Berlin-based publisher Frogster revealed that with Runes of Magic's first anniversary, the free-to-play massively multiplayer roleplaying game has hit three million registered users in North America and Europe.

Developed by Taiwanese studio Runewaker Entertainment, the game is available in six different languages across 23 servers. Frogster makes a point to note that despite Runes of Magic's popularity, it's support department has managed to protect the game's economy from "gold sellers" by banning more than 15,600 accounts in the past four months alone.

In Runes of Magic, gamers can create customizable 3D characters, join guilds, build and furnish their own castles, duel other player, or battle bosses in dungeons with up to 36 simultaneous players. The game also features a dual class system for characters that allows players to combine one of eight primary classes with a secondary class.

Frogster has celebrated the MMORPG's anniversary all week with a variety of in-game events and virtual goods promotions. Users who login today will receive 100 free rubies (virtual currency), triple experience and talent points when killing monsters or questing, a free in-game pet, and more. You can find more information on Runes of Magic's anniversary events and gifts at the game's official site.

In our latest employment-specific round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from SCEA Santa Monica, WB Games and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted this week include:

Gameloft: 3D Graphics Programmer
"As a member of our engineering team you will be part of the full development cycle of 3D video games for iPhone from start to finish, primarily focusing on 3D graphics. Duties could include: Analyze existing 3D functions in the engine and adapt them so they are compatible with current conventions; Support 3D functions and systems conceived for the production; Work with Game Developers, as well as Design teams to determine the different constraints of the game and put all the elements together."

Guerrilla Games: Senior Game Designer
"Guerrilla Games is looking to add a battle-hardened Senior Game Designer to its ranks for an upcoming project. If you're recruited, you will play a pivotal role in formulating the game design and guarding the game's vision. You will also act as a mentor, problem solver and source of bravery and inspiration for your fellow troops."

Continue reading "Round-Up: Gamasutra Network Jobs, Week Of March 19" »

Online auction company eBay said the second largest merchant for PayPal in 2009 was FarmVille developer Zynga, though it did not clarify if that ranking is based on the amount of money or transactions handled by its payment services subsidiary.

An eBay spokesperson made that surprising revelation at the 2010 Media Summit NY held earlier this month, according to a "key takeaways" report (PDF download) published by Citigroup analyst and director Mark Mahaney.

Zynga's is easily the biggest developer on Facebook in terms of users it attracts. FarmVille, the most popular application on Facebook, alone claims nearly 83 million monthly active users, while metrics site AppData shows that the social game developer's 41 releases bring in a total of 237.5 million monthly active users.

Citigroup also estimates that eBay and PayPal, which handled around 50 percent of total payments made on Facebook last year, processed $500 million in virtual goods revenue in 2009, double the amount from 2008. The financial services firm expects that number to rise another 50 percent in 2010 to $750 million.

RealNetworks's game development division RealGames announced two new appointments meant to strengthen its social gaming strategy: Jeffrey Revoy as vice president of social games and Wilf Russell as chief technology officer.

Prior to RealGames, Revoy spent six years at Yahoo, holding senior roles at the online media company's U.S. headquarters and overseas operations. He served as vice president of search, local, and social media there, and also oversaw Yahoo! Answers. Revoy was most recently president of CenturyLink's Interactive Services group.

Russell was RealGames's vice president of engineering for a year before his promotion to CTO. He has more than 25 years of experience in the software industry, and previously was vice president of engineering at MySpace, where he managed the development of engineering facilities that worked on the social network's products and services.

Both Revoy Russell are part of a "hand-picked management team" that began to take shape when John Barbour took over as president of Real's game division in November 2008. While Revoy is responsible for managing the group's growing social games business, Russell will oversee the integration of RealGame's download, online, social, and mobile gaming platforms and customer ecosystems.

"As the digital games segment continues to grow and evolve at an explosive pace, we believe the companies who effectively create, deliver and monetize the best games across vast customer ecosystems and multiple devices will emerge as market leaders," says RealGames president John Barbour.

"Our team has helped establish RealGames as a leader in the download, online, social and mobile gaming segments worldwide, and we are excited to have Jeff and Wilf on board to help integrate and extend the significant groundwork already laid."

Organizers of this May's GDC Canada event in Vancouver, BC have confirmed the first social game and iPhone lectures for the event, with speakers from Zynga (Farmville), iPhone experts IUGO, and Diner Dash creator Nick Fortugno discussing major emerging markets.

Registration is now open for the event at the Vancouver Convention Centre, which talkes place on May 6th and 7th -- with early, reduced-price passes only available until the end of March.

This year, new tracks will focus on more hot games industry topics including digital distribution, social games, and iPhone games.

Some of the initially announced highlights for these vital tracks, many of which are bringing major creators to speak to the Canadian market for the first time, are as follows:

Continue reading "GDC Canada 2010 Confirms Zynga, IUGO, Fortugno Talks" »

Social sports game developer and publisher Quick Hit announced that more than one million users have registered for Quick Hit Football since the game launched its open beta five months ago. The company also announced a new distribution agreement with IGN designed to broaden Quick Hit Football's reach.

Along with its one million-plus users, Quick Hit Football has received six million visits and 35 million minutes of gameplay. The free-to-play title is a football simulation game that allows users to take on famous coaches and draft legendary players. Gamers can also earn fantasy and coaching points, then expand their persistent teams.

Quick Hit was founded in April 2008 in Foxboro, Massachusetts with the goal of filling "a massive void in the sports industry" by combining head-to-head competitions with fantasy sports to create an accessible, playable online experience. Quick Hit Football is the company's first released title.

