So they sold the games, licensed the development platform to 888, and then spun off the developer facing platform as its own bootstrapped independent company, Particle Code.
"DropGifts was initially a consumer facing platform offering free gift cards from many different retailers in one spot," co-founder and CMO Marie Chevrier tells TechCrunch.
"I admire this vision and I look forward to working with Mark and my fellow directors to leverage Zynga's tremendous success and extend its consumer facing platform for play even further".
Others like FundersClub and WeFunder, have benefitted as well, while consumer-facing platforms like Kickstarter, Crowdtilt and Indiegogo have brought more attention to the crowdfunding industry as a whole.
They face platforms deciding that having indies doesn't matter to the bottom line as much as indies think it should, and consequently a weak negotiating position.
Although the largest games companies are now increasingly mimicking Hollywood's studio system, serving as a publisher for many small developers, every year or two they still face "platform risk"—will Sega's Dreamcast succeed?
Open systems that support emergent behavior are way more likely to become platforms and we are excited by the possibilities of new consumer facing web platforms".
Stone-faced platforms are fronted by stairways with flanking balustrades and exhibit a close counterpart of the talud-tablero motif of Teotihuacán.
While the two are one company, they both kept their consumer-facing platforms because many customers had strong brand loyalty to one or the other.
