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Google’s investments arm has reportedly put an estimated $3-5 million in funding into profitable iOS game developer Ngmoco, a move that may be linked to recent steps by Google itself in the direction of the mobile and social gaming space.

Ngmoco, creator of popular iPhone and iPad titles like We Farm, We Rule and Touch Pets: Dogs, could be valued in the arena of $100 million, according to a report in TechCrunch, which says Google pitched in to the company’s latest funding round. The company closed an earlier round in February to the tune of $25 million.

It’s important to note, as the report stresses, that Google Ventures, the investor this time around, maintains it’s completely separate from Google itself — the latter is the one which has recently made big social gaming strides with the acquisition of Jambool and its Social Gold monetization platform, plus app and game developer Slide.

But analysts see a clear gain for many of Google’s initiatives, like Google Checkout and its Android platform, in the mobile gaming space in particular. The search giant also stands to capture substantial ad revenues if it can build a rival to Facebook, as numerous unconfirmed reports and speculation suggest is the company’s ultimate aim.

And although Ngmoco has traditionally been a developer on iOS primarily, many mobile developers see increasing opportunities on Android phones as the platform gains rapid adoption. TechCrunch’s report notes that Ngmoco rival SGN began to offer some of its game on Android — and in June closed a funding round led by Tomorrow Ventures, a firm headed by Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Tags: google, Industry News, ngmoco

The social gaming space, whether on Facebook, mobile or a dedicated website, is growing fast. While that growth can be promising for young companies with great ideas, it also means that the market is getting even more crowded than it already is.

That can be a challenge to newcomers in the space, according to Clive Downie, VP of marketing for Rolando and We Rule mobile publisher Ngmoco.

“What we’re seeing here is companies scrambling to tap into the new needs of consumers,” he said in a new feature at FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra. “Competition is building, the bigger companies are becoming more successful, and soon it will become harder for new companies to find a foothold as the market matures.”

Ngmoco, founded in 2008, last year hired MySpace executive Jason Oberfest as its VP of social applications, as the company explores new ways to connect its players. The company’s commercially successful iPhone and iPad game We Rule lets users create kingdoms, and drop in to friends’ kingdoms to work and earn gold.

Downie said that Ngmoco is open to expanding beyond mobile, but for now, its “vision” is to become a leader on 3G mobile devices. “You know, the road is littered with people who don’t change quickly enough,” he said. “But, right now, we have a job to do, we’re doing it, and that’s fulfilling our vision as a company.”

The full Gamasutra feature is available now, and also includes insight from social game companies Evony and Zynga.

Tags: ngmoco, social

If you’re putting your new iPhone 4 through its paces, ngmoco has an app that will give you a chance to test out its gyroscopic capabilities. Eliminate: GunRange ($0.99) is an iPhone 4-exclusive application offering gyroscope-controlled shooting in a variety of simulated firing ranges.

Boasting graphics optimized for the iPhone 4′s Retina display, Eliminate: GunRange includes 12 guns based on real-world weapons and a selection of 144 target shooting challenges.

The game also features a selection of unlockable medals and global Plus+ leaderboards. Ngmoco notes that iPhone 3GS support (minus gyroscope controls, of course) and new content will be added in a future update.

Tags: eliminate: gunrange, iphone 4, ngmoco, shooter, simulation

Following up on yesterday’s universal update for iPad standout Geometry Wars: Touch, two more major iPad releases are now also available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Ngmoco’s GodFinger, originally launched as an iPad exclusive, has been released as a dedicated application for iPhone and iPod Touch owners. The free-to-play world simulation title has proven very popular among iPad owners, and regularly ranks among the platform’s top free downloads.

ESPN Pinball ($3.99) also met with an enthusiastic reception upon its iPad debut, and is now available for all iDevices. The game includes basketball and soccer-themed tables, along with a bonus unlockable World Cup-themed mode featured in the latest update.

Tags: espn pinball, godfinger, iPad, iPhone, ngmoco, simulation

Mobile developer Ngmoco has acquired Stumptown Game Machine, developers of its successful iPhone title Touch Pets Dogs, and multiple new games in development.