By making the game accessible through IGN's network of sites (Direct2Drive, FilePlanet, AskMen, and IGN.com), Quick Hit believes this deal will keep players exposed to Quick Hit Football during the sport's off season and provide a stronger platform for when the game's 2010 season begins.

"Quick Hit Football continues to explode, and our partnership with IGN will only drive more awareness for Quick Hit among the gaming community," says Quick Hit CEO and founder Jeffrey Anderson.

Online media company Yahoo signed an agreement to acquire Citizen Sports, a social applications and games developer allowing users to interact and stay up to date with their favorite sports through social networking sites and mobile devices. Though neither company disclosed financial terms, Yahoo expects to complete the acquisition in Q2 2010.

Founded in 2004 and based in San Francisco, Citizen Sports offers a variety of social and mobile products designed to help its community play fantasy sports, fill out brackets, check live scores, and read news on games like football, hockey, soccer, baseball, hockey, and more.

Citizen Sports has already released 719 applications on Facebook alone (e.g. Bracket Challenge, Premier League Fantasy Football, New York Yankees Faithful), reaching nearly 1.6 million users on that platform, according to metrics from AppData.

As part of the deal, Citizen Sports will integrate Yahoo! Sports's content into its products. Yahoo believes that this purchase will strengthen its "social strategy of enriching, aggregating, and distributing social content from across the entire Web", enabling it to offer a customizable social experience.

Yahoo! Sports will integrate Citizen Sports's applications to allow fans to "broadcast their allegiances, create or join a conversation with friends and fans, and cheer for their teams" on its site. The company also expects this acquisition to transform its site into a "more personally relevant experience" that engages users more and creates new ad opportunities.

"Yahoo is in a unique position to combine our deep expertise in content and aggregation technology to offer a highly personalized social experience," says Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Yahoo's Consumer Products Group.

He continues, "Sports has been among the earliest online categories to experience rapid social proliferation, and the combination of Citizen Sports leading products with our world-class sports experience on Yahoo! Sports is a win-win for sports fans globally."

ChangYou.com (US) Inc., the North American subsidiary of Chinese online games operator ChangYou.com Ltd., announced a deal with PlaySpan to use the firm's UltimatePay product in Dragon Oath (known as Tian Long Ba Bu in Asia) and upcoming MMORPG Blade Wars (known as Blade Hero 2 in Asia).

UltimatePay offers more than 85 global payment methods for virtual currency and in-game goods including credit cart, PayPal, mobile, and PlaySpan's Ultimate Game Card. With the service integrated into its Changyou's games, Dragon Oath and Blade Wars players in the U.S., Europe, and Malaysia can make premium content purchases through UltimatePay.

Dragon Oath is a 2.5D martial arts-based MMORPG based on popular Chinese novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. The free-to-play title launched in North America last year but was published in China in 2007. It currently claims more than 75 million registered global players.

Blade Wars is also a fighting-based 2.5D MMORPG, offering 99 different combat postures and a feature that allows players to set their own rules for in-game fighting. The game launched in China last September, and ChangYou's U.S. division says it will release in Western markets "soon."

"Changyou is poised to take advantage of PlaySpan’s UltimatePay to give its players greater access to join the adventure," says ChangYou.com (US) Inc.'s general manager Mr. Martin Tan. "UltimatePay gives us the ability to deliver enhanced experiences through premium content and serve a growing base of gamers who need alternative forms of payment like the Ultimate Game Card."

Online golf gaming environment World Golf Tour raised $10 million in its third round of funding, and revealed a partnership with the U.S. Golf Association to become the group's exclusive platform provider for its virtual golf championships. Japanese private equity firm JAFCO Ventures led the financing round, with existing investors also participating.

World Golf Tour offers an online community with 12 virtual courses based on real locations (e.g. St. Andrews) and sponsored tournaments, all working toward delivering an "authentic golf experience". It also provides a social experience by letting users play golf in parties of up to four and text chat with each other during their game.

The free-to-play, browser-based 3D game has attracted more than a million registered users and 500,000 monthly active players across 180 countries since its demo launched in 2007. World Golf Tour is monetized through banner ads, in-game ads, and micro-transactions (players can buy balls to play and will have to replace them when they're lost in virtual water hazards).

WGT plans to devote its new funding to expanding its presence in overseas markets and moving into the social game space. It's trying out a simplified version of World Golf Tour on Facebook, which has already brought in 2,000 users without any viral components implemented. The firm doesn't plan to discontinue its standalone game site, though.

"We are testing different game mechanics to see what works," said WGT's CEO Yuchiang Cheng, according to a report from VentureBeat. "For us, Facebook will be a way to build awareness. It’s a mistake to scrap the original destination site. There are companies out there who are jumping on the gold rush bandwagon. For us, it is a marketing channel."

Alongside WGT's financing reveal, the U.S. Golf Association, the national governing body of golf in the USA and Mexico, announced that it entered into "a long-term relationship" with the company. As part of their partnership, the USGA and WGT will co-host a Virtual USGA championship each year, in which players can compete in a tournament on the USGA's site.

The two companies co-hosted the first Virtual U.S. Open last year, bringing in hundreds of thousands of players and helping drive record visits to the real U.S. Open's official site. WGT will produce a tribute to Pebble Beach's historic golf moments by recreating famous shots from previous U.S. Opens, which will be available under the course section of USOpen.com.

"This partnership validates WGT as the leader in integrating virtual sports with live sporting events, providing strong real-world value to sports organizations and their sponsors," said Cheng. "From day one, we set out to bring high-quality virtual golf to the masses and grow the game of golf. It‘s an honor to have the USGA look to us to bring golf’s most challenging courses to the world for enjoyment."