Geoff Cook, CEO of teen-targeted social network MyYearbook, says his company ended 2009 with an annual revenue run rate of $20 million, a 70 percent increase from its nearly $12 million revenue in the previous year.

The bulk of its revenue comes from virtual currency purchases from games MyYearbook has developed itself, like Blind Date and Owned. Unlike rival networks such as MySpace and Facebook, all of MyYearbook's social games are built and maintained in-house. The company, however, has plans to invite third-party studios to begin releasing games on its sites, according to a report from Mashable.

Scott Levine, previously senior vice president at Sony Music Entertainment, recently joined MyYearbook as its new Business Development SVP to help with that initiative by securing content deals and brand advertisers. The company is also looking to expand the social network through more Facebook Connect integration and mobile applications for iPhone and Android.

Launched in 2005, MyYearbook claims more than 20 million members. The site offers a "Lunch Money" virtual currency that users can earn by browsing the site, playing games, inviting friends to join, completing offers, or buying them through mobile/credit card payments. That social network cash can be used to purchase virtual gifts, photos, and more.

Online child protection solutions provider Crisp Thinking has adapted and launched NetModerator for massively multiplayer online games, a product enabling companies to use real-time profiling to identify and prevent acivities like gold farming, griefing, and cheating in MMOs.

The MMO version of NetModerator is based on Crisp Thinking's child protection technology, except instead of focusing on dealing with sexual predators, it's designed to defend against "antisocial behaviors" that ruin player experiences and the stability of in-game economies. The product finds and flags cheating, griefing, power leveling, botting, gold farming, chat spamming, kill stealing, and more.

This NetModerator edition seeks to give live moderators management control by automatically "reading, analyzing, reporting, and intervening on in-game activities and communications." Crisp Thinking also customizes installations to analyze specific activities each client wants to monitor, including MMO modules developed by Crisp and unique behaviors for a particular game.

NetModerator supports multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, Portugese, German, and Dutch. Crisp Thinking says that companies can also use the product to regulate, monitor, and control user-generated content such as forum posts, user reviews, blog comments, emails, file-sharing, and user-uploaded videos/images.

This announcement comes just a week after Crisp thinking nine new clients for NetModerator, including SmartBomb Interactive and Webbliworld. With these new partners, the company now claims more than 30 customers, such as Cartoon Network and Sony Online Entertainment, the latter of which announced it would incorporate NetModerator in its free-to-play MMO Free Realms last fall.

"Gold farmers, cheaters and griefers are huge threats to the long-term success of any MMO," says Crisp Thinking CEO Adam Hildreth. "Yet, the industry has had to adopt a passive model -- waiting for players to report the problems after their experience has been ruined. NetModerator for MMOs gives companies a weapon that lets them actively detect and deal with problems before most players even have a chance to notice."

The Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court ordered Blizzard Entertainment, Chinese MMO operator The9, and two other parties to pay a fine of RMB 1.45 million ($212,413) to PC maker Founder Technology Group for copyright infringement.

Beijing-based FTG filed its copyright infringement suit against The9 and Blizzard in August 2007 alleging that the companies used five of its registered fonts for the Chinese edition of World of Warcraft without permission. The9 eventually recalled the game's installation discs later that year to address the typeface issue.

FTG's president Liu Xiaokun says his company originally sought compensation of RMB 408 million ($59.8 million), according to a report from local newspaper The Economic Observer translated by China-focused research firm JLM Pacific Epoch. The9, which ceased its World of Warcraft operations as of June 2009 when its licensed expired, has appealed the court's decision.

The court's fine is the latest in a series of issues World of Warcraft has faced in China since NetEase's takeover of the MMORPG's license and operations last year; the company's transfer of World of Warcraft to its servers required two months of downtime and an extended closed beta, which cost the company a significant amount to sustain without player revenue, according to analysts.

NetEase then found itself caught in a public power struggle between two of China's government regulators, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and the Ministry of Culture (MOC), as they argued over whether the company should shut down the game due to "gross violations". The agencies reportedly settled their differences and decided on a fine for the company.

