Facebook Leaps Into Game Publishing With New Initiative

Facebook announced that it will be entering the mobile games publishing fray, hoping to help small to medium development teams who "don’t yet have the upfront resources for a paid strategy" go global, according to a report over at Pocket Gamer.

With 800 million monthly mobile users--260 million of those playing games--Facebook has a built-in audience just ready for Facebook-published mobile games. It sounds like a win-win strategy, and ten developers have already signed up.

In an email sent to 148Apps today, Facebook mentioned all ten by name:

The initial partners in the pilot program were identified by their high-quality, high-potential games. These initial partners and games include:

• 5th Planet’s RPG card battle game, Dawn of the Dragons
• Brainbow’s puzzle-packed adventure game, Dr. Newton: The Great Brain Adventure
• Certain Affinity's pirate-themed strategy game, Age of Booty: Tactics
• Dragonplay's social poker game, Live Hold'Em
• Gameloft's medieval strategy/simulation game, Kingdoms & Lords
• Gamevil's train management simulation Train City
• KiwiGames’ quest-based exploration game, Shipwrecked
• Outplay Entertainment's explore-and-battle fantasy game, Monster Legacy
• Space Ape's multiplayer combat strategy game, Samurai Siege
• WeMade Entertainment's endless-running game WINDrunner

While a few of these developers don't fit the "small to medium" developer team model in my opinion (Gameloft, Gamevil, WeMade), it could be a potential windfall for actual indie teams looking to get their well-made game out to a ready audience.