BringIt Partners With CrowdStar For Pop Boom

Platform developer BringIt has partnered with CrowdStar to create a skill-based puzzle game called Pop Boom. Users will be able to play Pop Boom as a freestanding app or as a mini-game integrated into CrowdStar’s Happy Aquarium. Pop Boom will be integrated into other games by the end of the month. Pop Boom integrates BringIt’s real-time transactional platform complete with tournaments, challenges, leaderboards, virtual currency, and rewards. CrowdStar is partnering with BringIt to increase user engagement while boosting monetization. BringIt will handle issues like anti-fraud, optimizing entry fees, and payout percentages.

BringIt’s plug-and-play platform will allow CrowdStar to integrated Pop Boom across its whole range of games. The integration skins the -mini-game with the look and feel of its parent game. Right now players can log into the Pop Boom app and play it to earn the cash-based virtual currency Pop Boom Coins, or play Pop Boom in Happy Aquarium to earn the cash-based virtual currency Pearls. Users can spend Facebook Credits on challenges and tournaments, then win CrowdStar’s cash-based virtual currencies based on their game score.

BringIt’s currency exchange platform allows users to spend Facebook Credits and get game-specific virtual currency back as winnings. CrowdStar says that BringIt’s platform has increased ARPU (average revenue per user) since initial testing began on December 15, because users are more willing to wager small amounts of Facebook Credits in return for the possibility of getting a greater value back in CrowdStar’s virtual currency. BringIt says that its platform can be integrated into a social game in less than a day, which lets developers implement challenges and tournaments.

BringIt’s Plans To Bring It

These tournaments boost session time and user engagement, which boosts conversion and spending. BringIt has completed a similar integration into the RockYou social game Zoo World. BringIt says the new mini-game tournament feature boosted Zoo World user engagements by six minutes with an average eCPM of $120. BringIt CEO and founder Woody Levin says that BringIt plans to launch in games from four other partners in upcoming months.

Levin says that while BringIt has considered developing its own games, he feels the company’s true expertise lies in helping partners increase monetization. Levin views BringIt’s core business as providing a service that involves optimizing tournaments, entry fees, and payouts. That service is useful to game companies, but doesn’t mean that BringIt is necessarily a game company. BringIt hopes to expand to other social networks and MMOs. The company is already in talks with mobile developers.  Levin says BringIt can integrate and boost ARPU in any game or application that features virtual currency and a virtual economy.

Levin says BringIt was founded in May 2008 and was initially focused on console gaming for real currency, a business that never materialized. BringIt pivoted in early 2009 to focus on the distributed platform gaming models, due to a greater diversity of users in the social space.  Right now, Levin says that working with platform gaming models is BringIt’s sole focus. Integrations with a company like RockYou or CrowdStar lets BringIt directly monitor in-game challenges.

The company moved from Chicago to San Francisco in early 2009 as part of this transformation. Levin says that he believes social gaming companies are on the cutting edge of gaming, while console companies are still very traditional and cautious. BringIt received an angel round of funding from undisclosed investors in May 2008 and a $1.55 million round lead by Blumberg Capital in July 2009. Levin says that while BringIt is in a strong cash position right now, the company is always looking for new opportunities.

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