[Update: it looks like $4.5 million of the funding on the document is part of Idle Games’ last round, announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2011. The second round of funding is worth $10 million]
Social gaming company Idle Games has raised $10 million in its second round of funding, according to a filing with the securities and exchange commission.
The company builds its games on top of a proprietary engine called the “Idle Engine.” It’s a social recommendation engine that recommends new social connections for players by analyzing their Facebook profile. It creates “social context,” like flicking Mudlings (the dim-witted inhabitants of Idle’s games) from one gamer’s world to another’s to start conversations and create social connections.
It results in a much larger world than you get from a company like Zynga, which has players bring friends in who they already know, Idle Games chief executive Jeffrey Hyman said. The engine is just part of the reason for this larger world; the other part is that the game connects gamers who are playing at the same time, which creates a reason for them to talk to each other, IHyman said.
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Idle Games launched its first game, Idle Worship, at TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 in San Francisco earlier this year. It’s a social game where you try to get little creatures called Mudlings to believe you are a god. You can do that buy showing them miracles or cursing them — making them love you or fear you. You can ship your Mudlings over to other players’ worlds and try to convert their Mudlings to your religion.
Idle Games makes money like other social gaming companies by selling virtual goods, such as idols for gods in each world.
Idle Games was founded in November 2009 and has raised $19 million in funding. The company is located in San Francisco, Calif. and is working on two new games powered by its social recommendation Idle Engine.