Earlier this month, GAPP approved NetEase's license reapplication to operate The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft's first expansion pack, in China, but only after the MMO operator temporarily suspended new registrations. Shortly after that news, NetEase revealed that its World of Warcraft director Li Riqiang resigned.

Social advertising and analytics company Sometrics reports that it dispensed over 1 trillion virtual currency credits (dollar equivalent undisclosed) to gamers in the past year, and that its ad network reaches more than 100 million users in 228 countries.

Sometrics says it's advertising to those gamers and awarding in-game cash through Offer Solution, which allows publishers to give out virtual currency for free-to-play games when players participate in offers and surveys (e.g. trial subscriptions, downloading applications).

Offer Solution and the company's products are integrated in hundreds of titles -- social games, MMOs, and virtual worlds -- from publishers like Playdom, LOLapps, IMVU, K2, NHN, and more. Its products provide an inventory of over 7,500 advertiser-based offers.

The firm also recently launched Payments Manager, which enables publishers to manage payment options and multiple offer providers from a single dashboard; and Shop & Earn' Shopping Feed, which allows users to earn virtual currency for social games and apps when they make online purchases from Sometrics's retail partners.

"A year ago we made a deliberate shift in our business to capitalize on what we saw as an emerging trend toward using virtual currency as a way to generate real revenue for publishers of online games and virtual worlds," says Sometrics co-founder and CEO Ian Swanson. "We’ve been able to adapt as new needs arise and user behaviors evolve. Our success shows that we’re on the right track."

As part of its recent efforts to expand its footprint in the social gaming market, Social network hi5 announced anew set of Facebook-compatible APIs (application programming interface) that should enable developers to take their games initially built for Facebook and run them on hi5 with "little to no revisions".

The Facebook-compatible interfaces are already in use by select partners and allow those developers to add social elements like user authentication, profile pictures, friends, updates, and photos. The APIs also support the Javascript interfaces that make user actions like friend invitations possible.

hi5 says it will continue to support and advance its OpenSocial interfaces, which it launched in March 2008 to invite third-party application developers onto its site. The company notes that thousands of developers have built OpenSOcial applications to run on the social network, and that it was a founding member of the OpenSocial foundation.

The company's release of these Facebook-compatible APIs comes just a week after it announced its acquisition of social games firm Big Six, with the purchased studio's CEO, president, and CTO joining the social network's executive staff to support hi5's social gaming plans.

hi5 also recently appointed Alex St. John, founder and former CEO of casual gaming firm WildTangent, as its president and CTO. The company says it will announce more technologies designed to transform hi5 into the "the leading marketplace for great social media games", and St. John is expected to announce the social network's Game Developer Program at the Game Developers Conference next week.

"As a leading game distribution platform, it's our job to make the process of getting games live on hi5 as easy and seamless as possible for our partners," says St. John. "Now, developers who have designed and developed a social game for Facebook can easily get their game up and running on hi5 with minimal development effort."

Quest Online has announced that Alganon, its subscription-based PC MMORPG launched just last December, will now be subscription-free. The studio did not state if this change was due to disappointing member sign-ups or other difficulties, but it did describe the online gaming industry as "more challenging now than it has ever been".

While Alganon follows other subscription-based MMOs that've switched to a free model such as Dungeons and Dragons Online, Quest emphasizes that its "susbcription-free" approach is different from the standard "free-to-play" setup, as players will still need to purchase the game before they can play in its world.

"[Free-to-play] gives the client a way so there is zero barrier of entry," the company explained in a released statement. "This creates a game world where anyone can just come in and do their thing. The drawback is the lack of controlling troublemakers and defining the general social maturity of a game."

Quest's released statement continues, "We decided to keep the purchase price to prevent Alganon from being saturated by gamers who have no investment in the game they are playing. Even though we are subscription free most gamers prefer to play with others who are committed to the game to some degree."

