Mob Science raises $1M in funding, preps mid-core RPG for launch on Zynga.com

Social game developer Mob Science landed $1 million in seed funding from angel investors, including Joyent CEO David Young and GameSpy Industries founder Mark Surfa. Mob Science plans to use the money for product development and to hire at least four more staff members -- a full list of positions is available on the company's website. The ten-person company is also moving to a new office in the city of Carlsbad, CA. The funding probably couldn't come at a better time for Mob Science. Its earlier games inFamous Anarchy, Coffee Bar and Snowball Fight all had solid traffic numbers when they first launched, but none of them are presently drawing more than 1,000 daily active users according to our AppData traffic tracking service. CEO Michael Witz tells Inside Social Games Mob Science stopped supporting its live games so the company could work on its next project -- a fantasy role-playing game targeted at the mid-core market, tentatively titled "KingWorld." The game will be one of the first third party titles to debut on Zynga's social games platform, Zynga.com. Witz also explains how the developer stayed on its feet, even though it's located nowhere near Silicon Valley and its games aren't monetizing right now. "We've had our ups and downs as a company," he says. "In December 2009, we had 27 million monthly users and we were only four people. We've been good stewards of the capital we've been able to earn ... when times are tight we're able to cut back and keep overhead low. Now that this financing has come through, we're able to scale up and make a bet on our next game." Witz previously told us Zynga's platform saves the developer the trouble of staffing a marketing arm, allowing his team to instead focus on creating quality games. In the case of mid-core fantasy RPGs, "KingWorld" just might fit the bill for Zynga.com, which currently doesn't offer a mid-core strategy title. The only title in Zynga's Facebook wheelhouse that fits that description is the modern war-themed Empires & Allies, which currently boasts over 14 million MAU and 2.1 million DAU. Witz says KingWorld's appeal will come from its depth, which rests between something like Kabam's Kingdoms of Camelot and a Zynga's traditional "Ville" titles.

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Mob Science raises $1M in funding, preps mid-core RPG for launch on Zynga.com

Mike Thompson

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