PlayFirst, Inc. is a

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...

based

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

casual game A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...

s founded in 2004 by industry veterans. PlayFirst produced the ''Diner Dash'' series, which won the 2008 Annual Casual Game Awards. and has seen over 550 million downloads. The popularity of ''Diner Dash'' series prompted spin-off series like '' Wedding Dash'' and ''Cooking Dash''. The company’s game portfolio also includes the retro-style

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

-based ''Chocolatier'' series, and the

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extr ...

/ hidden object-mixing ''Dream Chronicles'' series. From 2005 to mid-2011, PlayFirst have released 72 casual games for PC and Mac, counting extra 7 Collector's Editions and Strategy Guides, thus they have 79 games in total in their game categories.

History

2004–2010: Early days, breakthrough, and maintaining the success of ''Dash'' series

PlayFirst’s biggest commercial success was its first game, '' Diner Dash'', which was released for the first time on PC/Mac platforms in late 2004. ''Diner Dash'' was initially developed by Gamelab, a New York-based casual game developer, under a multi-title publishing agreement with PlayFirst. The success of ''Diner Dash'' with game critics and gamers prompted PlayFirst to release four sequels in the following years: ''Restaurant Rescue'' (2006), ''Flo on the Go'' (2006), ''Hometown Hero'' (2007), and the fifth ''BOOM!'' in 2010. PlayFirst has also published ''Diner Dash'' across multiple platforms, including PC, Mac, iPhone,

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operati ...

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and consoles DS,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

, and Wii. PlayFirst games are available on more than 500 sites in 20 languages. Spin-off series and games '' Wedding Dash'' (2007), ''Cooking Dash'' (2008), and ''Hotel Dash'' (2009) were released. However, they mostly earned lukewarm receptions from game critics and gamers. Other non-''Dash'' PlayFirst games includes the three-part, retro-style

-based ''Chocolatier'' series, which was released during 2007 and 2009 in collaboration with Big Splash Games. The five-part,

/ hidden object-mixing ''Dream Chronicles'' series was another highlight in PlayFirst's portfolio. ''Dream Chronicles'' was released during 2007 and 2011 in collaboration with KatGames.

2010–2015: Cancellation of releasing on PC/Mac and new direction

In October 2010, PlayFirst announced a focus on the mobile and social market after raising $9.2 million from investors, and cancelled releasing further casual games in the near future. PlayFirst's forays into the social gaming market have proven unsuccessful, as low user counts forced the company to cancel all of its Facebook games, ''Diner Dash'' and ''Chocolatier'', not long after launching them. As of late 2010, the company employed more than 100 workers, but laid off an unspecified number of its employees in early December 2011 due to "restructuring". Other social games veterans who joined the company in late 2010 from

Playdom Playdom was an online social network game developer popular on Facebook, Google+ and Myspace. The company was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area by University of California, Berkeley graduates Ling Xiao and Chris Wang and Swarthmore College gra ...

and

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...

have also left; however, PlayFirst claims the layoffs will not change its emphasis on the mobile market. On October 8, 2012, PlayFirst emailed its subscribers informing them that the company will cease the production of PC and Mac games and move to a new website since November 12, 2012. The email read, "We have established a firm position as one of the leading producers for iOS mobile applications and are currently working on implementing our games into the Android marketplace," and that current games in its catalogue will still be available for purchase on the third party websites like Big Fish Games and GameHouse. On September 3, 2014, PlayFirst was acquired by

Glu Mobile Glu Mobile LLC is an American Video game developer, developer and Video game publisher, publisher of video games for mobile phones and tablet computers. Founded in San Francisco, California, in 2004, Glu offers products to multiple platforms inc ...

. The official statement from Glu Mobile CEO, Niccolo de Masi, read "We are pleased to officially add PlayFirst to the Glu family and look forward to delivering new DASH products to a worldwide audience,"

Published and/or co-developed on PC/Mac platforms

2011

* '' Hotel Dash 2: Lost Luxuries'' * '' Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water'' (+ ''Collector's Edition'' & ''Strategy Guide'') * '' Garden Dash'' * '' Murder Island: Secret of Tantalus'' * '' Dream Chronicles: The Book of Fire'' (''CANCELLED'')

2010

* ''

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'' * ''

Soap Opera Dash Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are us ...

'' * '' Avenue Flo: Special Delivery'' * '' Cooking Dash 3: Thrills and Spills'' (+ ''Collector's Edition'') * ''

Escape from Frankenstein's Castle Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some s ...