The company says members who pre-paid for subscriptions will have their accounts will receive a special "Citizen" status. Quest will also convert the amount they paid into Alganon Tribute, a new in-game currency system that allows users to purchase items (e.g. mounts, equipment), boons ("study time"), and services (character transfers).

Players will be able to earn Alganon Tribute simply by playing the game (the more days they log in, the more Tribute they'll receive), though they'll presumably be able to purchase the virtual currency with real cash. The Tribute system is account-wide, so users can spend points on any character from the same pool.

Quest Online intends to release new features, dungeon instances, and a patch that introduces new Dawning world bosses to Alganon in the coming weeks.

San Mateo, California-based developer Makena Technologies announced that it will close There.com, its 3D virtual world designed to model real life, on March 9th due to "a marked decrease in revenue."

"There.com's customers were hardest hit by the recession, and, so was There," says Makena CEO Michael Wilson. "While our membership numbers and the number of people in the world have continued to grow, there has been a marked decrease in revenue, which, in these economic times, is no surprise."

Launched in 2003, There offered social features like 3D avatar chat, events, card games, quests, virtual commerce, and more. Though many of those ideas are commonplace in online worlds today, Wilson argues that the virtual world was one of the first virtual destinations to "put it all together in one package".

Makena partnered with popular brands like Coca-Cola, K-Swiss, and others to bring their products into the virtual world. Users on There could also make their own items like clothes, accessories, furniture, vehicles, and buildings. It employed a submissions review system to ensure user-created content didn't infringe on existing brands or the content of other users.

The company is no longer accepting developer submissions and plans to close registration, billing, and member program upgrades immediately. It will also halt Rental processing and no longer collect rent for neighborhoods, lots, or There homes. Makena will refund all Therebucks purchases and made since February 1st.

"... at the end of the day, we can't cure the recession, and at some point we have to stop writing checks to keep the world open," says Wilson. "There's nothing more we would like to avoid this, but There is a business, and a business that can't support itself doesn't work."

"Before the recession hit, we were incredibly confident and all indicators were 'directionally correct' and we had every reason to believe growth would continue. But, as many of you know personally, the downturn has been prolonged and severe, and ultimately pervasive."

Hamburg, Germany-based MMO publisher Gamigo announced plans to enter the North American online gaming market by opening its first international office in New York City during the second quarter of 2010.

The company, a subsidiary of European newspaper publisher Axel Springer AG, operates several free-to-play MMOs across the Atlantic, including Fiesta Online, Snowbound, and Neosteam. It says establishing a U.S. office will enable the firm to contact and collaborate with its local business and media partners directly.

Founded in 2000 and acquired by Axel Springer AG in 2008, Gamigo has enjoyed much success and growth in the past twelve months as its employee count more than tripled and its sales increased by 233 percent. The publisher says it's one of the fastest growing companies in the online gaming market, and claims it's in the top three in its market segment.

"This New York office is a continuation of our international expansion," says Patrick Streppel, an executive member of Gamigo's board of directors. "Thanks to the experience we have gained over the past few years in Europe, we are very well-equipped to tackle the North American market. Top-quality products planned for global publication will be announced and presented at the GDC."

Social games studio Playdom announced its purchase of Facebook developer Offbeat Creations, adding the company's founders -- CEO Chia Chin Lee, COO Robert Reichner, and chief engineer Tom Fakes -- to its team in "leadership roles". Neither company disclosed any terms for the acquisition.

Based in Bellevue, Washington, Offbeat Creations has released several social games on Facebook such as Be A Tycoon, Give A Heart, and Chug It. Its most popular title, Super Farkle, an online variation of the Farkle dice game with super powers, attracts more than one million monthly active users.

Offbeat's team currently has 12 game designers and developers, which Playdom says it will grow alongside its existing 15-person studio in Seattle. In addition to its Seattle branch, Playdrom has studios in Eugene (Oregon), San Francisco, South Asia, and Mountain View (headquarters). Last November, it acquired two other social game developers, Green Patch and Trippert Labs.

