Viximo is announcing today that it has created a social gaming platform to help distribute games beyond Facebook to smaller social networks.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based company has quietly established links to social networks that collectively have more than 60 million users. Now it is creating a social game platform those will distribute and promote games to all of those social networks.
Developers using the platform already include IGG, Playtaki, Frosmo, Synapse Games and Mob Science. Dale Strang, who became chief executive of Viximo in January, said that social game developers see the need to expand beyond a single dominant community. But they’ve been stymied by the cost of setting up their own distribution networks across many smaller communities. Viximo’s solution lets developers expand quickly to many different sites.
Kevin Xu, developer at IGG, said that the new platform reduces his company’s risk, lowers its costs, opens new channels and drives new user adoption. Viximo’s platform enables the free-to-play business model, where users play for free but then buy virtual goods with real money. Initially, the company focused on creating virtual goods that could be given away as gifts in social games.
The smart move here is that Viximo figured out that there are opportunities beyond Facebook.
“I don’t think there will be one social network,” said Strang (pictured below, right).
Viximo’s distribution network includes social networks such as BlackPlanet, Quepasa, Multiply, Zorpia, Tuenti and others. Each network has anywhere from 3 million to 20 million users per month. So Viximo doesn’t include the tiniest social networks, but it does reach sites that could be very interested in certain kinds of games. For developers, the smaller networks could be more attractive because there is less competition.
With Viximo’s platform, each social network can set up its own virtual currency and make it easy for game developers to create games that work on the social network. In an interview, Strang said that the highly publicized clash between Zynga and Facebook earlier this spring over the adoption of Facebook Credits showed every developer that it is important to diversify beyond one platform.
Viximo was founded in 2007 and has 20 employees. Rivals include HeyZap and MochiMedia. The company has raised two rounds of funding from Sigma Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. The company was founded by Brian Balfour (below, left) , vice president of business development and marketing, and Sean Lindsay, chief technology officer.