Applifier’s Everyplay Wants To See Your Game Face

Applifier, a Helsinki-based mobile gaming network, wants to see your game face. Their product Everyplay, which records players at their best (or worst) moments inside mobile games, is launching a new feature today that uses the iPhone’s front-facing camera to record your reactions.

Yes, the videos are maybe a little awkward. See the one above. There’s probably a viral video montage in here someday.

The new feature, called “FaceCam,” is in beta and a public launch is expected in March. 

Everyplay is a bit of a pivot for Applifier, which was born out of game developer Jussi Laakkonen’s frustration in attraction users into his social games. The company then built up a large cross-promotion network on the Facebook platform for independent game developers. It grew to 150 million monthly active users.

But the industry changed as players migrated toward smartphones and tablets. They created Everyplay as a way for mobile games to grow virally as players share videos of themselves with friends.

It’s still early with about eight games on the platform after 45 days. But Laakkonen says that initial statistics are promising. He pointed to a game called Stair Dismount, where video replays were shared more than 10,000 times in 30 days. Players shared these videos to Facebook, where an average of 15 friends would watch every replay with a clickthrough rate of about 12 percent to get the game from the app store.

“Once you’re into a game, you want to start bragging, sharing tips and tricks,” Laakkonen said (pictured right using his own software). ”Now you can actually show off how good you are.”

That said, other forerunners in building mobile-social gaming platforms have struggled. GREE shut down OpenFeint after acquiring it for $104 million back in 2011. Laakkonen says that Apple’s GameCenter pretty much covers base use cases, and that you have to really offer something differentiated to attract developers.

Applifier is backed by Lifeline Ventures, MHS Capital, PROfounders Capital, Tekes, Webb Investment Network and angel investors, and has offices in Helsinki, Finland and in San Francisco. The company recently closed a $4 million second venture round from Lifeline, which is an early-stage accelerator from one of the Jaiku co-founders and the CEO of Supercell that specializes in the Finnish market.