Mobile social network MocoSpace is generating revenue from Street Wars, the first mobile browser-based social game on the MocoSpace Game Platform via virtual currency.

In just over one month, Street Wars has achieved more than half a million unique players, and the game platform will be strengthened with several more game titles coming by the end of the year. MocoSpace is currently on-boarding select third-party game developers and will be fully opening up its game platform to all developers in the coming months. 
 
“Browser-based mobile games offer ease-of-use, ubiquity and much higher visibility for individual games than a typical application store,” said Justin Siegel, CEO of MocoSpace, Boston. “Additionally, browser-based games via the MocoSpace Game Platform offer instant access to a 15 million member social network that creates even better distribution through friend challenges and recommendations.

“Direct carrier billing certainly helps, but the monetization numbers have less to do with the handset’s platform and more to do with the MocoSpace user population,” he said. “We saw that there is a demand for games on MocoSpace and we built Street Wars to accommodate that demand.

“The high ARPU numbers [$13] echo that level of user engagement and we believe that this is a trend that will continue for future games.”

MocoSpace has 15 million registered users generating more than 3 billion pages per month. It is available on any Web-enabled mobile phone worldwide.

Gaming via the mobile Web
MocoSpace is focused on smartphone browser-based gaming, whereas many other mobile gaming companies who focus on downloadable mobile applications.

By building games on the mobile browser, developers can reach more players’ social graph and allow games to gain popularity on a wider range of mobile devices.  

In Street Wars, players gain money, power and access through the successful completion of dangerous missions and head-to-head fights.

As players gain power—and recruit other players to join their mob—they are rewarded with points to improve their health, stamina, energy and income.

Street Wars also lets players improve their game characters through spending Moco Gold, MocoSpace’s virtual currency. 

Key stats from Street Wars in October: 

•      Scale—more than half a million unique players

•      Virtual currency adoption—nearly 4 percent of players are Moco Gold users

•      Engagement—50 percent of active players play the game each day

•      Monetization—MocoSpace is seeing ARPU in excess of $13 among iPhone and Android players

Users can purchase Moco Gold via standard credit card payments, PayPal, and direct carrier billing. They may also complete offers from advertisers to earn Moco Gold.

There are currently no sponsors or advertisers within the Street Wars game.

“We are exploring ways to integrate sponsors into the game flow in an engaging way,” Mr. Siegel said. “We believe virtual currency to be an integral part of the MocoSpace Game Platform, as it is for most social games.

“It offers our developers a fully baked solution for monetizing their players and it helps drive users to stay within the MocoSpace community,” he said.