Chillingo to Launch iPhone Social Gaming Network
Earlier this morning at the Developer Conference in Brighton, Chillingo (one of the iPhone’s leading game publishers) announced their plans to create a social gaming network that would become “the de-facto social gaming standard for iPhone and iPod touch” according to Chillingo director Chris Byatte.
PocketGamer.biz reports that the network will be released under the moniker Crystal and is set to feature friends lists, achievements, and the ability to issue direct challenges to other gamers on the network. Equal parts Facebook and Xbox Live, Crystal is intended to offer up a way for iPhone gamers to stay in touch while deepening the gaming experience by offering new goals and challenges that place you in direct competition with your friends.
Like many product announcements, this morning’s unveiling raised more questions than answers. Will the network only be available for titles published by Chillingo, or will the social platform be available as a sort of middleware that any publisher can license? Can games that predate Crystal be patched to include it, or would they need to be rebuilt from the ground up? Will Apple adopt this as “the de facto social gaming standard,” or will this launch a dozen imitators all fighting for the crown?
Chillingo isn’t the first company to attempt to craft a social gaming experience on the iPhone. Competitor ngmoco launched their Plus+ network last month as a means for gamers to issue challenges, track friends and earn awards — exactly like Chillingo is planning to do. It’s hard to gauge how well Plus+ will perform as it’s barely out of the gate, however early reviews from Star Defense players (the only game supported by the service so far) have been mostly positive.
Competition isn’t the only issue Crystal faces. In its currently announced form, the networking platform does nothing to overcome social gaming’s greatest obstacle on the iPhone: a lack of online multiplayer. Until Apple somehow makes it easier for online-enabled games to be developed with multiplayer in mind, social gaming on the iPhone is never going to attain the level of success that it has the potential to achieve.
There’s no word on a release date as of yet, but Chillingo has committed to keeping the service free for gamers and intends to integrate other major social networks like Twitter and Facebook. There’s a lot of potential here. We’ll just have to wait and see what, if anything, Crystal can offer that Plus+ can’t.
I really like the plus network. Now that Rolando 2 has come out, that means more trophies and a larger network of people. I most certainly don’t want to see multiple networks for long. Apple should either adopt one or create a standard of it’s own. Anyway nice post! Thanks!
I’m glad that all these companies are doing this, but, as Kiro said, why not just use one? I’m loving Plus+, and I assume ngmoco:) would allow Chillingo to use it. I guess it’s all business. I have a feeling this could end up like HD-DVD vs. Bluray: Only one will survive.