Ready to lord over your buddies? Starz Entertainment has come back to Facebook with a game based on its medieval Camelot original series, after liking the results from its initial Spartacus game on the social-networking site.
Starz expects to launch a beta version of "Camelot: The Game" on Facebook sometime on Friday, May 13. It's more than halfway through the 10-episode run of the show, which premiered April 1, but the programmer noted the game will live on the site long after the series finale.
In the game, users are lords of their own hamlet in the kingdom of Camelot and amass "gold, ore and wood" and armies to battle other players in a turn-based format.
The premium programmer in January launched a game for Spartacus: Gods of the Arena on Facebook, which hit more than 1 million unique users per month and about 100,000 daily active users during the original series' run. The games are promotional and free to start playing but also present a revenue opportunity by letting players make in-game purchases, like acquiring more soldiers, said Marc DeBevoise, Starz Media senior vice president, digital media, business development and strategy.
"It's a marketing initiative that has the opportunity to pay us," DeBevoise said. "We don't release financials but we're very happy with the [Spartacus] game."
Facebook claims to have more than 500 million active users worldwide. Starz is working again with games publisher 6waves, which also is handling the Spartacus game. "Camelot: The Game" was developed by Canadian firm Sarbakan and is being supported by Large Animal Games.
Players are encouraged to recruit friends to the game, to can create their own virtual "round table" council by joining forces with their friends. But they can also double-cross pals by swapping them out of the council table at any time.
In the game's central "quests," users can control the movement and attacks of their soldiers mimicking the battles staged in the show. The game quests will borrow from series plot points, and new quests, soldier types and special items will be introduced on an ongoing basis.
Camelot fans can register on Facebook for the game at apps.facebook.com/camelotgame and enter the password "Merlin" to play as part of the beta test. Starz expects to officially launch the game in the next few weeks.
