Heck yeah, money! That’s what every developer likes to hear, especially if they want time and resources to create the games and apps they want to make on platforms that are willing to dish out the cash. In this case, it’s not the platform that’s paying the case, it’s a couple of powerhouses known as OpenFeint (social gaming network) and The9 (Chinese game publisher.) What these guys are doing is helping independent game publishers defray the cost of rebuilding (or simply building) their apps for Android, many of these independent developers having created these games for iOS because of what they saw as a simpler platform to develop for.
Of course both groups will have something to game, and it’s not everyone who gets to participate. The9 has a $100 million internet investment fund called Fund9, some of which it’ll be pouring into Android gaming platform move for developers, while OpenFeint’s unknown sum of money will be given to groups willing to adopt their mobile social network as a way of connecting users. Developers will be chosen by both groups and asked if they want to participate, the games ported eventually, hopefully, to Android in the USA, then because The9 is based in China, some of the games will be localized for sale in China as well.
Some of the criteria these groups are looking for are quality, download performance, and strength (strength in the developer more than the game, but we suppose both help.) Even though these groups will be chosen by the two companies, you can attempt to solicit them for cash by emailing your details (and saying how much you love them to pieces) to the following email address:
androidfund@openfeint.com
Where’s the rest of that $100 million that The9 has going? Well, it’s not going to cheese and crackers, it’s going to additional gaming ventures. The fund was launched in December 2010 as a collaboration between The9, China Rock Capital Management, Chengwei Ventures, and China Renaissance K2 Ventures. As OpenFeint is hoping to pull apps over from iOS here in the USA, so is Open9 hoping to pull apps from all platforms over to China. It all sounds good to us!
Let us know how your application goes!
[via GamesBeat]
great news, anything that helps Android outgrow crApple is good news.