It’s quickly becoming clear that social gaming is a goldmine. Zynga is reportedly making as much as nine figures in revenues, and as users become more accustomed to microtransactions, these figures are poised to grow even more. But it’s also an incredibly difficult space to break into – for every successful game, there are countless others that go unnoticed, even if they have very similar gameplay. So when I say that a new startup called WonderHill has a good chance at making a name for itself in social gaming, it’s not something I’m taking lightly.
While some companies like Zynga have dominated the youth demographic with games like Mafia and Poker, WonderHill is looking to target an entirely different audience, honing in on the 30+ demographic with games with a broader appeal. The company has just closed a $7 million Series A funding round led by Charles River Ventures and Shasta Ventures, and currently has two games live on Facebook and MySpace.
The company’s greatest asset is its team. CEO James Currier founded Tickle, one of the earliest pioneers in viral marketing, in the late 90’s (it later sold to Monster.com for over $100 million) and is on the board of directors at Linden Labs (the makers of SecondLife). CTO Stan Chudnovsky was also a long-time Tickle employee, becoming that company’s CEO following Currier’s departure. And Chief Creative Officer Nick Rush has held executive positions at Pogo, Electronic Arts Online, and iWin, where he created a number of very popular games. He was also involved with You Don’t Know Jack (one of my all-time favorite games) and the Flying Toasters screensaver.
As for the games themselves, Currier says that WonderHill is looking to take the “Pixar approach”, building family-friendly games with high production values that could be played by anyone, without having to dumb them down too much for children. They’re fun and casual, but non-violent. At launch the available apps include Dog World, a virtual pet app with around 1.25 million active users across Facebook and MySpace, and Green Spot, a gardening game with 1.5 million active users.
The company plans to build out more casual games in the near future, beginning with some of basics (word games, card games, etc) and eventually ramping up to entirely new gameplay. For starters these games will all be played through social networks like MySpace and Facebook, but the company has plans to expand to the iPhone as well. Revenue will be generated through micro-transactions – the company isn’t going to be relying heavily on advertising.
WonderHill isn’t by any means a sure bet. There are already quite a few social games made ‘for everyone’, even if they aren’t all flying under a single banner. But it’s hard to argue with the experience these guys are bringing to the table, and the older demographic they’re targeting is among the fastest growing on social networks – and they’re probably going to be looking for something other than Vampires to pass the time.
Good Press.
Yea VC’s seem to be waking up to the fact that gaming has a proven business model, with huge potential revenues.
the word ‘twitter’ was not mentioned in this article, so i thought i ‘d comment
i dont see how these games are “honing in on the 30+ demographic with games with a broader appeal.”
the game play looks more like 3 and under.
so basically we’re saying that non-violence constitutes an older crowd?
am I missing the point here?
yes it does. i speak from experience
i can see that being one factor… but as for the entire reason these games target the 30+ crowd that seems like a really weak argument especially after seeing the graphics..
anyway, judging by the lack of comments no one gives a shit… onto the next post
James Currier & Stan Chudnovsky – you can’t find a better team anywhere!
Congrats to James and Stan!
I think they should create real games like the PC games, world of war, call of duty 4 and 5, MAG (massive action game) on a flash.
These flash games are too cute and small for me, but works for casual gamers, but not so much for hardcore ps3/xbox 360 gamers.
They will get some love from Zynga for sure!
When will there finally be Monkey Island for my Iphone???
monkey island is already on your iphone
http://www.scummvm.org
Would be cool
it seems like they’re trying to be like playfish but don’t know how to go get users or make as high quality games. Restaurant City launched a month ago and has almost 1 million daily users. waste of 7 million dollars.
I would like to see more mentions of “Twitter” on Techcrunch.
Ooga Labs is relatively new–but it is an extremely promising VC greenhouse. Thse guys are proven winners that absolutely know what they are doing from a quality of business, product and people stand point. Congrats James and Stan!
On one hand great to see more companies join the fun and help build the market. On the other it does seem that most are going for very similar approaches.
Congrats James on Wonderhill’s announcement, finally out of the closet.
Well I’m 30 plus, own 5 dogs, would I be seen dead playing “Dog World”? Not a chance. This and a gardening game. are you sure they aren’t going for the over 80 demographic?
they are greedy greedy greedy. the games are fun but with the focus on rubies only it makes it not nearly as enjoyable as it once was. the games are full of glitch monsters that are eating up the backgrounds for good dollars and releasing items for gd’s for moments then changing them to rubies. they need to focus more on the true glitches such as invites, gifting, recruits and the inability of bought items showing up in greenhouses in dogworld instead of creating these so called glitches with the back grounds and incorrectly released items just to try to make a buck. shame wonderhill! customer service is truly lacking! people are leaving these games on a daily basis due to the horrible customer service.
I, for one, look at the game as a whole and not a glitch here or glitch there. Over all, both applications have came a long way from where they began and I must say for the better. I highly doubt that either one would have the following it does now if it weren’t for the extraordinary efforts of their team and the contributions of their users. Granted, there are a few that have become apparently disgruntled over the latest glitches but if they would step back and realize that no matter what game they play, there is bound for something to go wrong and should show some patience. As with everything in this world, nothing is perfect. It’s all a learning experience, even to the gifted developers who have worked their tales off to present 3 million players with a viable and enjoyable game. Kudos to WonderHill
I look forward to more from this group of talented people. I’ve played both games for well over 8 months now and have yet to find anything that would make me come to the conclusion that it was for an older demographic or for that matter, pubescent market. Men and woman of all ages are enjoying the game while doing something good for a change. Just because no heads are being blown off in the process does not mean they shouldn’t be given the opportunity to prove themselves. I commend, applaud and wish them all the luck in the world.
Ha treat 1 million daily users like your personal wallet and watch the company die . Lie and see who is dumb enough to invest in the scam. Rubies will only get them so far, and will not help any of them sleep well at night. Why not see why/how other game profit? Supperpoke Pets dose not need to lie to sell gold. They have no “glitch monsters” they have a fare amount of play money and real money items and backgrounds. WonderHill will fail if they can not learn from others….. Stand behind them and you will be scammed too.
I want some substanciated facts that they are saving rain forest this says nothing to comfirm nor deny anything. I’m still searching for concrete facts. Where are they, i mean 26,799,800sq ft saved,or is it a lie.
30 something’s play thinking they are saving the planet, blindly.
i want proof.
7 million dollars in donations in a year off an application. Go public
agreed. i’m not spending a dime on anything till i see more reason to believe they’re doing what they claim to be doing with the money.