IMVU Adding Social Games To 3D Avatar Platform

Online community IMVU announced partnerships with developers Viximo, Heyzap, and OMGPOP to bring their casual and social games to its 3D avatar/chat platform. Launched in 2004, IMVU has more than 50 million registered users and more than 10 million unique visitors per month. The online community allows users to create and customize 3D avatars to chat, play games with each other, design clothes, furniture and rooms, and buy virtual goods from a catalog of more than 4 million items. IMVU is making its first foray into the casual and social gaming market with these new partnerships, which will allow members to play over 75 titles from the three developers. The games will be integrated into the platform, so users will be able to purchase virtual goods in them with IMVU credits. Gamers will not only have the ability to customize a variety of OMGPOP titles with IMVU-specific virtual goods, but also integrate their IMVU avatar profiles and add friends within them. Viximo has created an IMVU-branded version of its Photo Market game called Top Modelz, too. "IMVU offers great entertainment value by adding games to our 3D social experience,” says IMVU CEO Cary Rosenzweig. "From a business perspective, games combined with our social networking and virtual goods economy is the natural direction to take IMVU to the next level of growth."