OpenFeint And The9 Team Up To Bring Game Developers To Android Platform

OpenFeint, the comprehensive mobile social gaming platform from Aurora Feint, is teaming up with its recent investor and Chinese gaming company The9 on a joint initiative to bring game developers to the Android platform. Basically, OpenFeint and The9 will be using the $100 million Fund9, a Chinese-based mobile internet development fund, to fund game developers.

As we’ve written in the past, OpenFeint has taken a cross-platform approach to its social gaming platform, first launching on the iPhone and iPad and more recently adding Android game developers to its rapidly growing community, launching its plug and play social game development to developers to the public a few weeks ago. The startup, which has over 68 million players, has already helped launch 250 games on the Android platform.

The fund is designed to help indie developers who may not have the resources to build for additional platforms. OpenFeint and The9 will review and select the best games and will fund their port to Android and OpenFeint integration. The companies will also pick select games to expand to China and will facilitate their localization. The companies say that the games will be chosen based on the quality of the experience, past download performance in other app stores, and the talents of the actual developer.

The $100 million Fund9 is a Chinese-based development fund that invests in mobile app, game engine, and platform technology developers. Announced last December, the fund is a collaboration amongThe9, China Rock Capital Management, Chengwei Ventures, and China Renaissance K2 Ventures.

Multiplatform has been an important strategy for OpenFeint, as the company faces competition from Apple’s GameCenter. The Android platform is rapidly growing and may be a wise bet for the company.