CrowdStar Touts Agile Business Model As Happy Pets Reaches 1 Million Users
CrowdStar International Limited publicized its agile business model as the social games developer released its second major title in two months. Happy Pets, which the company launched on Facebook just last Thursday, is already expected to reach 1 million daily active users within a few days.
Founded in 2008 and employing fewer than 20 workers, the start-up says it emphasizes "developing and monetizing high quality flash based social games on Facebook which currently use direct payments as the only means of monetization."
In Happy Pets, players adopt kittens, nurturing them until they grow into cats. Crowdstar notes that the game's focus is on caring for pets instead of preparing them for sale.
Its first big success, Happy Aquarium, debuted on the social network last September and attracts 7.5 million daily active users. The developers previously released apps also include trivia game Know-It-All-Trivia, social causes game Save the Reef, and strategy RPG WW II.
CrowdStar says its experience creating those titles helped it streamline an agile development process for social game development and management. The studio adds that its profitable and "growing rapidly" with more Facebook games planned for release on a regular basis.
"Everyone understands that Facebook is hugely successful and social gaming is a huge market and is an inflection point in the gaming industry," says CrowdStar's executive chairman and lead angel investor Peter Relan.
"But we also recognize that the entire value chain, including the way you actually build, deliver and manage games has also changed, and traditional development models aren't optimal for this new market. We believe we are building the most efficient, agile and profitable business model in the industry."
