App monetization and distribution platform Tapjoy is rolling out a publishing platform to support game developers, Tapjoy Publishing.
Tapjoy, which used to be Offerpal, allows developers of mobile and social apps to turn on virtual currency, analytics and other monetization tools to their iPhone, Android and Facebook apps. A number of well-known app developers and advertisers use Tapjoy for the monetization and distribution of their games and applications, including GameDuell, Tapulous, glu, Pinger, Playdom, Kayak, Barnes & Noble, MTV, Bing, Fandango, Groupon, Intuit and others.
Tapjoy Publishing will fund the growth of early-stage and pre-launch games by allowing developers to leverage the company’s distribution and monetization platform and by investing its capital and resources to support the game’s development. Selected games will receive dedicated monthly marketing credits for new user acquisition through Tapjoy’s network of more than 200 million mobile consumers and 100 million social gamers. Tapjoy will also use its ad targeting technology to provide personalized app recommendations for games.
One of the first games that will be leveraging Tapjoy Publishing is 5th Planet Games’ Dawn of the Dragons on Facebook. The developer says that by using Tapjoy Publishing, the game has seen a 40% increase in its monthly active users within a month and has grown revenue to record rates.
Developers can apply to be accepted into the Tapjoy Publishing program. Tapjoy, which just raised $21 million is profitable and seeing success as a cross-platform distribution mechanism. But it can be expensive to launch apps via TapJay (anywhere from $30,000 to $500,000) and the publishing platform the company is announcing today can help bootstrapped developers create viral hits.