''SongPop'' is a series of head-to-head music

trivia games Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. Modern usage of the term ''trivia'' dates to the 1960s, when college students introduced question-and-answer contests to their universities. A board game, ''Trivial Purs ...

developed by FreshPlanet and published by

Gameloft Gameloft SE is a French video game company based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games for mobile devices, video game consoles, and ...

. The first title in the series was released as a free app in May 2012 and was available for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

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, and

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. By 2015, the app had been downloaded 100 million times. A sequel titled ''SongPop 2'' (now titled ''SongPop Classic''), featuring over 100,000 songs and 1,000 curated playlists, was released in July 2015 and is free-to-play with in-app purchases. As of June 22, 2021 SongPop2 has over 200,000 songs on over 3,400 playlists. A third game, ''SongPop 3,'' was released on March 18, 2021. It includes features to play live one on one in real time, join teams, listen to the full playlists with Spotify and Apple Music integration, and many advanced customizations. A fourth game and spin-off, ''SongPop Party'', was released on April 2, 2021, as part of the

Apple Arcade Apple Arcade is a video game subscription service offered by Apple Inc. It is available through a dedicated tab of the App Store on devices running iOS 13, visionOS, tvOS 13, iPadOS 13, and macOS Catalina or later. The service launched o ...

subscription service. Unlike other entries in the franchise, SongPop Party allows up to eight players to compete together through both online and local multiplayer. A version for

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and

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was released on September 22, 2022, marking the first game in the franchise to be released on console.

History

SongPop 1 was shut down in November 2018, due to compatibility issues with iOS 12, with users being advised to move over to SongPop 2. FreshPlanet, the NYC–based startup who develop the SongPop franchise, were acquired by Gameloft the following month. In 2022, SongPop 2 was renamed SongPop Classic and SongPop 3 became simply SongPop. The VIP option was also renamed SongPop Plus along with a significant increase in price (over double in some territories). A new "ad-free" subscription was later introduced at roughly the price point of the old VIP option.

Gameplay

The game is played much like the popular TV show ''

Name That Tune ''Name That Tune'' is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being p ...

''. After selecting a themed playlist, five songs are played. Players compete against each other to be the first to select the correct song title or artist from a choice of four.

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

links are provided for each song. The faster a player guesses, the more points they get. Players can remove two songs by using "power ups." In ''SongPop 2'', users can play alone for the first time, competing against a computer-controlled opponent.

Critical reception

''SongPop'' was awarded Best Facebook Game 2012, Social Gaming People's Voice Winner 2013, and Best Online Game 2013 by the British Academy Games Awards. Soon after its release,

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posted on Facebook "Song Pop is one of the most fun Facebook games I've played in a while." Some songs may include explicit lyrics. For this reason, iTunes rates the game 12+ and it is rated 16+ by

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the

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nominated ''SongPop'' for " Web Based Game of the Year".

References

{{Reflist Android (operating system) games IOS games Music video games Facebook games Quiz video games Video games developed in the United States BAFTA winners (video games) Gameloft games Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2012