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King Touts Latest Gaming Numbers: 70 Million Daily Players, 21 Billion Games Played Per Month

Eric Johnson in News on May 16 at 6:30 am PT

On the back of its hit Facebook/mobile game Candy Crush Saga, casual game studio King said in a press release that it has crossed the 70 million mark in daily active players across all platforms. That puts it within striking distance of Zynga’s all-time quarterly peak of 72 million daily active users (achieved in Q2 2012), and well beyond that competitor’s latest quarterly total of 52 million DAU, as reported last month. The company also said that its cross-platform games are now being played more than 21 billion times per month.

News Byte

Yahoo Snaps Up Mobile Gaming Company Loki Studios

Mike Isaac in Mobile on May 10 at 3:40 pm PT

Yahoo has acquired mobile gaming startup Loki Studios, the company announced on Friday. The staff will join Yahoo’s mobile team to work on unspecified projects — though Loki’s specialty seemed to be in location-based mobile products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

News Byte

Social-Shopping Website OpenSky Relaunches as Full-Fledged Online Marketplace

Lauren Goode in Commerce on May 1 at 4:00 am PT

OpenSky, the two-year-old e-commerce site that took a stab at social shopping by allowing members to follow celebrity and expert curators, has relaunched as a full-fledged marketplace for small businesses. Merchants can open up their own “stores” on the site for free, and can sell to OpenSky’s 2.5 million members, with OpenSky taking a commission on items sold — like Etsy, but with a social twist, more established sellers and a much smaller community of shoppers. Items listed range from cosmetics to clothing to kitchen supplies. OpenSky is based in New York and has raised nearly $50 million in venture capital funding to date.

News Byte

Vine Update Adds Support for Front-Facing Cameras, Mentions

Bonnie Cha in Social on April 30 at 10:53 am PT

Today, Twitter updated its video-sharing app, Vine, with features that will make it easier to shoot selfies and tag friends. When shooting a post, users will now see an option that allows switching between the front- and rear-facing camera. In addition, users can now tag friends in posts by typing the @ symbol and user name. Vine 1.1 is available now from iTunes. There is no Android version of the app yet, though one is reportedly in the works.

News Byte

Dating Site OkCupid Now Accepting Bitcoins

Mike Isaac in Social on April 16 at 9:00 am PT

Good news, currency nerds! OkCupid, the popular data-driven dating site, is jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon, now accepting the alternative form of money that has risen so quickly to prominence. Good luck, however, trying to find a restaurant that’ll accept those Bitcoins on your first date.