Friendster's popularity returns as a social gaming site

Its monthly and daily active users have grown by 50 per cent and the site now hosts over 40 'premium'-level games. Currently over 90 per cent of the site's users are based in Asia. Its most popular games are 'Boomz' and 'Dragon's call'.

Friendster, which was one of the world's first social networking sites, was acquired by Malaysia-based MOL Global in late 2009 for about US$39 million. Rather than strive to compete with market-leader Facebook, MOL instead took Friendster offline and sold its stable of patents in a deal which included advertising, partnership for payments of virtual goods, and cash valued at US$40 million.

MOL Global then moved the site's base of operations out of the US and to Malaysia. Today it operates mainly from Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The newly relaunched social gaming site even incorporates Facebook Connect, which allows users to log in using their Facebook accounts, leveraging on the social networking giant's popularity.

So far, the model appears to be working well. Friendster CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah, commented that the social gaming market in Asia is especially robust and that it "is proving to be creating deeper engagements and interactions for these young Asian users".

In a recent interview, Paypal's vertical product manager digital goods, Scott Chow told Campaign that Asia as a region led the world in online gaming in terms of digital spend.

While Friendster is currently still focusing on building its user base, it has already introduced a virtual currency, Friendster Coins, which can be purchased with real-currency. So far, over 10 per cent of its users have purchased these virtual credits, the service said in a press release.

While the games on Friendster are free, users can use the virtual currency to purchase in-game items.

Friendster's parent company, MOL (Money Online), operates MOL Access Portal which specialises in selling "game credits" which allow users to play games across multiple platforms via a single pay-portal.

"We are on the right track to make Friendster a sustainable online business," added Bangah. "There are endless possibilities for us to extend our service offering to our users. We have major plans to introduce new channels and integrate more online and social activities."