This week iPhone social platform publisher Aurora Feint announced Open Feint X for iPhone, a new social platform designed specifically to help developers create free games that monetize through in-app microtransactions and virtual goods. Use of the platform will be free to developers. The platform contains the tools for creating virtual currencies, virtual item shops, e-wallets, and game assets.
Aurora Feint explicitly wants to give developers tools that will help them build Facebook-style social games on the iPhone platform. Open Feint X is designed to help developers drive the sort of viral growth on iPhone that's necessary to making a Facebook game a hit. Incentivized game invites will encourage users to give new free iPhone titles a try, while nudges, an RSS feed of activity, chat rooms, and game boxes on player profiles will raise visibility of participating games.
"OpenFeint X is by far our most ambitious and transformative effort," said Jason Citron, Founder and CEO of Aurora Feint, in a press statement. "We know that there is tremendous interest in creating the next Zynga, CrowdStar, and PlayFish of the iPhone. We also know that developers who aspire to these ambitions want the platform on which they can build these kinds of lucrative businesses. OpenFeint X is exactly that platform."
Open Feint X launched in beta this week with Aurora Feint's strategic partner DeNa, the largest mobile social network and virtual goods business in Japan. DeNa owns a 20% stake in Aurora Feint and plans to work with the company in launching its own smartphone products.
Open Feint X features will be gradually rolled out to the public over the course of the next several months. Right now the Open Feint platform offers social services to 12 million users and grows at a pace of 25% monthly.
Perhaps very significant to the rollout of Open Feint X is Aurora Feint Executive Chairman Peter Relan. He fills the same position at Facebook social developer Crowdstar, which has rapidly grown from a start-up to the second-largest social developer on the Facebook platform in the past few months. Crowdstar currently serves 10.7 million daily active users through its Happy Aquarium, Happy Pets, and Happy Island games. Relan's association with the Open Feint X may give new iPhone developers more confidence in the platform's ability to drive viral growth and monetization.
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