Andrew Stern is the original creator of the Petz series, which Ubisoft continues to publish (without his input). He is also known for co-creating experimental conversation game Facade before he began work on Touch Pets Dogs.

Stern will now oversee Stumptown’s projects for the San Francisco-headquartered Ngmoco, which will continue to operate the Stumptown Game Machine studio from Portland, Oregon.

Touch Pets Dogs, an iPhone game, was one of the first launches under Ngmoco’s new free-to-play business model. Costing users nothing and supported by in-game purchases, it has been downloaded over 5 million times.

Bob Stevenson, one of Ngmoco’s co-founders, says that the move to release the game for free “worked out really, really well.” The acquisition of Stumptown, he says, reflects the Ngmoco’s management team’s belief that Stern is “a great collaborator” and the realization that “this just has to be a long term relationship. We have a great working relationship that we wanted to solidify.”

This move also allows Stumptown to pursue new projects — on which Stevenson is bullish. “We felt like the combination of some titles, [which] we’re not announcing today, but are being brainstormed and in production, being able to build our resources around Andrew… Given that kind of commitment, it allowed him to queue up some collaborators… really key talent.”

Some of these notable collaborators include Richard Evans (Black & White, The Sims 3) who has joined the Stumptown team. Like Stern, he’s an AI specialist.

Describing the process of meeting with developers after the acquisition of Freeverse as a “warm experience”, Stevenson says that “we’re highly collaborative and try and break new ground.” Stern agrees, saying that the company “is at the forefront of taking risks and trying new things.”

“Ngmoco is very supportive of allowing us to keep our mode of creation, and independent spirit, and give us a lot of freedom to innovate exciting new product directions,” he says.

He also says that the acquisition was an idea that he’d always considered a possibility at some point for the company’s future, and both agree that this timing made sense.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Industry News, interview, ngmoco, touch pets dogs

Though an iPhone and iPod Touch version was test marketed in Canada last month, ngmoco’s free-to-play life simulation title GodFinger launched in the U.S. App Store this weekend as an iPad exclusive.

GodFinger gives players control over a planet and its primitive inhabitants, with the goal being to cultivate the planet’s surface and establish a working economy for its people. Players can choose to be either a benevolent ruler or a cruel demagogue, though the planet will thrive only through careful management of the natural elements.

As players cultivate the land and convert more followers, they will earn experience points, giving access to new powers and structures. This is where GodFinger’s micropayment system comes into play — players will be only be able to make a small amount of progress daily unless they purchase optional “Awe Points,” which work in a way similar to pet food in Touch Pets Dogs and mojo points in We Rule.

Awe Points are available in packages starting at $2.99 for 35 Points, with a 750-Point package retailing for $29.99.

Tags: godfinger, Multiplayer, ngmoco, online, simulation

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced that it has doubled its investment in the iFund program to promote the development of innovative applications for Apple’s upcoming iPad.

The $100 million iFund was introduced in March of 2008 to encourage developers to create applications for Apple’s iPhone. The iFund currently promotes 14 ventures, including prominent App Store publisher ngmoco and social games pioneer Zynga.

At an event held yesterday in Menlo Park, California, Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr revealed that the company will double its iFund investment to $200 million, in anticipation of the iPad’s U.S. launch on April 3rd.

More than 20 iPad applications are backed by the iFund, 11 of which will debut in Apple’s App Store on the iPad’s first day of release. ngmoco will publish 7 iPad launch titles, with an enhanced version of its social village sim We Rule currently in development.

In remarks reported on by TechCrunch from the event, ngmoco CEO Neil Young noted that the company saw significant growth thanks to initial iFund support. According to Young, ngmoco’s games have been downloaded more than 30 million times, and its users collectively play over 20 million minutes of ngmoco games every day.

To date, iFund-supported applications have been downloaded more than 100 million times from the iTunes App Store.

Tags: Industry News, iPad, ngmoco, Upcoming

After a brief Canada-only testing period, ngmoco has completed a worldwide launch of its free-to-play kingdom simulation title We Rule.

We Rule features gameplay similar to Zynga’s popular Facebook app FarmVille. Players take control of a large plot of land, which they can customize with farms and villages. To build a successful kingdom, players must grow and harvest crops while also ensuring that their villagers lead happy and productive lives.

