CrowdStar

CrowdStar is a developer of Facebook and mobile games, based in Burlingame, California, United States and Dublin, Ireland. The company has developed several titles for the Facebook platform, with some of its most popular titles being "Happy Aquarium", "Happy Pets", "Wasteland Empires" and "It Girl", and a number of titles on mobile for the iOS, Android and Windows Markets, including "Design Home", "Fish With Attitude", "Phuzzle", "Top Girl", and Covet Fashion.

Crowdstar
Screenshot
Screenshot of Fish With Attitude.
Type of site
Video Game Developer
Available inMultilingual (70)
Area servedWorldwide
URLcrowdstar.com
Launched2009 (2009)
Current statusActive

Founding and History

Founded by Suren Markosian and Jeff Tseng,[1] it has ranked 4th among developers with the most monthly active users for Facebook applications, with 31 million daily active users.[2] The company turned down an offer from Microsoft to acquire the company for more than US$200 million.[3] Its current CEO is Jeffrey Tseng, who was appointed to the position in October 2012.[4] He succeeded Peter Relan, who became CEO in January 2011 from Niren Hiro.[5]

The company currently develop new titles for the iOS, Android, and Windows 8 tablet and smartphone market. They maintain and release new content in existing games on their Facebook platform.

Funding

In May 2011, the company raised an additional $23 million.[6]

In May 2012, the company raised a further $11.5M in Venture Round funding.[7]

Shift to Mobile

In February 2012, the company announced its desire to focus upon the mobile market,[8] and thus would not be creating any new titles for the Facebook platform, laying off two dozen developers,[9] yet still maintain existing titles to this day. With the new funding, the company decided to "pursue mobile games targeting the female audience and focusing on shopping and fashion." The games will be distributed using Facebook’s social graph, the Gree social gaming network[10] and Apple’s Game Center and Google Play. Since its focus on the mobile market, it has produced several new titles, such as "Top Stylist", "Phuzzle", "Fish With Attitude" and "Mermaid World.

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References
  1. "Crowdstar launches rapid expansion to gain ground in Facebook games". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  2. "Developer Leaderboard" Archived July 23, 2012, at Archive.today. AppData. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
  3. "CrowdStar Said to Break Off Talks to Be Bought by Microsoft". Bloomberg. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  4. "Mobile Game Developer Crowdstar Chooses A CEO From One Of Its Own". Tech Crunch. October 3, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  5. Duryee, Tricia (January 17, 2011). "CrowdStar CEO Steps Down; Peter Relan Appointed CEO". All Things D.
  6. Hoge, Patrick (May 23, 2011). "CrowdStar raises $23 million". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  7. Curtis, Tom (May 2, 2012). "CrowdStar secures $11.5M in funding following major shift to mobile". Gamasutra. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  8. Duryee, Tricia (May 2, 2012). "CrowdStar Lands $11.5 Million to Support Its Shift From Social to Mobile Gaming". All Things D. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  9. Takahashi, Dean (May 2, 2012). "CrowdStar raises $11.5M for mobile games but will lay off Facebook developers". Venture Beat. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  10. Takahashi, Dean (April 30, 2012). "Crowdstar teams up with Gree for social mobile games". Venture Beat.
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