Mousebreaker

Mousebreaker is a UK based casual games website founded in 2001 by Richard Pendry and Alick Stott. One of the earliest browser game portals, the site earned a reputation in terms of publishing sports and, in particular, football games. In 2008, the website was purchased by UK publisher IPC Media for a rumoured seven figure sum.[1] The site was amongst the biggest UK flash games websites, with over 4,500,000 unique users per month.[2] In 2016, Mousebreaker was sold to Spil Games.[3]

Mousebreaker.com
Type of site
Internet games
Available inEnglish
Founded2001
Headquarters
London, England
,
United Kingdom
Key peopleRichard Pendry: Co-founder
Alick Stott: Co-founder
ParentSpil Games
URLwww.mousebreaker.com
Launched2001
Current statusActive

Early games

Pendry and Stott first worked together on flash games as a hobby in 2000. Their first projects were a simple penalty shoot out game, and a pool game that would be the basis of the Blast Billiards franchise. Upon licensing copies of both games, the pair realised the potential of their hobby, but it wasn’t until 2003 that Mousebreaker.com was popular enough to be the only source of income for them and they began to work on the website full-time.[4]

Purchase by IPC Media

In June 2008, Mousebreaker was purchased by Time Warner owned IPC Media for a rumoured seven figure sum. The move saw Mousebreaker become part of IPC’s Ignite division, aimed predominantly at the 18-24 male demographic, and home to publications such as Nuts, Loaded and NME.[5]

Style of games

Mousebreaker is best known for its sports and topical games, with titles such as Aporkalypse Now,[6] Spank the Banker,[7] Fat Cat Cashback [8] and 'Bad Adebayor', getting attention from mainstream news outlets. Their sports section remains their most popular area however, and the site’s sheer number of football games has ensured the two are widely associated.

Mousebreaker’s own list of requirements for third party flash developers states that their games are based on the ‘easy to play, difficult to master’ model, with short load-speeds and “a cheeky sense of humour” also required.[9]

Best-known titles

Many of Mousebreaker’s early popular titles gained enough of a following to earn their own websites. Blast Billiards, Flash Cricket, and Camper Strike all proved popular enough to get a unique domain, with Play A Pal and Play For Your Club also registered by Mousebreaker for use with their popular football volleys games. Among their other titles, the Sports Heads series is one of their most played titles.

In 2009, Pendry noted that Jumpers for Goalposts – a football lifestyle sim – had gained a loyal and dedicated following.[4] sto Jumpers for Goalposts were released in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013. Darts Party along with Top Spinner Cricket proved popular with gamers as well.[10]

Finally, the ambitious Rock Band Sim – which attempted to combine rhythm action gameplay with the management sim genre – got some positive write-ups on casual game sites.[11] From October 2010, Mousebreaker has a new gaming partner for the cash games section, the 888games.com website.

Mobile gaming

In November 2009, it was announced that Mousebreaker had entered into a partnership with CobraMobile to bring some of its titles to the iPhone and iPod Touch through the App Store.[12] The first game, Blast Billiards Touch, was approved by Apple in December 2009. A lite version offering a few levels was released in February 2010. One of their most popular games, Pinch Hitter, has become one of the most visited games of 2010.

References
  1. IPC buys Mousebreaker site to inject new life into division
  2. Time Warner Press Release on Mousebreaker Acquisition
  3. Cowley, Ric; Editor, Deputy. "Spil Games acquires male-oriented browser game portal Mousebreaker". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2018-05-28.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. Ben Parfitt (14 January 2009). https://web.archive.org/web/20100428082618/http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/28099/INTERVIEW-Mousebreakercom. Archived from Interview with Richard Pendry the original Check |url= value (help) on 28 April 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. IPC buys Mousebreaker site to inject new life into division
  6. Guardian: A Sick Game to Play
  7. Mediaweek: City boys get come uppance with Spank the Banker
  8. Telegraph: Sir Fred Goodwin ‘Fat Cat Cash Back’ Game
  9. Mousebreaker Developer Guidelines
  10. Flash Game Challenge: Top Spinner
  11. Jayisgames review of Rock Band Sim
  12. Cobra bringing Mousebreaker Flash games to iPhone
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