PlayJam is an interactive casual games network, that is available across digital TV, mobile, and online platforms.iStockAnalyst, 8 January 201
Could PlayJam be the Biggest Thing in Gaming?
/ref> The network emerged during the dawn of the digital TV era as a side project of London-based visual media company, Static 2358. Static's artists, designers, and programmers started producing casual games to work on set top boxes. PlayJam, which was launched in 1999 on

CanalSat Canal+ is a French subscription provider associated to the channel of the same name. It is owned by Vivendi (owner of Canal+) with a hundred percent share. History In 1992, Canalsatellite was launched, the shareholders were Canal+ Group (66 p ...

in France and Sky Digital in the UK, is one of the first ever

interactive television Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new information ...

broadcast channels. PlayJam quickly became one of the highest rated brands on digital TV, delivering interactive television services for clients such as the BBC, Glaxo SmithKline, pop band

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, ...

, ITV and Channel 4. Static and PlayJam were sold to

Open TV Open TV, formerly Epsilontv, is a Greek free-to-air television station, based in Paiania, East Attica. History It belonged to Radio-television S.A. which was sold from Communist Party of Greece to the Cypriot offshore company A-Orizon Media ...

for $68 million in 2001. The interactive games platform has since appeared on millions of digital TV homes throughout the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. Founder Jasper Smith re-acquired Static from Open TV in 2008, believing the quantum shift to internet connected TVs would allow PlayJam to become one of the world's pre-eminent games networks. Since then, the company has secured distribution deals with

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

, LG,

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation (WDC, commonly known as Western Digital or WD) is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company, headquartered in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures and sells data technology produc ...

, and other online gaming platforms to add to its network of digital TV homes around the world and online. PlayJam aims to create a 'connected' games network over the next few years, delivering a more integrated and accessible user experience alongside a cross-platform reward scheme to fuel further frequent and loyal usage. During the last 5 years, PlayJam has generated over 8 billion downloads from its library of 550 free titles. PlayJam's SDK enables other games developers to publish titles to this platform, most recently Relentless and Puzzler Media PlayJam became a founder member of the Connected TV Game Forum, alongside Accedo Broadband, Betfair, Rallypoint and Two Way Media in January 2010. Aiming to galvanize a common approach to gaming requirements for connected TV devices including functionality, features and open standards, the forum's members view online games as a major driver in the multi-platform digital entertainment arena, attracting 38% of Internet users and generating billions of downloads via mobile and digital TV platforms. The Forum believes such games will act as '"a prime motivator for consumers to connect their TVs to the Internet." In October 2011, PlayJam secured $5 million investment from

GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,5 ...

Digital Ventures,

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

Ventures, Endeavour Ventures and the Angel CoFund to fuel further growth and capitalize on the smart TV market. The company has partnered with a number of game developers including

GameHouse GameHouse is a casual game developer, publisher, digital video game distributor, and portal, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a division of RealNetworks. GameHouse distributes casual games for PC and Mac computers, as well as ...

First Star Software First Star Software, Inc. was a Chappaqua, New York based video game development, publishing and licensing company, founded by Richard Spitalny (who remains the company's president), Billy Blake, Peter Jablon, and Fernando Herrera in 1982. It is ...

Relentless Software Relentless Software was a British video game company formed in 2003 that was based in Brighton. The company was best known for developing 12 games in the BAFTA award-winning and multi-million selling ''Buzz!'' franchise from 2005 to 2010. Relent ...

, Slingo and Puzzler to distribute popular titles across its network. In 2013 PlayJam released the

GameStick The GameStick is a discontinued home video game console developed by PlayJam. It is a microconsole the size of a USB flash drive that plugs directly into the back of a TV through an HDMI port and ships with its own Bluetooth controller. Users ca ...

References

{{reflist

External links

PlayJam Official Free Games Website

PlayJam Official Wiki

PlayJam Art Blog

Connected TV Game Forum

PlayJam to be offered as Yahoo! TV Widget

Interview with Playjam at Social Networking World Forum
* Television channels in the United Kingdom Multiplayer online games Interactive television 1997 establishments in the United Kingdom British companies established in 1997 Products introduced in 1999 2001 mergers and acquisitions 2008 mergers and acquisitions