MySpace Ups Social Gaming Focus With MySpace Games Lab

Facebook has overshadowed MySpace in the social gaming space, but the new MySpace Games Lab aims to make the network more inviting to social game developers. MySpace on Friday introduced the MySpace Games Lab pilot program, which MySpace co-president Mike Jones said is "dedicated to bringing third party developers into our offices to drive collaboration and facilitate great user experiences." MySpace hopes to attract more developers to its network and make the environment more game-friendly through closer relationships with game makers. Social game developers TheBroth (Barn Buddy) and Meez were early participants in the pilot program, and MySpace said it is now opening it up to other developers. Jones said MySpace has also been consulting with social game developer Playdom (Mobsters, Sorority Life) to help plan MySpace's social game product roadmap. "MySpace has been receptive to our feedback to update the platform with improved promotional and viral channels," said Playdom CEO John Pleasants. He called his company's relationship with MySpace "symbiotic." Mafia Wars developer Zynga also has a MySpace presence and backed the MySpace Games Lab, although its current premier title FarmVille is only available on MySpace rival Facebook. Jones also noted that MySpace implemented the OpenSocial 1.0 API, created for development of web-based social network applications. MySpace worked with Google on the interface.