Social gaming and casual gaming are terms used interchangeably by most common folks when discussing gaming for the non-core gamer market. The lines are indeed blurring more and more, and now, with the acquisition of Hotel Mogul developer Casual Forge Entertainment (now Alawar Southpoint), Alawar Entertainment is poised to not only continue its development of casual games, but also begin bringing new titles to the social gaming scene.
Founded in 1999, Alawar Entertainment was originally conceived as a hardcore PC development studio in Eastern Europe. This quickly changed however when profits shriveled up. In 2001, Alawar shifted to a strategy of developing more casual titles utilizing a shareware and “try before you buy” business models. This has remained as their core business philosophy since. The company is now the leading distributor of casual games in Eastern Europe, and now has over 200 titles across several platforms under its belt, including the iPhone, PS3, Mac, PC, and Nintendo DS.
Alawar currently owns 6 internal game development studios, including the recently acquired Casual Forge Entertainment. The company also holds contracts with several external game development studios, providing them with development, publishing, and distribution services. Alawar runs its own distribution online distribution portals as well as utilizing other well known online game portals such as Bigfish Games, AOL, and Yahoo! Games, to name a few. Popular games such as Montezuma’s Revenge, Farm Frenzy, and Magic Ball, have helped propel Alawar to where it is today.
With the acquisition of Alawar Southpoint, Alawar hopes to continue developing its PC casual and mobile portfolio, as well as begin their expansion into the realm of social networks. Vladimir Bulanenko, head of Alawar Southpoint, stated “I’m convinced the creation of Alawar Southpoint will enable us to solve even more complex problems, release products for new platforms, and conquer new markets with greater efficiency,”
It is definitely exciting to be a social gaming fan, and we cannot wait to see what this industry veteran can now bring to the table.
