PlayFirst, Inc. is a

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

based American

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

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'', "troop leadership; 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 extreme spo ...

/ 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 Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

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and consoles DS,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

, and

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

. 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 and

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher known for its social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile an ...

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 GameHouse Inc. is an American casual game developer, publisher, digital video game distributor, and portal, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a division of RealNetworks. GameHouse distributes casual games for PC and Mac com ...

. On September 3, 2014, PlayFirst was acquired by

Glu Mobile Glu Mobile LLC is an American developer and publisher of mobile games. It was founded as Sorrent in 2001 and acquired Macrospace in 2004. Both companies collectively rebranded as Glu Mobile in 2005. In April 2021, the company was acquired by E ...

. 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,"

Playground SDK

Playground SDK is PlayFirst's

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

. It is discontinued.

References

External links

Official Website

PlayFirst company profile
from

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

{{Dash series Browser-based game websites Video game companies established in 2004 Video game publishers Electronic Arts subsidiaries