Playdom CEO to head Disney games division, make better games

Disney CEO Robert Iger announced that Playdom chief John Pleasants will soon be in charge of Disney Interactive Media Group's (DIMG) games division, while ex-Yahoo head of media James Pitaro will run the group's web content. Ever since Iger welcomed Playdom into the Mouse House earlier this summer for $763 million, the entertainment giant has been scrambling to cover its losses in interactive games and media, which totaled $65 million through January to March 2010.

In an excited official statement, Iger said to Variety, "John has shown incredible agility and skill in helping companies achieve success in the ever-shifting digital games business, while Jimmy has vast knowledge of the online world and has been hugely successful at creating and building audiences around branded online content."

Pleasants will still lead Playdom from outside of its San Francisco office on top of his responsibilities as chief of Disney's games division starting Oct. 18. It's safe to say that the man will have quite a lot on his shoulders, but what could this mean for social games from the big mouse in charge?

While Iger brought Pleasants on to oversee all of Disney's games, DIMG's focus will be on social and mobile games that can generate serious dough like Zynga's FarmVille and Angry Birds. We've already witnessed Disney's effect on Playdom games like Social City, but that was just the beginning. Pleasants' appointment to the elders of Disney will almost certainly mean social and mobile games backed by 100 percent Disney branding. While it's still not too late to steal my idea for a full-blown Magic Kingdom social game, this is Disney's chance to finally bring some original ideas to Facebook.

Could Disney's Playdom be in worse shape than previously thought?

That's what a report by Business Insider looks to get to the bottom of, citing several anonymous sources. The report lists several bulleted claims by unnamed folks close to Playdom that range from a handful of high level execs have left the company recently to Playdom was forced to relinquish control over what games it made to Disney. And the House of Mouse is unsurprisingly reportedly not very happy about it.

"Six top executives at the VP level or above have moved on in the last three months including Playdom's Co-COO," one nameless source told Business Insider. Another source told the website that soon after Disney's $400 million plus acquisition of Playdom, the new parent company quickly "started to come in and ask Playdom to work on certain games and drop others," according to Business Insider.

Another notable takeaway from the report states that "voices within Playdom" said that they didn't see a value in pursuing Disney's lucrative brands within social games, because kids--Disney's target audience--doesn't pay up on Facebook. Other anonymous sources came to Playdom's defense, claiming that the company "is making three or four times as much money off its users as other social gaming companies," Business Insider reports.

Disney issued a response to Business Insider, reminding readers that Gardens of Time has been the company's most successful Facebook game, reaching top five status at one point. More importantly, the company was keen on letting players know that the first social game based on a Disney brand is coming. (We guess this one doesn't count then?)

This is certainly not the first time doomsayers have outed Disney and Playdom as headed for failure. There's no doubt the two companies have dragged their feet ever since joining hands.

Idle Games shows first game Idle Worship's true social colors [Video]

Since co-founding social game hit maker Playdom, Rick Thompson has grown tired of the friend bar beneath Faecbook games. No, scratch that: He's grown tired of the way traditional Facebook games operate ... period. His contempt for this arguably tired form of Facebook game has helped spawn Idle Games and its first ever Facebook game, Idle Worship.

We first heard word of the potentially revolutionary social game way back in April, and Idle Games has launched the game into a closed beta test before presenting it to the audience of TechCrunch Disrupt, an event in San Francisco celebrating tech startups ran by TechCrunch. The overall gameplay of Idle Worship hasn't changed since we first heard about it, but now we have fancy video that reveals more of what the game is all about.

Through Idle Games's Idle Engine, Idle Worship does away with the friend found in almost all social games. Instead, your island of Mudlings (the people you oversee with either benevolence or tyranny) will be surrounded by not only your friends' islands, but players' islands based on how their Facebook profiles match up with your own.

