Virtual goods are non-physical objects and money purchased for use in online communities or online games. Digital goods, on the other hand, may be a broader category including digital books, music, and movies. Virtual goods are intangible by definition.
Playfish was a developer of free-to-play social network games. Playfish was founded in 2007 by Kristian Segerstråle, Sebastien de Halleux, Sami Lababidi, and Shukri Shammas. It closed in 2013. Playfish in the past had attracted up to 55 million users a month, with over 37 million users coming from Facebook users. In October 2008, they secured US$17 million in venture capital funding from Accel Partners and Index Ventures. The company was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2009, with the last of Playfish's games being retired in 2013.
Bumper Stars is an online, social, arcade game published on select social networking sites. Developed by Large Animal Games, Bumper Stars was released on April 24, 2007 on the social networking website Facebook. The game was later released on Bebo and MySpace. Stand-alone versions of Bumper Stars are also available on Candystand and Shockwave. Since its release, over 20 million games have been played.
FarmVille is a series of agriculture-simulation social network games developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm and Farm Town. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plowing land, planting, growing, and harvesting crops, harvesting trees and raising livestock. The sequels FarmVille 2 and FarmVille 3 were released in September 2012 and November 2021, respectively.
Fishdom is a puzzle game developed by Playrix for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Android, iOS, and iPadOS. The game was launched 18 June 2008.
FishVille is a defunct real-time aquarium simulation game developed by Zynga, it was available as an application on the social-networking website Facebook. The game allowed members of Facebook to manage virtual aquariums by rearing fish. As of October 2011, FishVille had 1.6 million monthly active users. The game was discontinued on December 5, 2012.
Treasure Isle is a defunct browser-based video game by Zynga for Facebook, launched in April 2010. It allowed users to dig for treasure on various islands. The game was discontinued on December 5, 2012.
We Rule was a free-to-play mobile game developed by Newtoy and published by ngmoco for iOS and later on Android. It was available for download on the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad on the App Store or iTunes, and attracted many users since its release in March 2010. Although a free app, customers were able to buy in-app purchases; as of April 2010, it was the highest-grossing free-to-download game for the iOS. Within weeks of release, We Rule was estimated to have been downloaded millions of times, with approximately two million user sessions per day. Its gameplay was in part inspired by the Zynga game FarmVille.
Fantage was a MMORPG involving a virtual world containing a range of online games and activities, developed by Fantage Inc. The game featured a customizable cartoon avatar, called a "Fantagian", that users can customize with items ranging from hair to clothing and accessories. Fantage was released to the general public on March 17, 2008, and had since expanded into a large online community— the game had over 16 million registered users by January 2012 and over 30 million by December 2014.
ourWorld was a virtual world containing a range of online games and activities. It is developed by FlowPlay, and is aimed at the teen and tween demographic.
GoPets was a virtual pet site that involved raising a customized three-dimensional pet downloaded onto a user's computer. GoPets was launched on August 4, 2005 and closed on November 8, 2009.
FIFA Superstars was a football managing game developed by Playfish and Electronic Arts. It was released for play via Facebook in 2010, with a mobile version for iOS releasing the following year. In the game, users take the role of a football manager, managing a team by purchasing players, hiring a coach, upgrading the stadium and keeping the club fit in practice. FIFA Superstars is the first social gaming entry point for the FIFA franchise. FIFA Superstars became unavailable starting 31 March 2013.
The Sims Social was a Facebook addition to the Sims series of video games. It was announced during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 press conference. As with the original Sims games, The Sims Social lets the user create their own customizable character. In this version, however, the player uses their character to interact with those of their Facebook friends. The characters can develop likes or dislikes for other Sims, creating relationships that can be publicized on the user's Facebook page.
Zynga Bingo is a social network game developed by Zynga and released on Facebook in February 2012. The game is part of a larger franchise called Zynga Casino, which was announced in October 2011 at the company's Unleashed event, and also includes Zynga Poker.
Candy Crush Saga is a free-to-play tile-matching video game released by King on April 12, 2012, originally for Facebook; other versions for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 10 followed. It is a variation of their browser game Candy Crush.
Madden NFL Mobile is an American football mobile sports game based on the National Football League, developed and published by EA Sports. An entry in the Madden NFL series, the game was released for Android and iOS devices on August 26, 2014.
Miitomo was a freemium social networking mobile app developed by Nintendo for iOS and Android devices. The app, Nintendo's first, allowed users to converse with friends by answering various questions, and featured Twitter and Facebook integration. The app was released in March 2016 for iOS and two months later for Android, launching alongside their My Nintendo service. Despite initially being a critical and commercial success, with over ten million downloads worldwide a month after release, its popularity dwindled soon after and it was ultimately discontinued on May 9, 2018.
Zombie Cafe is a freemium mobile simulation video game created by American Capcom subsidiary Beeline Interactive, Inc. It was released for iOS platforms on January 26, 2011, and was formerly on Google Play for Android. In the game, players run a café by cooking dishes and serving customers with the help of zombies. Players can turn customers into zombies, who become employees. Players gain experience by cooking and serving dishes. There are a variety of menu items, each differing in price, number of servings, and time to cook. As the restaurant builds up savings, the player can purchase recipes and furnishings, and can infect more customers. The player can also purchase pets and expand their restaurant. Along with growing the business, players can send their zombies to raid enemy cafés to obtain new recipes.
Cookie Run is a series of online mobile endless running games developed by Devsisters. Inspired by the classic folk tale The Gingerbread Man, the series is set in a world of conscious gingerbread cookies that were brought to life in an oven by a witch and have since escaped her evil clutches. Each game has a mechanic of the cookies running to earn points and items, overcome obstacles, and fight or escape enemies. The series is available on iOS and Android devices.
Coin Master is a free, single-player, casual mobile game created by Israeli studio Moon Active.
