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Social mobile network itsmy to relaunch as open games portal

Games are the future for us, says CEO Staybl

Social mobile network itsmy to relaunch as open games portal
A year and a half since mobile social network itsmy.com launched the first games on its platform, parent company Gofresh has announced it is to move fully into games.

The firm says the mobile site will now be focused on delivering casual multiplayer games for users on multiple social networks, the titles it delivers pitched at touchscreen devices.

"There is a huge interest from users and social networks for games that can be played across social networks with all mobile devices and phones via the integrated mobile internet browser," says CTO Jukka Saarelainen.

"In contrast to the online social area with games for all age- and interest groups, the market for mobile web games is still in its very early days."

Gaming free-for-all

The company claims more than 50 free to play titles have been developed for its platform over the course of the last 12 months, launching in the US, UK, Spain, Italy and Germany.

As part of the refocus, however, itsmy.com will relaunch the main site as a 'pure and open mobile web gaming network' in August.

"The enthusiasm of our users shows that it is a must to give people from all worldwide social networks the chance to play our sticky, easy-to-play mobile web games," adds CEO Antonio Vince Staybl.

"We've seen that more than 97 percent of all users on itsmy.com play games just for fun with their friends, and a good portion of them spends money for virtual goods and short-cuts. Given these facts, we decided that games will be the future for us."

Back in February Gofresh estimated that up to 15 percent of its two million users in Europe and the US had purchased premium game items.

Other metrics released were that users played 2.6 sessions for a total of 35 minutes daily.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.