Popcap in Facebook casino launch
Plants v Zombies creator goes live with Lucky Gem Casino app.
Social gaming studio Popcap Games has launched Lucky Gem Casino, a Facebook slots app with rooms themed on a number of its brands including Bejewelled.
Popcap’s ‘Bejeweled Blitz’ puzzle game attracts more than 10m monthly active users, while other games including Zuma Blitz (2.7m MAU) will also receive branded slots on Lucky Gem.
The large majority of its games are developed by Gamesys via its social games arm Iwi that also designed its Jackpot Joy Facebook slots as well as Super Fun Town and its most recent game Bee Blitz.
The Electronic Arts-owned developer made its first foray into egaming last year, partnering with GTECH G2 on a branded slot based on its ‘Plants vs Zombies’ title.
The newly launched product takes a virtual credits model, with players able to buy extra credits but unable to cash out, and according to technology website VentureBeat, PopCap will “add more games [and] community features” further down the line.
Popcap’s latest move comes just one week after fellow social gaming company Zynga entered into its first licensed partnership, launching new game Zynga Slingo as a result of the partnership with New Jersey-based company Slingo.
Last week also saw WMS launch its Lucky Cruise casino on Facebook, while Cozy Games and NYX Gaming Group have also brought out new apps on the social network this year.
In January, Double Down Interactive – whose flagship casino app is among the largest of its kind on Facebook with 4.8million monthly active users – was acquired by IGT for up to US$500m.