Village Gamer

Woozworld Inc. has announced that Woozworld, the largest virtual social network for tweens with over 25 million registered users, is now available as an app, making it accessible with an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 7. This makes Woozworld the first social MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) community to offer a full cross-platform experience with continuous gameplay between desktop and mobile devices. 

Commenting on the launch, the President and CEO of Woozworld, Simonetta Lulli, said: “As more and more of our young users have mobile devices, we wanted to offer them the same experience, no matter the device they log in from. This move is aligned with our vision to reach out to our audiences wherever they are and move them across multiple platforms so we can further expand our thriving user base.” She added: “In the past four years, our team has really gotten to understand how tweens engage with their ecosystem. We have seen first-hand how they socialize, what their interests are and how they interact with various brands. We look forward to building on this by developing exciting new features, hosting events and striking deals with artists and brands to further enhance Woozworld’s appeal.”

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The first-of-its-kind app includes all the great features of the popular online version and goes a step further by maximizing and complementing the original web platform. Users, aged 8 to 14, can now connect from anywhere to interact with their “Woozen” friends and keep up to date with their virtual lives. Content that is created and designed in the mobile app is also available on woozworld.com, enabling all users to interact seamlessly and in real time, regardless of their device.

In order to adapt Woozworld’s graphically rich world of avatars and virtual spaces for multiple devices, the team developed an innovative Isometric engine and redefined its graphic production pipeline that was initially based on Adobe Flash Technology to make it compatible with Unity3D technologies.

“Cross platform mobile app development has been around for a number of years for websites using HTML5 but for MMO’s like Woozworld this requires lots of compromise on the user experience and on the capabilities of devices. We have done a lot of R&D over the last years so we can continue to offer our users the strongest combination of experience, technologies and platforms. The result of our efforts is an engaging experience that allows the “always online” generation to seamlessly transition from one device to another. I have to congratulate the team that has made all this possible as this was quite a technological challenge,” indicated Nicolas Lee, CTO.

A world tweens can call their own and that gives parents peace of mind

Woozworld’s visually rich, deeply interactive and completely user-driven experience fills the gap between social gaming sites and social networks. It simulates real-life experiences and social interaction in a virtual environment. It is a type of “training wheels” for tweens learning to communicate online and develop highly transferable social skills. In effect, in this role-playing-based virtual world, “Woozens” imagine, then create their dream life complete with rooms, schools, restaurants and stores. They also build virtual business and learn how to manage their virtual wallet. They make plans, organize activities and learn through one another.

Accessible worldwide, the site launched in early 2010 with 50 virtual spaces and only a handful of users. Since then, over 25 million tweens aged 8-14 have gathered to socialize with friends in more than 29 million user-created virtual spaces. They spend an average of 1,643 minutes a month on the secure site. Each session lasts an average of 50 minutes.

Woozworld, a fully moderated COPPA- (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliant site, does not allow personal content and never discloses users’ identification information.

The Woozworld mobile app is available for installation for free on the App Store.  Support for Android smartphones and tablets is scheduled for release within the next months.

iTunes has rated this app 4+. It requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.