Facebook's 10-game plan to win core gamers in 2013
Includes Diablo-style game by APB/GTA maker Dave Jones.
This year Facebook will spearhead the launch of 10 games designed to appeal to a core gaming audience: you.
One of those games is ChronoBlade, a beat-'em-up blended with RPG that looks to taste a lot like Diablo. It's undeniably impressive for a Facebook game.
Intriguingly, developer nWay is led by CEO Dave Jones. Where have we heard that name before? He's the Grand Theft Auto creator who steered the APB project that ultimately fell on its face.
Examples of games already available in this core gaming push are FPS Offensive Combat and Stormfall: Age of War.
Games like FarmVille won't be forgotten, but keeping the eyes of 18-30-year-olds - who stereotypically prefer competitive, faster, twitchy gaming - glued more firmly on Facebook is the big push this year.
"It doesn't mean we're walking away from other games, but there's no question our focus for 2013 much of it will be about becoming a better platform for core gamers and developers who make those games," Sean Ryan, head of game partnerships at Facebook, told Reuters.
"You'll see a whole set of games hitting in the next two quarters in particular and throughout the year that really start to redefine what people think of Facebook games." Facebook is used by more than a billion people every month, and more than a quarter of those people play games.
Dave Jones of nWay said: "Like Super Mario did for Nintendo or Halo [for] Microsoft, I think it just takes one title to come along, sort of as a benchmark to legitimise the whole thing."
Challenge accepted.