Facebook has announced a new mobile gaming pilot program which will help “high-potential” small and medium sized mobile development companies get some exposure. They will do this by advertising these apps to their 800 million mobile facebook users.

According to facebook, the aim is for games of a certain genre to reach the eyes of players who have already shown an affinity for that genre.

Facebook software engineer, Victor Medeiros had this to say: “We are invested in the success of these games, and in exchange for a revenue share, we will be collaborating deeply with developers in our program by helping them attract high-quality, long-term players for their games. We’ll also be sharing analytics tools and the expertise we’ve gained from helping games grow on our platform for more than six years.”

What can be read from this is that facebook may be using it’s intimate knowledge of our gaming habits to better market to us games we may like. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Some of the games that have been selected from around the world for this pilot program are:

• Brainbow’s puzzle-packed adventure game, Dr. Newton: The Great Brain Adventure
• Certain Affinity’s pirate-themed strategy game, Age of Booty: Tactics
• Dragonplay’s social poker game, Live Hold’Em
• Gameloft’s medieval strategy/simulation game, Kingdoms & Lords
• Gamevil’s train management simulation Train City
• KiwiGames’ quest-based exploration game, Shipwrecked
• Outplay Entertainment’s explore-and-battle fantasy game, Monster Legacy
• Space Ape’s multiplayer combat strategy game, Samurai Siege
• WeMade Entertainment’s endless-running game WINDrunner

Source: Develop-Online