Booyah, the Kleiner Perkins iFund company, just announced that its hit location-based social game, MyTown, has passed 1 million registered users. MyTown is an extremely successful free iPhone game that enables users to buy and sell real world locations. Users then get points by “checking in” to locations through their iPhone. Competitors Foursquare and Gowalla (and recently Yelp) have similar features, but the real differentiator is MyTown’s integrated game mechanic.
Ultimately, MyTown is a full-featured massive multiplayer real-world game. You can own property and then earn money whenever another MyTown user, whom you do not have to know or have any relation with, “checks in” to that location. This means that instead of simply incentivizing engagement via “checking in” and social features, MyTown actually enables users to gain virtual currency and “level up” through the game.
We spoke with Keith Lee of Booyah a few days ago and he gave us some additional statistics. Not only is Booyah’s MyTown more successful than any of the other games in this category, it has also covered the map of the United States with check-ins. According to Keith, there has been a check-in at every single location that exists on Google Maps. I find that hard to believe, but it seems like they come close – a quick check while walking down the streets of Fremont or Berkeley (the two places I frequent most) shows that every single place has been checked into.
A couple more stats that Booyah shared with us:
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-1 Million+ Registered Users
-Averaged 100K new registered users a week since launching in December
-40 Million+ Virtual items consumed each week
-25 Million weekly check-ins
-Daily engagement over 65 minutes
Clearly, this competition in this space is heating up and Booyah’s MyTown is the front-runner for now. It’ll be interesting to see how Yelp, with far more registered users (but a really new check-in infrastructure) competes over time.
Another aspect of MyTown that has gone largely unnoticed: it’s in Apple’s Top 50 grossing list. This means that users are not only engaging with MyTown but Booyah’s actually making revenue off of selling in-game virtual currency and other goodies.
Trenchant
Why not 2M? or 10K? Since when a press release is a journalism?
Currently foursquare is starting to dominate the way how you discover geo-targets in USA (using social media and game) More details: http://bit.ly/foursquare-detailed-review
I don’t really use foursquare, nor am I interested in it. But if mytown were for android, I would use it most definitely. I never really had a reason to use foursquare, but mytown making their app more “game-like” would make me check in almost everywhere I go, as long as the interface is good.
cool story bro
LOL
+1
Ha ha?
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I can’t find it on the app store anywhere, even if I follow the link on there homepage it can’t find it within iTunes???? anyone else having this issue?
Just did a search on my iPhone for “MyTown” (no spaces) and found it no problem.
Is it offered in the USA only? I’m in Canada
Sorry, I have absolutely no idea. Had never even heard of MyTown until this article :)
i think it is US only….
Pretty soon we’ll read about Zynga buying Booyah. You heard it here! It’s a logical fit for them.. same sort of gaming model but over the mobile instead of Facebook.
The front-runner? Hardly…Brightkite has several million registered users.
Check your facts.
“Registered” is very different than “Active”. The 1 Million Registered users is the close to the least important metric there. It is the engagement numbers (time spent and check ins).
Yeah, but million user number of the article refers to registered users.
I wouldn’t really call MyTown a competitor in the geo app space. The game mechanics have swamped the social utility – it’s just a game that happens to use real-world locations as game pieces. That’s how you get check-ins at every location on Google Maps – there’s no social expectation on MyTown that you the user are actually physically at the place you checked in at.
Gameplay is completely removed from the underlying real-world locations; ‘buying’ a property doesn’t constitute an endorsement of the venue, and so far as I can tell ownership is non-exclusive. I hesitate to call anything so successful on its own terms a cautionary tale, but it seems like this is a warning to Foursquare, Gowalla, and others that you can’t push the game mechanics too far, or you’ve stopped being a geo app altogether and just become a game.
Who really cares?
I’m with Trevor. MyTown is a game whose elements just happen to be named after local businesses nearby. You wouldn’t actually use this app to say, try and meet people out:
http://www.locationmeme.com/2010/01/26/mytown-a-clever-game-but-not-really-about-location/
Having played MyTown for a few weeks, I can say:
1) It’s more engaging and interesting than Gowalla or Foursquare
2) It gets boring, fast.
3) I’m part of that “1 million registered users” and I’ll probably never use MyTown again. Active users on a day to day basis? I’m guessing 5% of users, tops.
Location-based games are still missing something that keeps people continually interested and entertaining.
I am on the same page with you Brent. Reached lever 20 in the last 24 hours and not sure I will be aiming for higher levels any time soon. As you perfectly pointed it out, something is missing that would keep me continually interested and entertaining.
Well — there is nothing social about the game — unless you want to spam your facebook friends — it doesn’t come with its own user account and friend connect system — some may see that as a strong point, but I really hate and detest all my friends spamming facebook.
More interestingly — the game effect of owning a property is somehow a delusion — I was happy to find that I could buy my local Starbucks — only to find out that while I had bought it, then so had 10 other people — so come on, buying something like real estate is expected to be somehow exclusive… where else is the value of the game that includes a buy/sell concept?
100K new registered users a week is nice
None of this matters… Google Buzz and Facebook (if they get their act together with Geolocation) own this space.
Enjoy it now guys… besides, we all know your numbers are inflated.
Is this the same game I play on Facebook?
Anyone else discover the poor game design on MyTown? … I can basically checkin 1000 times to the same place and grind my way up the ladder, there is no limitation. I can also buy and then immediately sell locations for a profit, and then buy it again / sell and make a profit.