Diversion, a Los Angeles-based social gaming studio backed by Shawn Fanning and Michael Eisner – who are billed as ‘founding advisors’ – has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures, Hearst Corporation and Eisner’s The Tornante Company.
Marcy Carsey (producer of sitcoms like The Cosby Show, Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun and That 70’s Show) and angel investor Art Bilger also joined the round.
In addition, the fledgling company announced that it has landed a $1 million advertising deal with Sony Pictures, and that it has launched a new social game dubbed The A-List on Facebook.
Earlier this year, we reported that Diversion had raised $300,000 in seed funding from The Tornante Company, and that it had launched its first game FameTown. According to AppData, the game is currently averaging about 480,000 monthly active users, which gives it a rank of 480 on the Leaderboard (a far cry from #1, Zynga’s CityVille, which boasts more than 80 million monthly users).
The A-List, which launched on Facebook earlier this month, is a game where users star in virtual movies to gain fame, fortune, and notoriety among other industry professionals.
Diversion was founded in 2010 by Dayvid Iannaci (CEO), Amir Haleem (CTO), Chris Bruce (Lead Developer) and Jason Carlton (VP of Content).
Diversion was formed in early 2010 with a clear goal to provide a necessary fusion between the entertainment industry and the current social gaming renaissance. The founders are all highly seasoned experts in gaming, web development, digital marketing and entertainment and are setting out in this space with two key differentiators: Provide users with real-world entertainment tie-in opportunities and experiences. Use of gaming expertise to create a more enjoyable and fulfilling social gaming experience. Diversion, Inc. is currently developing a game called FameTown,...
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