We Rule rewards players for maintaining good relationships with other kingdoms. Players can visit friends, view their progress, and buy items from their shops via ngmoco’s integrated Plus+ network.

Like ngmoco’s other free-to-play titles Eliminate Pro and Touch Pets Dogs, We Rule allows unlimited free gameplay, though players have the option to speed up plant growth and building construction by purchasing additional “Mojo” points. Mojo points range in price from 99 cents for 5 units to a $49.99 800-unit bundle.

Tags: Free Games, free-to-play, ngmoco, simulation, we rule

Ngmoco has released an updated version of its free-to-play online multiplayer first-person shooter Eliminate Pro. Eliminate: Co-Op allows players to team up in a new online gameplay mode for additional gear and bonus items.

The new “Co-Op Extermination” mode is a timed challenge in which player-controlled teams take on endless hordes of AI opponents. Players can earn armor, weapons, and items from destroyed drones, while any duplicate loot can be recycled for in-game credits.

Eliminate: Co-Op includes both manual and automatic global matchmaking, and features 10 playable maps.

Co-Op retains Eliminate’s free-to-play model, in which each player’s Power Cells deplete over the course of several matches. Gameplay continues once all Cells are exhausted, but players will not be able to keep earned experience and items afterward. Additional Power Cells can be purchased in downloadable packages ranging in price from $1.99 to $32.99.

Tags: eliminate pro, eliminate: co-op, fps, Free Games, Multiplayer, ngmoco, online

iPhone developer ngmoco released the virtual pet game Touch Pets Dogs onto the App Store in November 2009 as a “freemium” download. But it wasn’t always planned that way.

When the studio was working on the game in early 2009, ngmoco producer Matthew Roberts said they felt the game should be sold for $19.99, in the same price range as games sold on Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

By mid-2009, ngmoco thought it’d be wiser to release the game in the $4.99 to $9.99 range, just based on the pricing trends happening on the App Store at the time. Touch Pets would be a great deal, the studio thought, because it had visuals, gameplay, and depth on par with handheld console-based counterparts.

However the App Store, being the dynamic and unpredictable creature that it can be, made it clear that even a $4.99 game would have an extremely difficult time doing well on a chart-driven storefront that is dominated by 99 cent to $3 games.

Ultimately, Touch Pets became a “freemium” game, or one that is free to download, but requires players to pay in order to enjoy premium features.

‭“‬We were fundamentally trying to get to the answer to the question,‭ ‘‬How do we sell the game‭?’” Roberts said. “‬If you look at the top‭ ‬100‭ ‬apps,‭ ‬that [average] price is generally low.‭ ‬It’s hard to charge more than‭ ‬$3‭ ‬or‭ ‬$4.‭”

‭He said that ngmoco’s strategy quickly shifted from generating revenue at a single point of sale to “[building] the largest audience possible,” then monetizing those players. “‬We just wanted to get it in front of as many people as possible,” Roberts said. ngmoco now offers six different SKUs of Touch Pets, ranging from free all the way up to $40, a scheme that gives players a choice to spend no money, or a relatively large chunk of money.

The games industry is still trying to figure out the free-to-play business model, and ngmoco is no different. In Touch Pets, players give their pets dog food in order to give them energy to play. When they’re out of food, they fall asleep. Want more playtime? Buy more food on the App Store.

But this didn’t take with many players, who left harsh reviews on the game. They felt slighted by the pricing scheme, not to mention that initially when the dog would fall asleep from lack of food, some players thought the pet died.

The studio eventually increased the food replenishment rate, and added the option to directly purchase virtual goods, an option that “tends to be a better value proposition for some customers,” he said. “Understand your monetization strategy,‭ ‬don’t overload mechanics to monetize your game,” Roberts warned.

Finding a balance between mechanics and monetization is key to commercial success. ‭“‬Giving away stuff can increase exposure,‭ ‬but can hurt monetization,” Roberts said. From there, an App Store game has a better chance of reaching the 50, where success can really “snowball.”

[This news item was written by Kris Graft and originally appeared at FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra.]

Tags: gdc, Industry News, ngmoco, simulation, touch pets dogs