LANGHORNE, Pa., Dec. 10, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Casual games publisher and developer eGames, Inc. (Pink Sheets:EGAM) announced today that it has started development on a game for release on social networking websites, starting with the largest social network in Brazil, Orkut(R), the free-access social networking service owned and operated by Google. The game is expected to be ready for release as early as February, 2010, with plans to integrate expansion packs, sale of virtual game enhancements and user-suggested improvements, as well as additional game titles, in the months following release.
"We are excited to bring new versions of our most popular game titles to the social networking arena," said eGames Vice President, Sales and Marketing Rich Siporin. "Our games, including Burger Island, Satisfashion, Purrfect Pet Shop, and Puzzle City, are ideally suited for the social network environment, as well as the microtransaction monetization strategies that have proven successful on social networks to date."
"Our plan to launch social games in the Brazilian social network market will put us in the forefront of development of the social game market in that region," Siporin continued. "Brazil has fared much better than other regions of the world during the worldwide economic crisis, and it is also a region which is projected to continue developing very rapidly. Today the substantial majority of Brazilian Internet users are also Orkut users, with millions of monthly active users in Brazil. Once we have established our presence in Brazil, our plan is to rapidly expand to other Latin American countries. We first established developer relationships in Brazil beginning in early 2006 and we've evolved those relationships to a stage where we would like to establish a broader business presence in the region. This venture appears to be the ideal opportunity."
"Our games will be developed for the social networks using OpenSocial(R), which is a set of common application programming interfaces (APIs) for web-based social network applications, developed by Google along with MySpace(R) and other social networks. OpenSocial applications can be easily deployed to many social networks including hi5(R), Yahoo! (R), MySpace, Ning(R), Friendster(R), Plaxo(R), and eventually Facebook(R)."
About eGames, Inc.
eGames, Inc., headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, develops and publishes casual games for the PC, Nintendo DS and Wii, iPhone, and the Internet including The Dracula Files, Burger Island(R), Burger Island 2: The Missing Ingredient, Defender of the Crown: Heroes Live Forever(R), Purrfect Pet Shop(R), Satisfashion(R), Puzzle City(R) and more. Additional information regarding eGames, Inc. can be found at http://www.egames.com.
Orkut and OpenSocial are registered trademarks of Google, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Forward-Looking Statement Safe Harbor
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including without limitation, statements regarding the launch of an eGames title onto social networking websites, the anticipated timing of such release, and the expected game enhancements to follow; the suitability of our games for social networking sites; the anticipation that our relationships with Brazilian businesses provides an opportunity for a broader business presence in the region; and the ease with which games developed using the OpenSocial interface can be deployed to many social networks. eGames cautions readers that the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future results and performance include, but are not limited to: continued overall economic problems in the United States and around the world that negatively affect consumer spending and retail markets; the potential failure of business partners with which we do business, including distributors, retailers, licensees and publishers; delays in the development and release of future titles; inability to fund continued development of future titles; technical and other issues that may delay or halt development of future titles; the failure of new titles to be adopted by users; our inability to enter into and maintain commercially successful publishing, licensing and distribution relationships; and an increase in competition; as well as the risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading "Factors Affecting Future Performance" in our Annual Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009 as posted on the Company's website and on www.pinksheets.com.