Making Fun debuts as the first full-service social game publisher

In February, we sent out a press release.

This press release announced our debut as the first full-service social games publisher. The first in the world. The first, you might say, in the universe. We were pretty proud of our press release, which was written in the most press-release-ey way we could imagine. It turned out great.

But since this is a blog, and that calls for a more, shall we say, conversational tone, we’ve decided to “translate” our February press release into a more blog-friendly form. So, here we go. You can decide to read the full press release, of course, but we think our translation does a pretty good job of summing it up for you.

MAKING FUN DEBUTS AS THE FIRST FULL-SERVICE SOCIAL GAMES PUBLISHER

SAN FRANCISCO – Feb. 25, 2011 – Making Fun, Inc., the social game publishing division of News Corp. Digital Media Group, today announced its intention to commission independent game studios to develop innovative, high-quality social games. The company’s initial target platform is social network web sites, expanding to smartphones, tablets and beyond.

Translation: We’re gonna publish great games.

As the first full-service publisher in the social games category, Making Fun provides independent developers with a wide range of services including capital, technology and industry expertise to create, operate and market social games across digital platforms. The “full service” model at Making Fun goes far beyond simple distribution, providing developers with capital for both initial and ongoing product development as well as a partner committed to live operations, customer support, marketing and franchise development. Making Fun is actively seeking to build new relationships with experienced, passionate development teams to grow concepts into franchises.

Translation: You should submit your ideas so we can publish your great game.

Making Fun is helmed by industry veterans, including GM John Welch and CTO Lee Crawford.

“As gaming platforms mature, Publishers emerge to assist talented developers who lack sufficient funds to bring their dreams to full fruition,” said Welch. “Explosive growth in the social games space has attracted substantial game development talent, raising the costs to effectively compete. Making Fun provides funding and other essential services to enable our partners to focus their energy on making great games.”

Translation: We have the connections, the funding and the drive to help make your game a success.

A pioneer of digital entertainment publishing and distribution, Welch will guide Making Fun as it creates and markets games across connected platforms. Previously, Welch served as co-founder and CEO of the first full-service publisher focused on the casual download game space, PlayFirst, famous for its best-selling Diner Dash franchise. CTO Lee Crawford is a veteran technologist with 20 years of deep domain expertise across online gaming, consumer Internet and electronic commerce. Previously, he served as co-founder and CEO of Twofish, a leading virtual economy infrastructure provider acquired by Live Gamer, Inc.

Translation: Our management has a solid gaming background.

Making Fun has three publishing deals already in place, with title launches slated for this summer. The company is actively seeking additional developer partners.

Translation: CLASH: Rise of Heroes is a great game that we are proud to publish. Check it out here.