Game rental startup GameFly is starting a gamer-centric social network on Android devices, the company announced today. It has launching an updated app that gives gamers access to more networking features.
The Los Angeles company already has more than 4.5 million installs of its apps for iOS (iPhone, iPod, iPad) and Android. With the latest update on Android, gamers across both platforms can socialize with their friends, find like-minded gamers, and discover new selections from GameFly’s 8,000 game titles.
GameFly launched its social network app on the iPhone back in April. With the updated Android app, Android gamers can now do things like create a profile page and browse friends’ profiles; find new people to play with on connected consoles; post updates and share information with followers; follow friends and discover what they are playing; view recent game activity; comment on posts and get notifications when others comment on theirs; connect to Facebook and Twitter accounts; and share games with friends.
The new app is designed to appeal to all gamers, not just those who subscribe to GameFly’s game rental service, said GameFly co-founder and senior vice president of business development Sean Spector. On average, app sessions last more than an hour. The updated GameFly app is now available in the Android Market and will be available soon in the Nook Store and the Amazon Appstore for Android. It can be downloaded directly from www.gamefly.com/mobile.
GameFly has a Netflix-like model, and Netflix itself said recently it plans to compete with GameFly in game disk rentals. GameFly was founded in 2002 and has more than 250 employees. Other rivals in gamer mobile apps include IGN, GameSpot, G4 and others. Investors include Sequoia Capital and Tenaya Capital.