Playdom's titles include Mobsters 1 and 2, Sorority Life, Tiki Farm, Lil Farm Life, and Poker Palace. The company says 90 million of its games have been installed on platforms like Facebook, MySpace, iPhone, and Hi5. It raised $43 million four months ago in a Series A round of funding.

"With this acquisition we are bringing a talented new game studio into the Playdom family with a very exciting game pipeline," says Playdom CEO John Pleasants. "We have aggressive plans to expand our social gaming footprint in 2010 and the addition of Offbeat Creations will significantly enhance our development throughput and expand Playdom's game pipeline this year."

Three MySpace founders, including former CEO Chris DeWolfe, have acquired San Francisco-based casual/social gaming platform Mindjolt, installing themselves as the studio's new heads and announcing plans to expand the platform's online footprint.

VC firm Austin Ventures partnered with DeWolfe, MySpace's former monetization head Colin Digiaro, and MySpace's former CTO Aber Whitcomb for the purchase. As part of the acquisition, DeWolfe's company Platform G renamed itself MindJolt, and two Austin Ventures partners joined the company's board, according to a report from TechCrunch.

MindJolt aggregates some 1,300 casual games from over 1,000 developers and distributes them through Facebook, MindJolt.com, MySpace, and other social sites. The company reaches more than 20 million monthly active users, which it retains through social features that developers can integrate into their titles.

The firm's new owners revealed three initiatives designed to extend MindJolt's online footprint: increasing game monetization through brand partnerships and virtual goods, extending MindJolt to "all relevant websites" and smartphones, and working closer with developers to create tools for their single- and multiplayer social games.

DeWolfe, who stepped down as CEO from MySpace last April as parent company News Corp. brought in new management, will serve as CEO for MindJolt. Digiaro and Whitcomb will take on the roles of chief operating officer and chief technology officer, respectively.

MindJolt founder Richard Fields will stay at the company as head of product strategy. Josh Yguado, whose previous roles include VP of Business Development of Fox Networks and strategic planner at MTV Networks/Nickelodeon, will act as senior vice president of Business and Corporate Development at the studio.

"MindJolt has quickly become an 'onramp' to the Internet for the world’s independent game developers," says DeWolfe. "We’re building out the company to become the next generation platform for game developers."

He adds, "Our goal is to make it even easier for developers to get their games noticed and make more money from their work. At the same time we will deliver the most social and viral gaming experiences to our millions of users everywhere."

Alternative social payments services company Kwedit raised $3.3 million in a second round of financing led by VC firm Maveron. The company's previous investors include True Ventures, Endeavor Partners, F&W Investments, Kapor Capital, and Maples Investments.

The Mountain View-based startup offers a unique "Play Now, Pay Later" system that enables players to borrow and immediately spend virtual currency for social games, then pay later by either making payments (including 5,800 7-11 stores across the U.S.) at participating stores, sending cash payments, or passing the bill to family or friends.

Since launching last month, Kwedit has signed six new merchant contracts with VoIP provider PokeTalk, an MMO company, a credit record protection service, and others according to a report from TechCrunch. The company adds that it's seeing "tremendous interest" in its Kwedit Direct product, the payment side of its alternative payments setup.

Kwedit also believes there's potential for charitable donations made through Kwedit Direct, claiming that interested donators can make contributions with Kwedit Direct through 7-11 and other participating retailers without any additional fees for the payments. The company invites charities looking for a new way to handle payments to consider its product.

The news comes just after comedy news show The Colbert Report featured Kwedit in a humorous segment that accused the company of "[hooking] little kids on borrowing credit." The startup already has responded to the show's comments in its blog: "We loved everything about it except one thing: he stated that Kwedit can be used by young kids. In fact, Kwedit Promise is for consumers who are teenagers and adults, 13 and up."

Nexon America is offering a total of $1 million in rewards to developers who submit "original, unique and promising" independent projects to a new program it calls "The Nexon iNitiative."

Nexon is looking to sponsor, co-develop, and publish game concepts submitted to the new program, and with today's announcement, the global publisher -- whose distribution network services games in more than 71 countries -- is accepting submissions through its official website.

