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Mplayit Mobile Arcade app launches on Facebook

There's a new tool for mobile game publishers to use to reach their targeted consumer base among Facebook's 130 million active users.

Online mobile game trial and merchandising provider Mpowerplayer has launched the Mplayit Mobile Arcade application for Facebook, an app that lets consumers find, try and buy mobile games directly through the Facebook platform.

"We grow the market for mobile games by helping consumers discover that they can play great games on the phone that they have right now," said Michael Powers, CEO of Mpowerplayer, Reston, VA. "Nearly all phones sold in America have games capability, but less than 5 percent of people have bought a game for their phone.

"Contrast that with the fact that 70 percent of online consumers spend time playing Web games," he said. "Facebook is a very good match for our strategy because Facebook users are online, they're active on mobile, and -- importantly -- they're on Facebook to kill some time, so they're already in a recreational state of mind."

Mobile games do well with a broadly defined "casual gaming" demographic -- people who play Web games.

According to Mpowerplayer, these casual gamers are 60 percent female, with ages ranging from the teens and 20s to the 30s and 40s.

"The problem the games industry has with these people is that they're not phone geeks," Mr. Powers said. "They're not going to spend time trying to figure out their phone to play a game.

"But when you show them that the same games they play online -- Bejeweled, Solitaire, Tetris, Diner Dash and Sims to name few -- are available for their phone, they're much more likely to make the effort," he said. "We reach this demographic where they live, which is online and in the comfort of their Web browser."

The Mplayit Mobile Arcade application is an extension of Mpowerplayer's demo engine, which lets consumers demo mobile games for free in an interface that mimics the look and feel of a mobile phone.

Facebook users can play, buy and share games, as well as invite their friends to experience various mobile gaming titles, all in a familiar environment.

Consumers can recommend games to others and see which games their friends have recommended.

The launch of Mplayit Mobile Arcade follows the launch of Mplayit.com, Mpowerplayer's consumer mobile gaming portal and embeddable Web widget.

Both products are based on the Mpowerplayer Demo Engine, which is licensed by major wireless carrier and mobile game publisher customers to power mobile game demos on their online storefronts.

To download the Mplayit Mobile Arcade application for Facebook, consumers can visit http://apps.facebook.com/mobilearcade/.

Consumers can also follow Mplayit on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Mplayit.

Mpowerplayer is backed by New Atlantic Ventures.

The prices for downloading a mobile game via Mplayit range anywhere from three dollars a month to five or ten dollars for a one-time purchase to free with a pre-roll ad each time consumers launch it.

"We partner with a number of games publishers that make their games available for free as long as the user views an advertisement when the game launches," Mr. Powers said. "However, most of the games we serve are 'premium' games that are for-purchase and do not contain ads."

Mpowerplayer's marketing strategy is multifaceted.

"So far, our content partnerships have brought us major and popular brands that consumers get excited about and are self-propagating via social networking," Mr. Powers said. "We intend to leverage that phenomenon for all it's worth and further seed and fuel it with more conventional online marketing and distribution partnerships and promotions.

"The Facebook advertising platform is perfectly suited to our need to micro-target interest groups and demographics, as well as allowing us to target focused geographies to build a social critical mass in a city or region," he said.