MXP4 and Mobile Roadie have partnered to take social music games to mobile devices. Under the partnership, MXP4’s Bopler Games social music games will be integrated into Mobile Roadie artist apps.
The net result should a lot of music listening and game playing on mobile devices. The companies hope that their partnership will help turn mobile phones into “total entertainment” devices.
Paris-based MXP4 launched Bopler Games as a music hub on Facebook in April 2011. The hub allowed users to create an original social music gaming experience by picking the songs that play in their favorite arcade-like games on Facebook. The plan was to create a music game category on Facebook. That effort succeeded, and now Bopler Games is moving to mobile.
Bopler Games for mobile will debut with an app that includes the popular Pump It! game embedded in music artist David Guetta’s official iPhone app. MXP4 essentially supplies the game for Mobile Roadie’s artist apps. So when you visit the artist’s app, you can play a music game that is integrated with six of Guetta’s songs.
Mobile Roadie’s apps have a gamification layer, where users can increase their overall ranking within the David Guetta app by scoring points in the Bopler game. The players can earn achievement badges and be featured in leaderboards. More apps for additional artists will be released in the future.
Jean Charles Carre, business manager for Guetta, says that Guetta is always looking for new platforms that can help fans engage and interact with his music.
“Social networking and gaming are now two of the most popular activities on mobile devices, so developing a mobile version of Bopler Games was a high priority for MXP4,” said CEO Albin Serviant. “Mobile Roadie is the top provider of highly-customized, immersive artists-branded mobile apps, and we’re elated to be working with them to expand both of our offerings for music fans around the world.”
Michael Schneider, CEO of Los Angeles-based Mobile Roadie, said that adding social games to the app platform makes it more compelling for mobile users and helps artists make more money. Mobile Roadie powers more than 3,000 apps with 15 million users for musicians such as Katy Perry, Madonna, Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Linkin Park, Adele, Pink, Bon Jovi, and Avril Lavigne. Now, any of those artists can add Bopler Games to their apps in a self-serve manner.
Mobile Roadie was founded in 2009 to democratize app creation and it has more than 30 employees. Rivals in the app platform space include Mobbase, Appmakr, Red Foundry. Mobile Roadie’s backers include angels such as Guy Oseary, Ashton Kutcher, Rodger Berman and Mike Jones, among others.
MXP4 has raised more than $13 million to date. Backers include Orkos Capital, Sofinnova Partners and Ventech. MXP4 was founded in 2007. Rivals include Disney’s Tapulous on mobile phones.