'' * '' Wedding Dash: 4-Ever'' * '' The Fifth Gate'' * '' Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air'' (+ ''Collector's Edition'' & ''Strategy Guide'') * '' Love and Death: Bitten'' * '' The Palace Builder'' * '' Diner Dash 5: BOOM!'' (+ ''Collector's Edition'' & ''Strategy Guide'') * '' Alice's Tea Cup Madness''

2009

* '' Gotcha: Celebrity Secrets'' * '' Hotel Dash: Suite Success'' * '' Valerie Porter and the Scarlet Scandal'' * ''

Avenue Flo Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, Lon ...

'' * ''

Gemini Lost Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...

'' * '' Cooking Dash: DinerTown Studios'' * '' Passport to Perfume'' * '' DinerTown Detective Agency'' * '' Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love!'' * '' DinerTown Tycoon'' * '' Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child'' * '' Wandering Willows'' * ''

Diaper Dash A diaper /ˈdaɪpə(r)/ (American and Canadian English) or a nappy (Australian English, British English, and Hiberno-English) is a type of underwear that allows the wearer to urinate or defecate without using a toilet, by absorbing or conta ...

'' * ''

Emerald City Confidential ''Emerald City Confidential'' is a 2009 computer adventure game conceived by Dave Gilbert, developed by Wadjet Eye Games, and published through PlayFirst. It follows the protagonist Petra, Emerald City's only private eye, as she is approached ...

'' * '' Chocolatier: Decadence by Design''

2008

* '' Nightshift Legacy: The Jaguar's Eye'' * ''

Fitness Dash Fitness may refer to: * Physical fitness, a state of health and well-being of the body * Fitness (biology), an individual's ability to propagate its genes * Fitness (cereal), a brand of breakfast cereals and granola bars * Fitness (magazine), ''Fi ...

'' * '' Daycare Nightmare: Mini-Monsters'' * ''

Parking Dash Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' ...

'' * ''

Cooking Dash Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves, to baking in variou ...

'' * '' The Great Chocolate Chase: A Chocolatier Twist'' * ''

Fashion Dash Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion ...

'' * '' Wedding Dash 2: Rings Around the World'' * ''

Dairy Dash A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located ...

'' * ''

Pet Shop Hop A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, Animal cognit ...

'' * '' Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze'' * ''

Doggie Dash The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...

2007

* '' The Nightshift Code'' * '' Dress Shop Hop'' * '' Chocolatier 2: Secret Ingredients'' * '' Diner Dash: Hometown Hero'' * '' Diner Dash: Flo Through Time'' * '' Diner Dash: Seasonal Snack Pack'' * '' Mahjong Roadshow'' * '' Daycare Nightmare'' * '' Wedding Dash'' * '' SpongeBob Diner Dash: 2 Times the Trouble'' * '' Dream Chronicles'' * '' Zenerchi'' * '' Chocolatier'' * '' Mystery of Shark Island''

2006

* '' Diner Dash: Flo on the Go'' * '' SandScripts'' * '' Sweetopia'' * '' SpongeBob Diner Dash'' * '' Poker Pop'' * '' Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue'' * '' Plantasia'' * '' Pirate Poppers'' * '' Egg vs. Chicken'' * ''

Tasty Planet ''Tasty Planet'' is a widely distributed and diverse franchise of top-down video games published by Vancouver-based studio Dingo Games. The games are targeted at ages 8 years and older, and they may be downloaded to Windows or Macintosh systems.Ree ...

2005

* ''

Professor Fizzwizzle Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

'' * '' TriJinx'' * '' Chessmaster Challenge'' * '' Diner Dash'' * '' Subway Scramble'' * '' Spellagories''

Published and/or co-developed on iOS platforms

* '' Chocolatier: Decadence by Design'' * '' Cloudy with a Chance of a Meatballs 2: Foodimal Frenzy'' (no longer available on App Store) * ''

'' * '' Cooking Dash: Thrills and Spills'' * '' Diner Dash'' * '' Diner Dash: Grilling Green'' * '' DinerTown Pets'' * '' DinerTown Zoo'' * '' Dream Chronicles'' * '' Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air'' * '' Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water'' * '' Egg vs. Chicken'' (no longer available on App Store) * '' Hotel Dash / Hotel Dash Deluxe'' * '' Hotel Dash 2: Lost Luxuries'' * '' Hotel Transylvania Dash'' (no longer available on App Store) * '' Love & Death: Bitten'' * ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Wedding Dash'' * '' Wedding Dash 4-Ever''

Playground SDK

Playground SDK is PlayFirst's

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term " software engine" used in the softwar ...

. It is discontinued.

References

External links

Official Website

PlayFirst company profile
from

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{Dash series Browser-based game websites Video game companies established in 2004 Video game companies of the United States Video game publishers Electronic Arts