Going even further, the game will slowly curate which of your friendships are stronger by bringing more active friends closer to your island, which is always at the center, and pushing your inactive friends away from your island. And, according to Idle Games CEO Jeffrey Hyman, your interactions with your friends will send ripples throughout the entire game in real time.

Through innovations like these, Hyman aims for Idle Games to become "the Pixar of casual games," according to TechCrunch. To better understand what we mean, check out Hyman's presentation below, and sign up for the ongoing closed beta test of the game right here.



Do you plan on signing up for the closed beta test of Idle Worship? What excites you most (or doesn't excite you) about the game?

Habbo Hotel maker names ex-Playdom exec CEO in social games push

You might have heard of the mega popular social network slash social game Habbo Hotel (pictured), but Finnish developer Sulake wants to turn "might" into "absolutely." The company just announced that it has hired former Playdom VP of global distribution Paul LaFontaine as CEO, Reuters reports. Sulake made the hire in an ambitious attempt to help the company break into the world of social gaming, and who would know the space better than a guy who was there from the beginning?

LaFontaine, who was largely responsible for publishing Playdom's--now owned by entertainment behemoth Disney--games will replace Timo Soininen as CEO of Sulake. "We have been turning that direction for two years and are now accelerating it with this new CEO," Sulake chairman Mika Salmi told Reuters.

Habbo Hotel, for the uninformed, is a social network-meets-social game in which about 10 million monthly visitors interact in a world designed to hearken back to the good old days of 8-bit gaming. Players create their own rooms in collective hotels normally restricted to countries of origin or native language, and play mini games, decorate and share gifts with other hotel denizens. Of course, like any social game, players can buy premium items using real money.

Judging from the fact that prospective players can already connect to Habbo Hotel through Facebook Connect, and that Sulake has made their interest in traditional social games clear, Sulake making games for Facebook is certainly a possibility. Alright, with the crazy money everyone seems to be raking in on Facebook, this is most likely exactly where the company is headed. And LaFontaine will lead the charge--watch out, Zynga and EA, Habbo is looking hinder your hottest games.

Have you ever played Habbo Hotel before--what do you think of it? Do you think Sulake and Habbo Hotel will make waves in the Facebook gaming world with LaFontaine? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments

Zynga, Playdom, EA and Bioware vets cause a Rumble with new freemium studio

With tonight's update, we see a ton of new trees being released in FarmVille, in both the Animal Sanctuary theme, and in the new Lighthouse Cove limited edition themes. That's right - a Lighthouse Cove theme has launched in the store, full of items that can be purchased for other farms, or for your Lighthouse Cove if you so choose (that is, if you choose to pay to get in this early). Here's a full rundown of these trees.

Lighthouse Cove

Sugar Maple Tree - 7 Farm Cash
Japanese Maple Tree - 15 Farm Cash
Bur Oak Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Pin Oak Tree - 12 Farm Cash

Here's a case where I think some price testing might be taking place. The 8 and 12 Farm Cash prices seem incredibly out of place, so if they happen to be different in your own store, that would be why. As for Mystery Seedlings, you can purchase just the Bur Oak and Sugar Maple Trees, and will (hopefully) receive the other two through mystery seedlings.

Animal Sanctuary

Painted Bamboo - 5 Farm Cash
Umbrella Bamboo - 15 Farm Cash

Again, these prices seem incredibly strange, so don't be alarmed if they're different (even potentially costing less) in your own game when you happen to check. It's a (now) normal Zynga practice to see which prices uses respond to with purchases, and we unfortunately can't prevent it from happening. Of course, the Painted Bamboo is the Level 1 tree here, while you can receive the Umbrella Bamboo from Mystery Seedlings.

Overall, the Sugar Maple and Japanese Maple Trees will be in the game for the next 11 days, while the other four trees will be around for two weeks. Keep those time limits in mind if you don't have the Farm Cash on hand to shop just yet - they won't be around forever.

What do you think of these two themes of trees? Do you like colorful trees like these maples and oaks? Sound off in the comments.