Developers selected through the program win a share of the $1 million and a chance at a publishing contract with Nexon.

"Nexon is all about great games, and The Nexon iNitiative is about finding the next generation of great game developers," said Nexon America's businses development VP Won Il Sue in a statement. "It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’ve got a great idea, we want to hear from you. We’re ready to fund, develop and publish the best of the best through our massive worldwide network."

Sue explained, "We know that there are a lot of developers out there, both professional and amateur, who feel frustrated at the barriers to getting a truly unique and innovative game developed and published. The Nexon iNitiative is the place they can turn to with those great ideas that will sweep those barriers aside."

Specifically, Nexon says it seeks "potential PC-based games that have broad appeal and encourage community and social interaction." It also welcomes Flash, client-based games or ports from other platforms are welcome. According to the company, "games with strong online elements will get serious consideration, but no good idea will be turned away."

Blue Fang Games, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based developer behind popular PC series Zoo Tycoon, announced the launch of its first Facebook game, Zoo Kingdom. It also is developing versions of the game for iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad.

In Zoo Kingdom, players manage a small petting zoo, earning currency and experience as they care for their animals and maintain their zoo. They can spend this currency to unlock new animals, exhibits, scenery, and attractions. They also earn currency by visiting and caring for their friends zoos.

Setting itself apart from social game developers who are "focused on imitating each other's games" (several zoo-themed titles already exist on the social network), Blue Fang says its ten-year game development experience helped it "marry original and engaging gameplay with the proven social elements" of the Facebook platform.

The studio established a new Mobile/Online division to work on the project, a team it says is "focused on applying proven game design and development principles to the new social, online and mobile game platforms". The new group includes a mix of game industry veterans and online/social gaming talent that will concentrate on creating original IPs in rapid succession.

"Gaming as we know it is being redefined and so too is our studio" says Blue Fang Games president Hank Howie. The company has also created and improved its outsourcing partnerships, pipeline, and technical backen, which it says will allow for effective development and quick deployment for these new titles.

Howie adds, "Platforms and technologies will continue to change, but Blue Fang's strength over the past decade has always been in knowing our audience and what they value in a game. Facebook and the other online and mobile platforms allow us to build on this strength by enabling Blue Fang to have a direct and collaborative relationship with our audience."

In this round-up, Gamasutra highlights some of the notable jobs posted in its industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Sledgehammer Games, Crystal Dynamics and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted this week include:

Activision Minneapolis: Associate Producer
"Great games start with great people. Join Activision Minneapolis to help take some of the biggest brands in the business to the next level, our portfolio includes, Bakugan, Monster Jam, Cabela's, Rapala, iCarly and many more household names. We run a flat organization where innovation, passion, personal responsibility and individual contribution are valued and rewarded appropriately. If you are a success oriented, proven high achiever, we want to hear from you."

Sony Online Entertainment announced its free-to-play MMO Free Realms has attracted more than nine million registered players since launching last April for PC., and just a month after the game hit the the 8 million user mark. The company partly attributes this growth spike to its marketing support and new targeted content.

Players can take part in a variety of activities and mini-games in Free Realms, from ninja fighting to kart racing to raising pets. The family-friendly game also offers a trading cad game that can be played online with virtual cards or offline with physical card decks sold at brick and mortar retailers.

SOE says its continuous development of new features and themed in-game events has helped draw in new users. Most recently, the studio introduces Rides, which allow players with optional memberships to travel on top of T-Rexes or Dragons (available in multiple color choices) around the world at 150 percent their normal speed.

The developer is working to release more types of transportation in the future, with the next slated Rides option consisting of Horses. It's also planning to release new Owl and Groundhog pets, and a new 3D minigame.

"With Free Realms, we’ve been able to reflect the needs and wants of our players by keenly listening to their suggestions and feedback," says SOE president John Smedley, president of SOE,

"We believe the persistent exercise of capturing in-game research inside Free Realms has been a huge contributing factor as to why we’ve attracted over nine million players in less than a year; It truly helps us give our players a game where they can do and be whatever they want."

