Everyplay lets you brag in mobile-game replay videos with FaceCam

Applifier’s Everyplay lets you record your game sessions so you can share the replays with your friends. And now it is adding a FaceCam feature that lets you capture a video of yourself in a window of the replay, where you can brag about your exploits.

Everyplay and the new FaceCam feature are aimed at improving mobile-game discovery, a huge problem because it’s so easy for games to get lost among a sea of titles on the app stores. Instead of paying to acquire users via advertising, developers can use Applifier as an alternative that doesn’t cost them up-front money.

Jussi Laakkonen, the chief executive of Applifier, told GamesBeat at the Casual Connect Europe conference that Everyplay is aimed at enabling developers to get viral word-of-mouth marketing through players who share their game sessions with friends.

With FaceCam and Everyplay, players can share video of their games and audio that provides a post-game play-by-play commentary. Helsinki-based Applifier is launching a private beta test of FaceCam today. The feature will be available publicly in March.

Everyplay launched its replay videos in December. In the hit mobile game Stair Dismount, players recorded and shared over 10,000 video replays in 30 days. The most popular sharing destination was Facebook, where an average of 15 friends watched each replay, and 12 percent clicked to download the featured game from the App Store, Laakkonen said.

“This is a staggering click-through rate,” Laakkonen said. “It combines a social proof, showing what a game is about and what you really did in it. This was our thesis with Everyplay. The best way to get noticed is through sharing with friends.”

Some of the videos were funny, where players shared a session of a bug where they scored lots of points. Players can add greetings, taunts, or challenges for friends.

About 2 percent of users share videos via Everyplay. That’s consistent with the usual rates for user-generation content.

“The ability to share replays was the biggest feature missing from our game Stair Dismount,” said Jani Kahrama, the CEO of developer Secret Exit. “Everyplay lets our players share the comedy of the game with their friends and game fans.”

Laakkonen said that players have been yearning for more meaningful ways to share their experiences with friends. Everyplay is available for all iOS devices. Everyplay is a way for Applifier to branch out from its roots. In 2011, Applifier got its start by offering smaller game developers a way to reach more users through a large banner ad for cross-promotion of Facebook games. It reaches more than 150 million monthly active users, but Everyplay represents the company’s chance to expand into mobile.

Applifier is backed by Lifeline Ventures, MHS Capital, PROfounders Capital, Tekes, Webb Investment Network, and angel investors. It has 25 employees. Over time, Laakkonen believes he can monetize Everyplay via advertising.