SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/22/13 -- More than half of the 1,000 developers who've signed up for the anticipated OpenKit public beta have indicated they're interested in adding cloud features like Cloud Data Sync, Leaderboards and Facebook & Twitter Authentication to Unity games that run on both the Android and iOS platforms. Only 25 percent plan to use OpenKit for 'iOS only' games while even fewer are opting for just Android says Peter Relan, founder of OpenKit, the first completely open backend-as-a-service (BAAS) platform for mobile developers with a guarantee of no lock-in of developer data. "The two big asks were: give us cloud services for our Unity games, and let us own our data," says Relan. "So we did it. This is an open source project: developers are the voice of OpenKit."

Some of the top developers signed on with OpenKit are:
Snowbolt Interactive
Oyatsukai Games
Pyntail
Total Monkery
FORZEFIELD Studios
Sanposuru
Rabbx Inc.
RedCell Studio
Fat Red Couch
Massive Finger
Cerulean Games

No Lock-In of Developer Data

Relan, a co-founder of the OpenFeint service closed by GREE in December, sees an immediate need in the developer community for an open architecture that gives developers the backend services they need to prosper in the Post-PC era, without getting locked in.

"Regardless of which platform approach you choose or which social integration feature is best for your game, OpenKit's promise of 'no lock-in' of developer data and the ability to host your own backend service is liberating," says Relan. "OpenKit's early adopters have spoken -- they want to own their data with a single API and service across iOS and Android."

Meet OpenKit at GDC

Game developers can meet with OpenKit at the GDC Expo Hall from Wednesday through Friday at 1-5 PM. GDC attendees can schedule a meeting via Twitter @openkit_io or email at team@openkit.io.

Matthew Simper of Snowbolt Interactive, one the first developers selected for the OpenKit private beta, says, "Slingshot Racing is all about perfecting your technique to achieve faster times, and setting challenges for your friends to beat. OpenKit will enable all our players to experience the satisfaction of not only besting their friends but proclaiming it to all."

Mark Johnson of Focused Apps is another developer in the private beta. "We have our ambitions set on cross-platform multiplayer, but it's a hard road to build it all ourselves," says Johnson. "In picking a partner to work with, OpenKit's open source plus SaaS offering is pretty compelling."

Of all the features offered by OpenKit, the ability to save game progress in the cloud with data storage and sync it across both iOS and Android devices for a consistent gaming experience ranks as the most desirable capability for developers, reports Relan. "Today we live in a heterogeneous, multi-device world where users have tablets and smartphones, and often they are a combination of iOS and Android," says Relan. "And there was no unified cloud for this multi-device mobile world, until OpenKit."

About OpenKit

The team of developers building OpenKit is the team that built the Joypad developer SDK adopted by over 100 developers for making tablets games remotely controllable by smartphones. OpenKit is for Android and iOS developers interested in providing Cloud Data Storage for Game State, Leaderboards, Achievements, Multiplayer Features, Push Notifications, and In-App Purchases to their games -- with the freedom to host their own backend service. The source code will be made available under Apache (for client code) and AGPL (for server code) licenses. Developers planning to participate in the private beta and/or contribute to the open source project can register at http://openkit.io.

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