Social Game Company PlayFish Sees 100 Million Games Installed In 18 Months

Social game maker PlayFish said Wednesday that users have installed 100 million of its games across seven titles in the 18 months since PlayFish's launch. Playfish's games include social games Restaurant City, Minigolf Party, Pet Society, and Bowling Buddies. Users play the games in their web browsers through social networking sites including Bebo, MySpace, and Facebook. In 2008, PlayFish landed $17 million in in a Series B round of funding led by Accel Partners and Index Ventures. The game maker said it would use the money to expand its presence in the social gaming sector. Currently, PlayFish said it has over 30 million monthly active users across its seven titles, all of which have been a top 10 game on Facebook by popularity. Pet Society is PlayFish's most popular title, reaching 12 million people each month, PlayFish said. The company's latest game is Restaurant City, which PlayFish said is performing well. "By putting the emphasis on interaction between friends, social games have expanded the potential reach beyond traditional video games to an entirely new, non-gaming audience," said Atul Bagga, VP of gaming research for ThinkEquity. PlayFish CEO Kristian Segerstrale added, "Reaching 100 million installs in such a short time is clear proof of social gaming’s popularity and how loyal, enthusiastic and deeply engaged the Playfish community is."