King.com throws Facebook for a Hoop De Loop with its new game

Well, new to Facebook, at least. London-based King.com announced that Hoop De Loop, one of its most popular casual games, has launched on the social network as Hoop De Loop Saga. This is the fifth game featured in the company's own games portal to get the "Saga" treatment, and with it comes way, way more than social features and leaderboards.

"You have in Hoop De Loop, which you don't have in the original version: You have time challenges, you have task time challenges, score challenges, you have survival mode," King.com CMO Alex Dale spouts off to us. "Probably most important, however, is the social layer. You play alongside your friends, you track their progress, you get updates when you overtake them, etc, etc."

Those who are familiar with hits like Zuma Blitz will feel right at home in King.com's new Facebook game, which falls right into the "ball-shooter" sub-genre. In all, Hoop De Loop Saga features over 70 different levels and six game modes. We're also told that players can craft their own power-ups from items collected through playing, a new bullet point for the franchise. But the top five Facebook game maker isn't merely going down a list of its top games when bringing them to Facebook.

"Within the casual social category, there are subcategories of games. We did Mahjongg Saga, even though it wasn't one of the biggest games on King.com," Dale says. "It was very a distinctive experience, so we wanted to see if you did complimentary games, what would the take up be? Although Mahjongg Saga isn't bigger than Bubble Witch Saga or Bubble Saga, it is the largest Mahjongg-themed game on Facebook."

Now, considering the developer has games on Facebook, mobile devices and even Google+, wouldn't it just be better to release all versions of a game at once? Not according to Dale, who prefers to build audiences on social networks before making the move to mobile. Hoop De Loop Saga currently enjoys 240,000 monthly and 70,000 daily players, and King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi hopes to see the game catch on like Bubble Witch Saga has.

Click here to play Hoop De Loop Saga on Facebook Now >

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