming with the MocoSpace Game Platform. The company has launched two social games in-house. Both Street Wars and Stage Hero have proven to be very successful, with a combined total of over 700,000 monthly active users, average session times of over 4 minutes and players averaging nearly 2.5 sessions per day. The company is currently working with a number of game studios from around the world, and expects to launch its first 3rd party titles this spring.
More recently, the company announced the hiring of Robert Lindsley as Vice President of MocoSpace Games. He joins the company from Harmonix where he worked on the Rock Band franchise as Executive Producer. He has worked for more than 20 years in the video game industry including several years at Atari and Microsoft’s XBOX team. MocoSpace is actively hiring for game designers and developers in its Boston office.
“The majority of MocoSpace’s audience will soon be on smartphones. Our members are begging for more games, so accelerating the growth of our game catalog is a top priority for us, ” said Justin Siegel. “We’re looking for great third party game developers to help us meet demand and game titles that lend themselves well to the mobile social experience.”
According to Juniper research, mobile gaming revenues are expected to grow to around $15 billion by 2015. Data company ComScore has also found that Smartphone subscribers (47.1%) are three times more likely than feature phone subscribers (15.7%) to play games on their device at least once a month.
Developers and publishers interested in the “HTML5 Game Developer Fund” should contact MocoSpace at gamesATcorp.mocospace.com
Companies are also invited to meet with MocoSpace at GDC in San Francisco, February 28 –March 4, 2011. To set up a meeting please contact Imran Malek at imran.malekATcorp.mocospace.com
About MocoSpace
MocoSpace is the largest entertainment destination on the mobile Internet, with over 16 million registered users generating more than 1 million hours a day of games, music and more! For a young, multicultural, on-the-go generation, MocoSpace is the mobile community of choice for making friends, having fun and staying connected. MocoSpace is free and available on any web-enabled mobile phone in the world. Launched in 2005, MocoSpace is based in Boston, MA and is backed by General Catalyst and Softbank Capital. For more information, visit www.jnjmobile.com
