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Casual Games Publisher PlayFirst Raises $16.5 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 19, 2007 - 6:48am.

San Francisco - PlayFirst, a publisher of casual video games, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $16.5 million in its third round of financing, led by DCM.

tags: Games | Deals | VC | Casual Games | Social Networking | PlayFirst | Mayfield Fund | Trinity Ventures | DCM | Rustic Canyon Partners |

PlayFirst Launches "Wedding Dash" Casual Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2007 - 3:37pm.

San Francisco - Casual games publisher PlayFirst on Tuesday launched "Wedding Dash," the first title to build on its popular "Diner Dash" franchise. An unlimited version of the game, which challenges players to pull off the perfect wedding reception, will be offered for $19.95.

tags: Games | Casual Games | PlayFirst | Wedding Dash |

Games and Mobile Forum: Who will Create a YouTube for Games?

Authored by Jay Baage on May 22, 2007 - 11:18am.
John Welch From the Games & Mobile Forum: An interesting discussion that John Welch, Playfirst's President and CEO, as well as several of the morning panels, touched upon is if the Games Industry will go the same way as the music and television industry? Will we see a YouTube for Games soon?
tags: Games | Internet | Marketing | PlayFirst | Trends | Games and Mobile Forum 2007 | John Welch |

PlayFirst Offers Funds, Development Tools to Casual Game Developers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 6, 2007 - 4:43pm.

San Francisco - Casual games publisher PlayFirst said on Tuesday that it has opened access to its Playground SDK game development tools, to accelerate the market growth of casual games. The company also launched Developer Dash, a new developer funding program that will distribute up to $100,000 in cash to encourage independent developers to create new and innovative games.

tags: Games | Casual Games | PlayFirst | Developer Dash | Playground SDK |

Casual Games Makers Team to Publish Industry Sales, Revenue Data

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 7, 2007 - 1:04pm.

Seattle - The Casual Games Special Interest Group (SIG) of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) on Wednesday announced an initiative to facilitate the sharing of sales and revenue data between developers, publishers, aggregators and distributors of casual video games.

tags: Games | Marketing | Casual Games | Metrics | Big Fish Games | PlayFirst | PopCap | Oberon | IDGA | Reflexive |

PlayFirst: 1 Million Units of "Diner Dash" Game Sold

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 7, 2006 - 4:19pm.
San Francisco - Casual game publisher PlayFirst announced that it has now sold more than one million copies of its "Diner Dash" titles for PC and mobile phones. Three games are available to download for free trial or purchase from the company's website and major game portals, while mobile versions are distributed through Glu Mobile.
tags: Games | Mobile Games | Casual Games | Commerce | PlayFirst | Mobile Commerce | Sales | Diner Dash |

Eidos to Publish PlayFirst's "Diner Dash" PC Game for Handhelds

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 28, 2006 - 7:44pm.
San Francisco - U.K. video game publisher Eidos said on Wednesday that it will publish versions of developer PlayFirst's "Diner Dash" downloadable PC game for the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance in 2007.
tags: Games | PSP | DS | PC Games | Eidos | GBA | Handheld Games | PlayFirst | Diner Dash |

Konami to Publish Mobile Versions of PlayFirst Casual Games

Authored by dmw on April 4, 2006 - 4:10pm.
Los Angeles - Japanese video game publisher Konami Digital Entertainment announced on Tuesday a partnership with casual games publisher PlayFirst. Under the deal, Konami will develop and publish versions of several of PlayFirst's casual game titles for mobile devices, including "Oasis" and "Egg vs. Chicken".
tags: Games | Mobile | Mobile Games | Online Games | Japan | Konami | PlayFirst |

PlayFirst Launches "Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue" PC Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 29, 2006 - 9:34am.
San Francisco - Casual video game publisher PlayFirst announced on Tuesday the release of "Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue". San Francisco-based PlayFirst is offering a free trial of the game on its website, where it also available for purchase and download for $19.95.
tags: PC | Game | PlayFirst | Launch | Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue |

PlayFirst Launches gameLab's "Plantasia" Downloadable Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 31, 2006 - 6:53am.
San Francisco - PlayFirst, a publisher of casual video games, on Tuesday launched "Plantasia," a new downloadable game title from gameLab, developers of "Diner Dash." The game is available free to try for 60 minutes, and for purchase for $19.95.
tags: Games | PlayFirst | Download | Plantasia | gameLab |

Casual Games Publisher PlayFirst Raises $5 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 11, 2006 - 4:15am.
San Francisco - PlayFirst, a publisher of casual games to a network of over 450 gaming and other websites, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $5 million in its second round of venture capital financing. Rustic Canyon Partners led the investment round; previous investors Mayfield Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures also participated. San Francisco-based PlayFirst provides independent casual game developers with funding to create titles, which the company then distributes across multiple platforms to portals, retail outlets and other destinations. The funds will be used to expand PlayFirst's roster of games, to rollout new technologies and to increase global distribution of its titles.
tags: Games | PlayFirst | Deal | Games Publisher |

PlayFirst Signs Indie Game Publishers, Releases SDK for Developers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 5, 2005 - 9:53am.
San Francisco - PlayFirst, a publisher of downloadable casual PC games, announced on Wednesday that it has added titles from independent developers JoJu Games, PiEyeGames, Say Design and Shufflebrain to its library. San Francisco-based PlayFirst also released a game development technology platform for game developers, Playground SDK.
tags: Game | PlayFirst | Indie Game Publishers | SDK |

Online Casual Games Publisher PlayFirst Launches With $5 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 28, 2004 - 9:05am.
San Francisco -- A number of former employees of AtomShockwave, Macromedia and Ubisoft have announced the formation of PlayFirst, which will publish popular mass-appeal or, "casual" online games. The company has raised $5 million in first round venture capital financing from Mayfield and Trinity Ventures. PlayFirst was created by chief executive John Welch, formerly of AtomShockwave; chief technology officer Brad Edelman, formerly with Macromedia; and Jason Rubinstein, PlayFirst's vice president of marketing and business development, who joins the company from Ubisoft. "Our management team is bringing a new model of publishing to what we see as an emerging market: popular games," said PlayFirst co-founder and CEO John Welch. "We're going beyond the hardcore gamer. We want to reach families, women, and new audiences with games that are easy to play and fun." PlayFirst plans to launch its first games online in 2004 through entertainment portals and other direct-to-consumer outlets.
tags: PlayFirst | Website | Online | Casual Games Publisher |