Playdom
| File:Current Playdom Logo.png | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | video games, social network service |
| Founded | December 6, 2008 |
| Founders | Dan Yue Chris Wang Ling Xiao |
| Defunct | Template:End date and age |
| Fate | Closure, integrated into Disney Interactive |
| Successor | Library: Disney Interactive |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | John Pleasants (former CEO, resigned 2013) David Sobeski (former CTO, departed 2013) Christa Quarles (CFO, left 2014) Brad Serwin (former COO, exited 2012) |
| Parent | Disney Interactive Studios (2010–2016) |
| Website | playdom |
Playdom, Inc. was recognized as a developer of online social network games with a significant presence on platforms such as Facebook, Google+, and Myspace. Established in the San Francisco Bay Area by University of California, Berkeley alumni Ling Xiao and Chris Wang alongside Swarthmore College graduate Dan Yue, the company leveraged a $300 million social gaming sector in 2009, primarily fueled by virtual goods transactions.
Operating as a fully owned subsidiary under Disney Interactive, a division of The Walt Disney Company, Playdom ceased operations in September 2016 when its remaining titles—including Marvel: Avengers Alliance and its mobile follow-up—were discontinued.
History
Playdom expanded rapidly through a series of acquisitions: Green Patch and Trippert Labs in November 2009; Three Melons from Argentina in March 2010; Merscom based in North Carolina in April 2010; Acclaim Games in May 2010; Hive7 after securing $33 million in funding in June 2010; and Metaplace, Inc. in July 2010. Some of the games from these acquired entities were eventually phased out to streamline the portfolio.
In July 2010, The Walt Disney Company purchased Playdom for $763 million—consisting of $563 million upfront and an additional $200 million dependent on performance—elevating Playdom to the position of the third-largest social gaming company with roughly 42 million monthly active users.
The company faced regulatory scrutiny when it was fined $3 million by the Federal Trade Commission in May 2011 for collecting data from children without obtaining parental approval.
By April 2014, most of Playdom’s online games were shut down; however, several titles such as Gardens of Time and Disney City Girl were transferred to RockYou to continue operation. The studio’s final closure occurred when Disney Interactive Media Group terminated the Marvel: Avengers Alliance series in September 2016.
Games
Gardens of Time stood out as Playdom’s top-performing Facebook game, attracting up to 17 million monthly users and 4 million daily active players.
Sold games
From April through October 2014, Playdom divested multiple games to RockYou:
- Disney City Girl (rebranded as "City Girl Life")
- Disney Words of Wonder (rebranded as "Words of Wonder")
- Gardens of Time
- Kitchen Scramble
Discontinued games
- Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon (GotG)
- Social City – A casual city-building strategy game honored with the 2010 Game Developers Choice Online Award for Best Social Network Game. Early in 2010, Inside Social Games ranked it as the second-best Facebook game. It also received honorable mention among Gamasutra's Top 5 Facebook Social Games of that year. Gamezebo scored it 3.5 out of 5, commending its well-balanced gameplay and visuals while noting its limited depth. Social City was officially discontinued on December 20, 2011.
- Additional titles that were discontinued include: Armies of Magic, Big City Life, Blackwood & Bell Mysteries, Bloodlines, Bola, Botkin's Hidden Cove, City of Wonder, Deep Realms, Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers, Disney Dream Kingdom, Disney Ghosts of Mistwood, Disney Gnome Town, Disney Hidden Worlds, Disney Club Penguin: Card-Jitsu Snow, ESPNU College Town, ESPN Return Man, ESPN Sports Bar & Grill, Fanglies, Fish Friends, Full Bloom, The Incredible Machine, (Lil) Farm Life, (Lil) Green Patch, Market Street, Marvel: Avengers Alliance, including sequels and spin-offs, the Mobsters series across platforms, My Vineyard, NBA Dynasty, Pet Resort, Pirates of the Caribbean: Isles of War, Poker Palace, ScribbleMix,Sorority Life,
Star Wars Commander, Threads of Mystery, Tiki Farm, Tiki Resort, Treetopia, Verdonia, and Wild Ones.
Sorority Life
Released in 2008 by Playdom on Facebook and Myspace, Sorority Life was a browser-based role-playing game where users embodied a college sorority member striving to enhance their social standing through activities such as securing jobs, updating their wardrobe, exchanging gifts, and more.
Steve Meretzky, who served as Playdom's Vice-President of Game Design and contributed to the game's development, revealed that by mid-2009, Sorority Life attracted three million active users each month. By May 2010, the user base expanded to exceed five million monthly active participants, with daily engagement ranging between 600,000 and 700,000 on Facebook alone.
The game announced an extended period of inactivity on December 23, 2013, and later confirmed its permanent closure on January 8, 2014.
External links
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