Just hours after gaming device makers International Game Technology credited their DoubleDown Casino social gaming operation with helping boost first quarter revenues, word broke that DoubleDown’s founders had officially bid their former company ‘adieu.’ VentureBeat broke the news that Greg Enell and Cooper DuBois had departed DoubleDown Interactive almost two years to the day after IGT splashed out a whopping $500m to acquire the firm. IGT issued a statement wishing the departing founders “all the best in the future” and thanked them for helping to ensure “a strong leadership team is in place to continue the success” of DoubleDown.
CANDY CRUSH DEVELOPERS CRUSH CANDY RIVAL
The owners of social gaming outfit King have yet to sell out, so they’re probably going to stay at the helm a while longer. In the meantime, they’re taking a ‘take no prisoners’ approach to protecting the revenue stream from King’s bread-and-butter game Candy Crush Saga. King has slapped an intellectual property lawsuit on the makers of All Candy Casino Slots for letting their name get to close to Candy Crush in Apple’s app store. Apparently, King believes their rival’s use of the phrase ‘Candy Slots’ on its app icon “uses our CANDY trademark exactly, for identical goods and is likely to lead to consumer confusion and damage to our brand.”
Benny Hsu, the developer behind the All Candy Casino Slots app, has denied any attempt to infringe on King’s turf. Hsu told The Register that he doesn’t have the readies to fight a protracted legal war, so he’s changing the name of his app to All Sweet Casino Slots. But Hsu believes King is going overboard in protecting their turf, as “there was nothing in [his app] that tried to copy Candy Crush … I don’t understand why they feel like they own the word ‘candy.’”
Why? Probably because King has trademarked the word in Europe and h the US. A King spokesman insisted that some uses of the word are “legitimate” but found Hsu’s app to be “a calculated attempt to use other companies’ intellectual property to enhance its own games through means such as search rankings.” So we’re guessing this probably wasn’t the best time for Quickspin and Plumbee to launch their new collaboration Sugar Trail on Mirrorball Slots for Facebook?
BWIN.PARTY’S SOCIAL SPORTS BETTING APP NEARS BETA LAUNCH
Bwin.party digital entertainment’s social gaming offshoot Win has debuted a Facebook page inviting users to sign up for the closed beta launch of its social sports betting game. The product, which was developed in conjunction with Nordeus, finally has a name; Sportster Bet and Win. As Win CEO Yaniv Leven revealed n December, the wagering is (for the moment) limited to football and offers in-play bets in addition to straight-up results bets, plus “unique quests” and “powerful wildcards.” The oft-delayed social product is expected to make a full launch before the end of Q1.
