Games channel coming to Skype

Stephen Withers
Friday, 18 May 2007 04:32

Your IT - Home IT

Games for Skype started appearing along with the Extras Manager in version 3.0, but the company has now launched the Skype Game Channel and is encouraging developers to port their games to the popular VoIP platform.

Early Skype games have been simple two-player titles such as chess and backgammon, but the company is promoting the development of multi-player and community-based games. With a user base approaching 200 million, there is clearly potential for game builders to make some money.

Operation of the Skype Game Channel is in the hands of EasyBits Software, a Norway-based company.

In addition to providing the GameXN framework that simplifies the task of making an existing game Skype compatible, EasyBits offers hosting, distribution, marketing, DRM and billing services to game developers.

A free software development kit (SDK) is available, but the use of ActiveX in GameXN appears to rule out the creation of Skype games for platforms other than Windows, even if those versions of Skype catch up with Skype for Windows' support of Extras.