Teen social network Habbo opens up for game developers

[xxMATTGxx]

Came across this as it was tweeted by an Ex-Staff member for Sulake:

Habbo has 10 million monthly unique visitors mostly 13-16, in 150 countries

Facebook may be the leading social network for games, but it's not the only platform for social game developers. At GDC, the Habbo social network for teens announced itself as a game development platform. Habbo has established itself as the leading global place for teens age 13 to 16, with an astounding 1 in 10 teens in Western countries registering on the site. Now Paul LaFontaine, CEO of Habbo developer Sulake Corporation, is opening up their social network to game developers. Sulake is already in discussions with developers about bringing their games to Habbo. "We're actually working with developers today," LaFontaine told GamesIndustry International in an exclusive interview. "We're open for business when it comes to co-developing new entertainment products for the large teen market that we're able to access."

Game developers have the opportunity to deliver one of the initial games on a social platform that has a global reach. Habbo's numbers are impressive, if not on the scale of Facebook: Over 249 million total registered Habbo characters, an average of 100,000 new members join every day, and more than 3 million new members join every month. More importantly, Habbo gets 10 million monthly unique visitors (source: Quantcast, December 2011) to their sites, roughly split between boys (56%) and girls (44%); 65% of the users are aged 13 to 16. Habbo has customers in over 150 countries and is available in 11 language versions.

A worldwide study conducted by brand value rating agency BV4 and HWZ University in Zurich rated Habbo as the tenth most valuable social network brand, with a value of $3 billion, ranking just behind Zynga. Social game publishers are busy looking for alternatives to Facebook as a platform, for a variety of reasons. First of all, if the majority of your revenue comes from Facebook (in Zynga's case, over 90%), you have to be concerned about the possibility of unilateral changes that may adversely affect your business with little or no warning. Second, other platforms are likely to offer audiences that may not access Facebook. Finally, other social networks are less crowded with games, making customer acquisition easier (and potentially less expensive). Habbo is the latest social network to open up to outside developers.

It also mentions that previous article about estimating Habbo is worth $ 3 billion and they have also added a pretty picture:



Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ame-developers

[Chippiewill]

They just valued the company at $300 PER USER. I call shenanigans to be honest.

[Mathew]

That's pretty cool. It's been looking hopeful ever since Paul LaFontaine was introduced!

So does this mean little games such as those that Zynga make have the potential to be added to Habbo? Where do they fit?

[Jazz]

wowza, that must be a big boost for sulake. suppose its a good job lmao

[iFlame]

Must give sulake a good boost now at least!

[jasey]

I am so chuffed and impressed with the progress Habbo has made over the years to become the bastion of value and fun it is today. I feel like I am a part of its growth! This is great to read. I am excited for the future.

[Jordy]

Most innovative thing Habbo has done for a while, I suppose they're still playing catch up with other social networks (Facebook's had apps for as long as I can remember) but it's definitely promising stuff from Mr LaFontaine and I was beginning to think Habbo was on the way out.