Digital Chocolate joins Sony Ericsson to claim social gaming audience for Xperia Play

It's not the company we would have expected as a buffed up launch partner but social games publisher Digital Chocolate has thrown in its weight to support Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play Android smartphone.

It will be bringing Rollercoaster Revolution 99 Tracks, Tower Bloxx: My City and Millionaire City to the hardware's launch.

The three are currently available for Android devices so porting them to Xperia Play is a matter of tweaking the controls for its hard buttons and - hopefully - optimisations for its specific processor architecture.

Digital Chocolate also plans to release more games for the phone.

As for official comment, Digital Chocolate says "The new releases are representative of its strategy to aggressively pursue cross-platform social gaming."

"As more and more users adopt smartphones, there will be a tipping point where social games will explode on mobile," said Jason Loia, Digital Chocolate's COO.

"Digital Chocolate is excited to bring Millionaire City to Sony Ericsson's uniquely designed device to help start this revolution."

Of course, the likes of Zynga, Capcom Mobile, The Playforge and ngmoco etc might have something to say about the timing and progression of the 'tipping point' and 'this revolution'.

Indeed, such comments also mark something of a u-turn for Digital Chocolate which started out as mobile publisher but in 2010 switched to the bright lights of Facebook, releasing reskins of its best known IPs on mobile in the meantime.

Still, its decision gets Sony Ericsson talking about its vision for Xperia Play.

Head of marketing Steve Walker said "Social gaming and playing with friends will be a core part of Xperia Play's popular appeal.

"Digital Chocolate has long been a key gaming partner to Sony Ericsson, and we are pleased to be working together to offer a unique multi-platform social gaming experience on smartphones with these titles."

[source: Digital Chocolate]