At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) currently in full swing at San Francisco, the MMO publisher and operator Frogster today announces that it has a new product in development. With “Runes of Magic – The Challenge”, a social game developed for casual players on Facebook, the company will for the first time enter the rapidly growing market of casual games in social networks.

“Runes of Magic – The Challenge” will be set in the rich fantasy universe of Frogster’s popular free-to-play MMO game Runes of Magic. With adventure, exploration and strategy elements all combined in a fun, easy to play Facebook application, “Runes of Magic – The Challenge” takes full advantage of networked gaming and viral communications in the sphere of the largest social network worldwide and thus, expands the audience of Runes of Magic through additional gameplay possibilities. Players will be able to gain special cards with key codes in “Runes of Magic – The Challenge”, which they can use to unlock extra rewards in the full client version of Runes of Magic.

“Runes of Magic is the first free-to-play MMO game ever to expand into the social networks sphere with a rich, full, social gaming experience that will appeal to fantasy fans of all ages – independently of whether they play the full client game or not”, comments Lars Koschin, CEO of Frogster America, Inc. “With the success of Runes of Magic among core MMO players, it was a natural decision to build upon the franchise by taking it to a genre with mass market appeal and the powerful viral approach of the rapidly evolving social networks. The result is ’Runes of Magic – The Challenge’ for Facebook.”

“Runes of Magic – The Challenge” is being produced by Frogster America and developed by Mothership Interactive, Inc. Frogster’s first social game is scheduled to be launched in the second quarter of 2010 in Europe and America .

Furthermore, Frogster will shortly implement a “Facebook Connect” application for players of Runes of Magic which allows them to find co-players of the virtual world on Facebook and to see own Facebook contacts, who are not yet players, on the official website of Runes of Magic www.runesofmagic.com and invite them into the full version.