Microsoft moves into social games with new casual game site and alliance with CrowdStar,Microsoft moves into social games with new,casual game site and alliance with CrowdStar,Microsoft social games CrowdStar

Microsoft moves into social games with new casual game site and alliance with CrowdStar

Hoping to become a bigger player in social games, Microsoft announced today it revamped its casual online games web site and it will team up with social game publisher CrowdStar, which has more than 50 million users on Facebook.
The move is an attempt to make the bridge from the era of casual games — defined by paid downloads of games that were mostly single-player online games — to social games where players can team up with their friends and challenge them to play online.
Microsoft recognizes the need to make its existing MSN Games web site more social, making it closer to games that have begun hugely popular on Facebook.