Official Press Release

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY TO ACQUIRE LEADING SOCIAL GAME DEVELOPER PLAYDOM

Advancing on its goal of bringing consumers its well-known stories, characters and brands in ever more engaging ways, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Playdom Inc., one of the leading companies in the fast-growing business of online social gaming.

Playdom shareholders will receive total consideration of $563.2 million, subject to certain conditions, and a performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million.

In just two and a half years of operation, Playdom has established itself as a pacesetter in building popular games for social networks enjoyed by consumers around the globe. Through well-known titles like Social City, Sorority Life, Market Street and Bola, Playdom engages an estimated 42 million active players each month.

By acquiring Playdom, Disney will strengthen its already-robust digital gaming portfolio, acquire a first-rate management team and provide consumers new ways to interact with the company on popular social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

Press Articles & Links

New York Times: Disney Purchases Playdom, a Social Game Start-Up

AllFacebook.com: Disney Buys Playdom For Up To $763.2 Million

Mashable: Disney Acquires Social Gaming Company Playdom for up to $763.2 Million

Inside Social Games: Disney Announces Playdom Acquisition for $563.2M, Plus Up to $200M Earn-Out

TechCrunch: Playdom Acquired By Disney For Up To $763.2 Million

Have you always wanted to create your own store with nothing but prom dresses and power tools? How about a store with gangster décor? Not a problem! In Market Street there are dozens of items to stock your store with. Whether your taste is clothing, electronics, hardware and more you are sure to find something that fits your desires!

In Market Street, it is up to you to decorate your store the way you want with hundreds items available to choose from. When in need of break from your own store, travel to your neighbor’s stores to check out how they have decorated it. You may even like their style so much that you decide to hire them to work in your store!

So what are you waiting for! Set for forth to build the world’s best retail store because in Market Street, your store is waiting to be decorated! http://apps.facebook.com/marketstreet.

Game Reviews

Building a Better Business With Playdom’s Market Street on Facebook

Easter Eggs

Since I was lead developer on this title, I’d like to share a few cool Easter eggs that exist in the game:

1. Team Credits: Zoom out and Pan up to the “Market Street” street sign. When you mouse over it you’ll see a happy face. Click on it.

2. Avatar Farts: Make sure you are focused on the store floor and not in full screen mode. Hit CTRL+F on the keyboard.

I am excited to announce today that I have officially joined the social gaming team at Playdom. This company has an unbelievably bright future and I make this move with deep conviction and enthusiasm.

The last few months have been filled with an unusual amount of opportunities resulting from the launch of Storybook Anytime’s social game Reef Life. Since very early in the projects life I have been both humbled and inspired by the support of my friends and colleagues. It is that inspiration and support that has ultimately led to this opportunity — for that I am eternally grateful.

Playdom boasts the #1 game on MySpace—Mobsters—and three of the top four applications. Fueled by explosive growth on Facebook and an expanding pipeline of new games and features, Playdom may be the fastest growing social gaming company on the planet! It is an honor to be part of Playdom and exciting to know that I will be helping to move social gaming forward on a much larger scale than ever before.

The Launch.

On September 8, 2009, Storybook Anytime, officially announced the beta release of “Reef Life“. A family friendly social game on the Facebook platform. This marks the long anticipated follow up to the “original” Facebook aquarium game, Sam’s Fish Bowl. Over six months of around the clock work by the Storybook Anytime team has produced an immersive underwater world that has combined elements of virtual world exploration and social gaming to truly raise the bar for social games today.

What is really special is the uniqueness of the game. Coming from the origins of Sam’s Fish Bowl, we could have easily taken the approach of creating a game of “fish management” in an aquarium like setting. Sam’s Fish Bowl was very much a simplified version of that concept. We wanted to create an original, immersive and deep game that allow users to invest their personalities into game play in a very real way. In “Reef Life” you and your friends are the fish.

The Story.

You were once a small fish living the good life inside a fish bowl. While on a Caribbean cruise with your human family, your bowl accidentally fell overboard. As you drifted through the vast depths of the ocean, you came to rest on a large coral reef. You soon discover that this reef is actually an amazing underwater world filled with all kinds of interesting characters and unique marine life. You are immediately taken under the fin by “Reef Whale”, Ronald Trout. Mr. Trout is going to teach you how to start living the “Reef Life” and in the process, how to become a whale yourself.

Life on the reef is a fragile balancing act, but there is plenty of opportunity for you and your friends. You can find starfish and recycle bottles to earn coins- the main currency of the reef. If you are really entrepreneurial, you can rent neighborhoods with businesses to give yourself even more earning potential.

The Results… So Far.

As a social game, “Reef Life” is not meant to have a traditional beginning, middle or end. It is in a constant state of improvement and development. Major feature builds are being launched weekly and will likely slow to bi-weekly after the first of the year. It is expected to remain in beta until at least that time as only a fraction of the game play and features have been revealed. Already, the game is experiencing stellar viral growth and receiving a few positive kudos from industry insiders in early reviews. It is a project that myself and the entire Storybook Anytime team could not be more excited about. We look forward to growing the game for the users.

Find out more about “Reef Life” at http://www.becomeawhale.com.

The AIR Marketplace and AIR product team have been a fantastic champion of Storybook Anytime. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank them for their continued support.

You can view the full presentation here at the Adobe Air blog. Thanks Adobe. You guys rock!

The XBOX 360 gaming experience is quite simply the best. Over the course of a year, as a side benefit to my [former] job at Millions of Us, I have had the opportunity to view many game titles on both the XBOX 360 and PS3 platforms. I also had the unfortunate pleasure of writing code for the Playstation 3 console itself. I can honestly say that the user experience and graphics are simply better on the Microsoft platform.

That said, I am (and have been for the last 7 months) the proud owner of an XBOX 360. When I have extra time there is nothing I like better than a little console gaming. The Live experience from XBOX is also second to none. You can generally find me playing RockBand 2, Guitar Hero World Tour or Call of Duty. I am also a big fan of the Tom Clancy Rainbow Six series. My Gamer Tag is BigMikeJ Cali - let’s play!

Sam’s Fish Bowl allows you to become the caregiver of a super-unique fish. Your fish is alive and well and lives everyday on Facebook. He will require special care and feeding from both you and your friends, and will certainly become a beloved member of the family.

Each time you feed your fish you will earn Super Feeder Points. These points can be shared with your child’s Super Reader Points within Sam’s Interactive Reader. You’ll love this casual game and it also helps spread the word about Storybook Anytime through everyone’s social network on Facebook.

The application is available to download for free and comes with a free story to get you started. Its easy to use interface allows your children to instantly access their own library of stories while simultaneously allowing you to shop for more stories in our online bookstore. The online store has originally written and illustrated stories available for purchase with brand new stories, activities and age appropriate entertainment always in production.

There are also brand new Storybook Anytime Gift Cards available that make a fantastic present for the upcoming holiday season.

Entrepreneur Timothy Ferriss rewrites the rules and upsets conventional wisdom about work and success in his self-help guide to the new, rich economy. It is not necessary to toil for 70 hours per week, according to Ferriss, who runs a company called BrainQuicken. Successful people, he says, have actually mastered a system of working less by outsourcing tasks, severely cutting back on timewasters such as meetings, and working offsite. Ferriss tells how the principles that made him rich are transferable to other companies.

Read more at Ferriss’ blog http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

[Repost of Original Mike Johnston Vox Blog of July 6, 2007]