OpenFeint was a social platform for
mobile game
A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA t ...
s for devices running on
Android or
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
. It was developed by Aurora Feint, a company named after a
video game by the same developers.
The platform consisted of an
SDK for use by games, allowing its various
social networking
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...
features to be integrated into the game's functionality. OpenFeint was discontinued at the end of 2012.
History
OpenFeint was founded by Jason Citron,
who later founded
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
. The first iteration of OpenFeint was launched on February 17, 2009.
Version 2.0 was released in June 2009, and marked the first time that the platform was free for developers to integrate into their own applications. Harris Tsim joined to help with engineering.
Version 2.1 was released on August 14, 2009, featuring "Social challenges", which allowed users to create tasks for themselves and their friends to attempt within games and notified users when new challenges were available. It also allowed users to add "Friends" and introduced a new user interface.
Version 2.4 was released on January 8, 2010, with a revamped layout and a standalone OpenFeint app. As of January 2010, there were over 900 applications in the iOS App Store that used OpenFeint, and there were over ten million users registered on the network.
On September 15, 2010, OpenFeint announced that it would be supporting
Android.
The9
The9 Ltd. () is a Shanghai-based online game operator which had the exclusive licence to operate and distribute World of Warcraft in China (launched in June 2005, it has since become the largest online game), a licence it secured after successf ...
invested $5 million in the platform, and in October,
Intel Capital
Intel Capital is a division of Intel Corporation, set up to manage corporate venture capital, global investment, mergers and acquisitions. Intel Capital makes equity investments in a range of technology startups and companies offering hardware, ...
announced that it had invested $3 million, combining with
DeNA
Dena (in Luri and fa, ) is the name for a sub-range within the Zagros Mountains, Iran. Mount Dena, with length and average width, is situated on the boundary of the Isfahan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Pro ...
's $6 million investment to bring total investments to $12 million.
In April 2011, Japanese company
GREE, Inc. bought OpenFeint for US$104 million.
In 2011, OpenFeint was party to a
class action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...
suit with allegations including computer fraud, invasion of privacy, breach of contract, bad faith and seven other statutory violations. According to a news report "OpenFeint's business plan included accessing and disclosing personal information without authorization to mobile-device application developers, advertising networks and web-analytic vendors that market mobile applications".
On November 16, 2012, GREE announced that it would be discontinuing the service on December 14, 2012, primarily in favor of its
own similar platform.
Notable applications
The following is a list of some of the many applications that used or were integrated with OpenFeint:
* ''
101-in-1 Games
* ''
3D Rollercoaster Rush''
* ''
Arriving
Arriving is a studio album released in 2004 by Chris Tomlin. The album has received RIAA "Platinum" status and peaked at No. 3 on ''Billboard''s Top Christian Albums chart. As of October 2008, "How Great Is Our God" is No. 1 and "Holy Is the ...
''
*
Bloons TD Mobile
* ''
Birdstrike''
* ''
Bomberman Touch 2: Volcano Party''
*
Cytus
* ''
Fieldrunners
''Fieldrunners'' is a tower defense video game developed for several platforms. Originally released on 1 October 2008 as an exclusive iOS title, the game was later ported to Nintendo DSi, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, and mobile phones. It ...
''
* ''
Fruit Ninja
''Fruit Ninja'' is a video game developed by Halfbrick originally released on April 21, 2010. In the game, the player must slice fruit that is thrown into the air by swiping the device's touch screen with their finger(s) or (in the case of the ...
''
* ''
Galaxy on Fire''
* ''
geoDefense''
* ''
geoDefense Swarm''
* ''
geoSpark''
* ''
Hook Worlds''
* ''
Jet Car Stunts''
* ''
Jetpack Joyride
''Jetpack Joyride'' is a 2011 side-scrolling endless runner action video game created by Halfbrick Studios. It was released for iOS devices on the App Store on September 1, 2011 and has been ported to other systems. It was released online as a ...
''
* ''
Minigore''
* ''
The Moron Test
''The Moron Test'' is a mobile brain teasing game developed and published by American studio DistinctDev, Inc. for the iOS and Android platforms, and is one of the best selling iPhone applications of all-time. ''The Moron Test'' was initially re ...
''
* ''
Pocket God''
* ''
Robot Unicorn Attack
''Robot Unicorn Attack'' is an endless running video game released by Spritonin Media Games on February 4, 2010. In the first week after its release, the game garnered one million plays. Following Robot Unicorn Attack, Adult Swim released three f ...
''
* ''Space Freight
* ''
Super QuickHook''
* ''
Tiny Wings''
* ''
World of Goo''
See also
*
Social discovery platform
Social search is a behavior of retrieving and searching on a social searching engine that mainly searches user-generated content such as news, videos and image search, images related search queries on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, ...
* Similar social platforms include
Scoreloop
Scoreloop, a subsidiary of BlackBerry, was a cross-platform social gaming network for the operating systems including BlackBerry (Tablet OS and BlackBerry 10), Android, Bada, iOS and Windows Phone 7.
History
The company, based in Munich, ...
and
Apple's Game Center.
References
External links
* {{webarchive , url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090218192951/http://www.openfeint.com/ , title=Official website , date=2009-02-18
IOS software
2009 software
Android (operating system) software
Products and services discontinued in 2012