Gravity Bear, the social game developer recently established by Flagship co-founder Phil Shenk, launched fighting game Battle Punks on Facebook with an open beta, describing its debut title as "the first 3D game of its kind for social networks".

Battle Punks uses a 3D engine to render both character and environments, offering a visual experience that stands out from the typical 2D games that populate the social space. Unfortunately, the new technology employed in the game has made it so Battle Punks is only supported on Windows systems, so Mac users can't join the open beta just yet.

In Battle Punks, players create customizable avatars, then duel their friends and others online in virtual towns, forests, and swamps. They can win new weapons, spells, experience, and treasure, and later equip their characters with those items before each match, picking the best weapons for different battles.

Shenk formed Gravity Bear in late 2008, enlisting Flagship's (Hellgate: London) former senior software engineer Kevin Klemmick as technical director for the studio. Prior to Gravity Bear and Glagship, Shenk served as lead character artist on Diablo II and as art director on its expansion Diablo II: Lord of Destruction at Blizzard North.

Shenk commented on his new studio's social gaming focus last October: "Gravity Bear was formed with the singular aim of creating games that reconnect people to the core of gaming. Our commitment is to bring the caliber of social gaming experiences players want -- as they want them – which means delivering new kinds of excitement and fun that blend the latest in modern game design with fresh technology."

Hoping to offer its tools to a new userbase, engine developer BigWorld is launching three new licenses geared for indie, student and small commercial MMO developers.

BigWorld Technology suite intends to offer a "complete technical architecture" for online game and virtual world developers, and includes BigWorld Server Software, Content Creation Pipeline, 3D Client Engine Package, and Live Management Tools & Instrumentation.

It now has three new license types on offer: BigWorld Indie, BigWorld Indie Source or BigWorld Academic. Independent development teams, registered schools and small commercial companies can apply individually for a license.

BigWorld Indie, the company explains, is intended for the "casual enthusiast", and it describes the license as the most affordable yet restrictive. BigWorld Indie Source is intended for prototype builds for pitch phases, and support packages are sold separately.

BigWorld Academic is solely for registered schools, and it's intended to allow students hands-on experience with MMO technology before they enter the world of professional development. In all cases, the company offers progression plans to help users upgrade to the next stage of availability, all the way up to the full-scale commercial version.

"Many developers have been placing solutions for Indies and making available prototype builds for emerging game companies for quite some time," explains CEO John DeMargheriti. "BigWorld has kept its focus on the fully commercial marketplace and to date, there are over 40 commercial licenses in development or launched on BigWorld Technology."

He adds: "We are now well positioned to expand our product offerings to include academic institutions and mod and indie developers, who are in our belief, stronger and more capable than ever to take advantage of virtual or graphical social worlds and MMOs."

Online gaming community Nonoba announced a partnership with PlaySpan to integrate the latter's UltimatePoints universal virtual currency into its GameRise platform.

The new deal allows PlaySpan to offer users of PlaySpan Marketplace -- its digital marketplace where customers can buy virtual currencies, digital goods, and PC games online -- access to Nonoba's catalog of more than 4,000 Flash games from over 100 indie developers.

Their agreement also enables Nonoba to integrate PlaySpan's UltimatePay and UltimatePoints products into its GameRise platform so that Flash game developers can price and sell entire games, elements of games, virtual items, or gameplay to PlaySpan customers, and receive a 70 percent cut of that revenue.

Nonoba's GameRise platform allows both enthusiasts and professionals to develop and manage custom gaming sites with community features. They have control of the site's game catalog, appearance, advertising, and language. They can also manage chat rooms, forum discussions, and mail templates for user feeds.

"Integration of PlaySpan’s UltimatePay and UltimatePoints in our Payment API means our developers can now offer payment options to an entirely new and very large population who don’t have a credit card to pay for play," says Nonoba Co-founder Chris Benjaminsen. “We believe this is the future of Flash gaming."