WoWPals launches to hook-up World of Warcraft fans

July 6, 2009 | Dean Takahashi | Comments | |

wowpalsWorld of Warcraft’s more than 11.5 million paying subscribers are spread all over the world, but it’s not easy to find them. That’s why WoWPals.net was formed. It’s a location-based social network that lets you find fellow World of Warcraft fans near you.

The service lets players hook up with other local players, form local communities, find recruits for teams of players known as guilds, and share WoW updates via Twitter. The site is in its alpha testing stage now and hopes to move to a beta test by the end of the year.

wowpals-2WoWPals is owned by GamersFlux, a Yehud, Israel-based startup founded by two 23-year-old gamers: Nadav Har Tzvi and Danny Tsechansky. They started work on the service in April, 2009, and it went live earlier this month in a public alpha test.

It’s one of many social networks for gamers that have sprung up in the past couple of years. There are big rivals such as Rupture, which was acquired by Electronic Arts, and Raptr, a well-financed gamers social network founded by serial entrepreneur Dennis Fong.

But Tsechansky says the service is unique because it incorporates location-based information. On top of that, WoWPals.net is obviously going for the hardcore fans of one game rather than players who play a lot of different games. The strategy isn’t unheard of, as others such as the makers of TweetCraft have also staked their business on appealing to WoW fans.

The company is self-funded. It is looking for a new round of investors. This enterprise is going to succeed or fail based on how well it can tailor useful services that the hardcore fans feel like they can’t get through the game itself.

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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.

  • Whats their business model like? With advertising revenues down I guess the best would be to offer a premium membership...
  • mehmeh
    It's a very novel business idea but like other tracking applications, this could easily go wrong in an instant. Kinda reminds me of the show, the Guild.
  • I'm always interested in start-up ventures but I think there are already several applications that do the same thing, or even better than what WoWPals says it does. So what does it do differently?
  • forexportercom
  • everquestplatinum
  • This sounds really cool, Wow players can now be able to connect to each other using this new WowPals. Very interesting and exciting for Wow player like me.
  • qiuoo_cn
    I have been actively involved in the Virtual goods and services market since 2001 where I started selling Everquest Platinum on Ebay, now I am the owner and COO of www.mmo365.com. We have seen much growth in this market and the potential is endless, however there are many misconceptions that are found all over the net about the gold farmer, about the concepts behind a lot of what goes on in the industry.

    Currently in the MMO market there is a constant battle between game developer and seller which usually ends in mass account bannings. These could cost a company such as Mmo365 tens of thousands of dollars of lost product in a day. I wonder when there will actually be discussion about that side of the industry, about the companies like mine that are providing a service that makes peoples experience in the game enjoyable, we keep the players playing. Yet the developers insist on battling the market and what I consider stealing money from us. If it wasn’t for our market these game companies would see a significant amount of people leave their games because the players just don’t have the time or patience to sit around and grind out levels or farm gold. Some players as well as developers will say that that the game was not meant to have this sort of activity go on. But who is it really meant for? If I enjoy playing WoW and use it as an escape from the day to day madness, almost like therapy yet I don’t have the time like my in game friends to spend on it then I should have the right to be able to play the game how I want to play it. If that includes buying Powerleveling or WOW Gold than that is how the game was meant to be played by me. Really when you step back and think about it Blizzard is just looking at this as a payday, they know they will not get rid of the RMT market and the China gold farm. They also know that every time they ban a “farmer” that same person will buy another wow cdkey. Is that right? I don’t think so! Talk about Plight of the Chinese farmer, Blizzard is the biggest cause putting many of the Chinese production companies out of business and the workers back on the streets in China. I know people will argue that our market breaks the EULA of these games however this is a consumer driven market, if the demand was not there this market would not exist.

    Tiger
    www.mmo365.com