Xfire has announced its partnership with GamersFirst to bring its services to three of their premier games: APB Reloaded, WarRock, and Sword 2. Xfire provides GamersFirst with its private-labeled in-game social toolset, such as: in-game text and voice chat, user generated content for screen captures, video capture and live video streaming, game-hour tracking, one-click game joining, and much more.
Making Games More Social
With Xfire, users can text and voice-chat with their friends and even browse the Internet directly inside GamersFirst-bundled games, along with more than 2,300 other titles, so players do not have to leave their game. Gamers can capture and share screen shots and videos; in fact, Xfire users recorded more than 20 million screen shots in 2010 and Xfire has the world’s largest cache of gaming content. Xfire users can broadcast live game play on the Internet, and they currently stream 75 million minutes of live game play each month. Xfire users can also track their game-play through their personal gamer profile.
Xfire is also managing socially driven campaigns to promote GamersFirst titles to Xfire users, including Xfire Play2Win events. The programs are expected to drive significant volumes of high quality traffic for GamersFirst.
“We all know the market is shifting its focus to socially connected games; the days of playing video games by yourself are long gone; now it’s all about being interconnected via the web and other devices,” said Xfire President, Mark Donovan. “GamersFirst and many other free-to-play publishers are recognizing the need to add enhanced social features to their games, but they are tough and expensive to build. Customized Xfire bundles and promotional programs are the most cost-effective solution to drive acquisition and engagement for game publishers.”
“Our partnership with Xfire parallels closely with GamersFirst’s ongoing mission to place the player’s community first while adding value for our gamers and improving our player acquisition and engagement. Today’s gamer wants to share, interact, cooperate and compete with other players, and our partnership with Xfire extends us further into the gamers’ community,” said Rahul Sandil, SVP of Marketing and Public Relations for GamersFirst. “Active player communities have been a key factor to our decade-long experience in sustainable free to play MMOs and we are certain that Xfire will further enhance our position in the global market.”
GamersFirst Game Highlights
- APB Reloaded: Currently in its open beta testing stage, APB Reloaded is a massively multiplayer online third-person shooter game based in the modern-day fictional city of San Paro. In a state of near anarchy, players choose between two factions, Enforcers and Criminals, in order to control the city. Criminals and Enforcers battle in this open-world environment to control territories, commit or stop petty crimes, and gain notoriety within their own organizations. Be it on foot or from the driver seat, APB Reloaded melds player-on-player combat within the immersive world of a city on the edge of total chaos. With a robust set of customization tools, gamers can choose the exact look of their in-game avatar, character crests, clothing and even the cars they drive.
- WarRock: War Rock is GamersFirst’s premier tactical massively multiplayer online first-person shooter. Set in the fictional land of the Republic of Derbaran, War Rock allows players to join the fight for freedom as a NIU Rebel or enlist in the Derbaran Military to crush subversion. Gamers can choose one of five branches of service with unique abilities and team roles. As an Engineer, Medic, Assault Trooper, Sniper or Heavy Trooper, gamers can traverse the battlefield as they progress from objective to objective, gaining rank and unlocking new weapons, vehicles and equipment while experiencing live one-on-one or squad-based combat.
- Sword 2: Sword 2 is an action-packed tactical fantasy MMORPG inspired by Europe’s exploration of the Americas. Gamers can delve into a visually stunning world of fantastic Baroque architecture and conspiracy and have the possibility of becoming a key representative of one of the political factions that constantly vie for power. Players explore and adventure in a world of political intrigue, conflict and danger either solo or by joining forces with other Pioneering Families to battle enemies and eventually control the world of Granada Espada.
The Xfire and GamersFirst partnership adds an extra and required layer of social interactivity on top of a publisher’s stable of games for the players. For their clients, Xfire’s downloadable features include: automatic tracking and social sharing of game-play hours and achievements, capturing and social sharing of videos, screen shots, live-stream videos, one-click-to-join games, as well as Xfire working to promote its partners’ titles to its more than 19 million gamers.
