New Boyz: The World Facebook Game Fades Away

To support the May 16th release of Too Cool To Care, a New Boyz game was created for Facebook called New Boyz: The World. The album was previewed in-game a week before its official release. I spent a bit of time exploring New Boyz: The World to get a sense of the various elements and see what it had to offer in relationship to the game media coverage it has received.

New Boyz: The World is described as a "virtual world social game hybrid" developed by Funtactix working with Warner Brothers. It's gotten got some good reviews for the graphics and has also been described as a better looking "YoVille with a purpose".

One gets to pick a basic outfit when going in but later upgrades are available using in-game currency purchased via credit card. You can wander around the hood, stand in place nervously shifting from side to side and chat with other game players. I never know what to say to strangers in these settings but hardly anybody's been on in the last day or so since I've been checking it out and so I just wandered to the next block and was alone. But I really wished I could sit in a chair or bust into breakdancing moves.

Screenshot of New Boyz: The World Facebook Game

In addition to gathering piggybanks and purchasing various digital objects, one can watch music videos, listen to music from the album, play casual games and network with friends. I'm not sure what happens to one's avatar while doing things outside the world, like playing Piggy Bank Smash, but if it stands around nervously waiting, that would explain a lot of what I saw going on in-game.

I did like the graphics but kept wanting to explore the world beyond its boundaries. However, for people used to the limits of such games, it appears to offer a lot of options.

According to AppData, Monthly Average Users for New Boyz: The World, which launched May 2nd, is still a bit shy of 24,000 while Daily Average Users have dropped to under a thousand. These aren't earth shattering numbers and, clearly, now that the album is out, most fans aren't finding it worthwhile to return to New Boyz: The World. Given the amount of resources that go into game creation, I get the feeling that this game can be viewed as a worthy experiment in marketing that the New Boyz probably won't repeat.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. Flux Research is his business writing hub and All World Dance is his primary web project.