• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 10, 2010

PlayJam, a casual games network with distribution across digital TV, online and mobile channels, is opening its digital TV platform to third-party developers. The move will provide players with more options, in addition to the roughly 550 titles already published by PlayJam.

The gamer net is making its software development kit and publishing tools freely available to third-party developers. Using these tools, developers can distribute their games on PlayJam's digital TV networks as well as create additional features, including tournaments, rewards schemes, leaderboards, chat and messaging to drive frequency and loyalty.

Developers are also given access to PlayJam's system for billing, centralized user accounts and real-time reporting.

The U.S. game industry is booming; gamers spent $3.8 billion on massively multiplayer online games in 2009, almost 15 times more than other substantial MMO markets in Europe, according to a study by Gamesindustry.com and TNS. It indicates that the number of MMO players in the U.S. has reached 46 million, 46% (21 million) of which paid to play online games; the rest, around 25 million gamers, play MMOs without spending any money. The average paying MMO player spent around $15.10 per month on their games.

PlayJam has already struck a number of partnerships with other game developers, including Puzzler Media earlier this year. In January, it joined forces with Accedo Broadband, Betfair, Rallypoint and Two Way Media to create the Connected TV Game Forum, aiming to produce common standards and interoperability for casual gaming software.

PlayJam also began distributing its casual games to the digital TV networks operated by Sony and Samsung.

Casual gaming has emerged as one of the key areas of Internet activity over the last few years, reflected in the huge popularity of Zynga games like "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars" on Facebook.

Last week, Facebook moved to expand its casual gaming offerings through a new deal with Electronic Arts, the maker of popular games like "Medal of Honor" and the "Sims" series. EA will now produce games with a "simplified, more accessible experience for people who play games and purchase virtual goods on Facebook."

Facebook is muscling up to stave off the threat from Google, which also has its sights set on the growing casual gaming market. In recent months, the search giant has made overtures to social game developers, including Playdom, Electronic Arts, Playfish and Zynga. This included buying a $100 million to $200 million stake in Zynga, and acquiring another developer, Slide, for $182 million in August.