WonderHill lands $7 million funding for casual micro-transaction games

The value of micro-transactions is well known, with companies like Zynga supposedly raking in a whopping nine figure revenue from its social titles. But coaxing the gamers into these unique revenue models is notoriously difficult, though start up developer WonderHill apparently has some new ideas on the subject.

It just landed $7 million in capital investment, which it plans to use to launch a series of social networking games on Facebook and MySpace.

Much of the power behind this first round of funding is thanks to the people involved in WonderHill, which includes internet luminaries James Currier, Stan Chudnovsky and Nick Rush - all proven entities when it comes to making revenue from viral internet products.

Its concept is to take the ‘Pixar approach’ to game development - crafting non-violent games that appeal to both 30-somethings and their kids.

It also announced its intention to branch into iPhone territory once its launch products are established, presumably to tie in with the 3.0 software update that will allow for in-game micro-transactions.