Tapatap rolls out version 2 of its mobile gaming service
Mobile gaming 1.0 is giving way to mobile gaming 2.0, says Isaac Babbs, CEO of Tapatap. Today, the San Mateo, Calif. startup is unveiling version 2.0 of its contest and social gaming service, which includes games that let players upload pictures from camera phones and vote on who is the “cutest couple.”
For Babbs, 2.0 mobile games are games that have moved away from stand-alone downloads that players purchase directly from a carrier deck. They’re social gaming services that hold players’ attention for longer periods of time.
“We see a trend toward photo casual games with community engagement at the core,” he said in an interview. “We are direct to the consumer. We don’t worry about waiting to see what the carrier will do with us.”
As such, the new m.tapatap.com service is available worldwide and expands what the company started with the first version of its service launched in July, 2007. Babbs says that the first service has garnered two million users, 180,000 photo submissions, and 5,000 user-generated photo games and contests.
Most of the players are 16-28-year-olds, and 55 percent are female. The site is available on the desktop at www.tapatap.com and on mobile at m.tapatap.com. In contrast to most games sold on carrier decks, Tapatap games are free and ad-supported. Typical contests call on users to submit photos and then vote on things like “Sweetest Kiss,” where the prize is a $200 Sephora Gift Certificate, or “Searching for the Next Model,” where the prize is $500 in cash. You can upload photos directly from a phone or via the computer to the web site.
Babbs says there are two camera phone games out now and the company will add three to five more over the next 90 days.
Tapatap was founded a year ago and raised $2.5 million from Gabriel Venture Partners. It will likely look for a second round of funding in the next six months, but it remains lean with 12 employees. Babbs says that later this year the company will roll out a premium subscription service.
Competitors include mobile game companies Digital Chocolate, Glu Mobile, Electronic Arts, Vivendi Games Mobile and Gameloft. Digital Chocolate has rolled out its own social gaming service, and Cellufun in New York has a casual social gaming service too.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.