iMafia brings virtual goods and social networking to iPhone

With their reliance on social networks and their 'leftfield' monetisation methods, the Mob would have felt right at home in the 21st Century world of Web 2.0..

Now PlayMesh is seeking to straddle the mobster/mobile 2.0 divide with iMafia, an innovative gangster game.

According to Venture Beat, iMafia takes the basic social gameplay of online titles like Mob Wars, leverages social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and adds a clever twist to enable PlayMesh to profit from a game given away for free on the App store.

It works like this: PlayMesh has produced several other iPhone games, such as Chess Puzzles, iType and Speed Shapes. Originally free, these are now being replaced by premium versions.

iMafia players who buy and play the developer's other games can earn points in them to spend in the gangster game.

PlayMesh says it will open up its system to other developers, too, which could potentially create a shadow network of virtual cross-game payments in the iPhone ecosystem.
Quite what the Godfather, Apple, would make of that is an open question. The convoluted procedure is necessitated because Apple protects its 30 per cent cut by banning overt virtual goods models, in order to stop developers creating free apps and selling upgrades outside of the App store for 100 per cent of the profits.

iMafia is one of several gangster games jockeying for position on iPhone including Catamount's Candy Wars and the troubled Dope Wars.