Casual-games publisher PlayFirst is getting female gamers to part with some coin, a movement that has investors chipping in some cash.
San Francisco-based PlayFirst on Wednesday said it scored $16.5 million in a third funding round led by DCM.
Creator of the popular Diner Dash franchise, as well as Wedding Dash, Chocolatier, and Dream Chronicles, the startup bases its games on comforting themes to appeal to a broad market.
PlayFirst CEO John Welch said that while he could spend time on more hard-core gamer sites, “the mass market is not waiting to put on tights and cast fireballs at trolls.”
While PlayFirst’s themes probably aren’t going to attract large numbers of teenage males, they do attract young to middle-aged females. This is the “sweet spot in online casual gaming,” said Pete Moran, general partner at DCM, which is also an investor in Red Herring.
Previous investors, including Mayfield Fund, Trinity Ventures, and Rustic Canyon Partners, also joined in the round. PlayFirst raised a combined $10 million in its previous two rounds, putting its total funding at $26.5 million.
There's a lot at stake. According to analyst firm DFC Intelligence, the casual games/online games market is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2012.
That has the likes of Seattle-based Big Fish Games, Redmond, Washington-based WildTanget, New York City-based Oberon Media, and Dallas-based MumboJumbo among a growing number of companies competing for casual gaming hits.
Players of in Diner Dash, PlayFirst’s most popular game, step into the role of Flo, a diner owner and operator. In addition to scoring points through pleasing customers, players can also engage in the game by purchasing items like clothes for their avatar or new restaurants.
Traditionally, casual games publishers have hooked users with a play-for-free trial and then charged a single payment of around $20 to download the game. PlayFirst’s microtransactions, which range in cost from $0.79 to $4.99, provide the company with an additional revenue stream. PlayFirst plans to eventually sell advertising as well.
Microtransactions first became popular in Asia as a way to make money off of games in a region plagued by piracy. Since the items purchased within the world of the game reside on a server, they can’t be stolen, explained Mr. Welch. “We looked at what was successful in Asia and decided to bring it to North America.”
“Innovative companies willing to diversify platforms, create quality content, move beyond the $20 business model and introduce innovations like microtransactions to casual games will continue to drive this industry forward,” DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole said in a statement.
The popularity of PlayFirst’s games along with its multiple avenues for grabbing money make the startup a compelling investment, Mr. Moran said.
The three-and-half-year-old company plans to use the funding to accelerate product development efforts, including a push to move its games onto social networks.
As part of this effort, the company also announced Wednesday that it will be distributing Wedding Dash on Facebook through widget developer RockYou’s publisher network.
PlayFirst plans to take advantage of the viral nature of social networks to spread its current games as well as design games specifically for social-networking platforms.
While it may be common place for World of Warcraft fans to play with hundreds of fellow gamers online, Mr. Welch said that PlayFirst’s social-networking applications will be designed for solitary players and for those looking to engage with small group of friends.