CrowdStar and Microsoft Partner to bring Social Games to Bing

As social games continue to take off in popularity, social developers continue to seek out more channels to feature their games. The second most popular social game maker in the world, CrowdStar, is today announcing a new collaboration with Microsoft to bring the developer’s games to Microsoft’s web gaming platforms.

CrowdStar’s popular social games will first be featured on Bing games, and will later roll out to additional Microsoft platforms, such as Windows Live Messenger and the new MSN Games. In addition to its content partnership with CrowdStar, Microsoft is also today announcing an all-new MSN Games experience, as well as adding new games with social network integration to Windows Live Messenger and Bing games.

CrowdStar will feature its first game on Microsoft’s Bing with a social gaming experience that links to a player’s Facebook and Windows Live networks, and works across multiple platforms.

"We're excited about the potential of Microsoft's and Bing's new gaming platforms and believe they are a great fit for CrowdStar to expand its portfolio of hit games in ways that are sure to delight customers," says Niren Hiro, CEO of CrowdStar. "We believe Microsoft is expanding the reach of the gaming market in a way that benefits both developers and game players alike. We look forward to growing our businesses together."

CrowdStar will be working with trans-platform gaming engine, Sibblingz, to build social games that will be featured by Microsoft.

“CrowdStar’s impressive lineup of popular titles have made them a leader in the social games space,†said Kevin Unangst, senior global director, PC and Mobile Gaming, at Microsoft. “We’re taking a bold new approach to bridging the worlds of social and casual games, and are thrilled to work with CrowdStar to bring that vision to life.â€

CrowdStar, which is currently seeing about 50 million monthly active users, has recently been expanding its library of titles with games such as It Girl and Mighty Pirates. Their other games like Happy Island, Happy Aquarium and Happy Pets have helped the company recently jump to the No. 2 social gaming spot behind Zynga. CrowdStar is also one of the leading social gaming companies in Japan, where the social model has seen a lot of success across multiple platforms.