Friendster to launch gaming and music portals in Asia

Recently bought out by virtual currency company MOL, Friendster is now investing a “six-figure sum” into rolling out its music and games portal for Asia, said a spokesperson. The initiative will be developed mainly in-house, but Friendster is reviewing the possibilities of working with agencies to launch and promote these sites across the region.

Intended as a beta service, the new music and games portals will pave the way for social gaming and virtual goods to be the central part of Friendster’s future.  Explaining their focus on Asia, a spokesperson said, “Friendster was first created as a general social networking site. In the last couple of years, we became increasingly more appealing to young Asians, who enjoy music and games,” he said, adding that niche targeting works best for Friendster.

Aiming to be a regional platform that aids the discovery of Asian indie music, he added that the focus of the Friendster Music portal would initially focus on Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore before rolling out in other Asian markets.

“Each month we look to feature three to four independent artists and provide exposure for them in new markets, aid the discovery of their music and help build a community around them,” he said.

Some of the independent artists currently featured in Friendster’s music portal include Malaysia’s rock band Bunkface, Korean-American singer Paul Kim and Malaysia’s jazz singer songwriter Mia Palencia.

Friendster Games is designed to deliver easier-to-access, entertaining, locally-flavoured and highly immersive MMO (massively multiplayer online) web games and currently features games such as BoomZ, War2, 3Kingdom, Sushido and Lady Popular played within the browser.

Friendster is currently building partnerships with content developers, driving marketing activities of the portal across Asia and leveraging MOL’s strong distribution channels and monetisation services.