PlayUp Launches First Ever Fan Engagement Platform for the Olympic Games

NEW YORK, July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- PlayUp, the first social network app exclusively for sports fans, socializers and gamers, announced today the launch of PlayUp 3.1, becoming the first international fan engagement platform where Olympic fans worldwide can socialize over the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Fans across the globe can follow almost every competition that takes place throughout the duration of the Games, which commence on July 27 and run through August 12.

With sports fans having access to real-time results, standings and leaderboards throughout the Olympics, new third-party integration adds access to the most up to date sports content and news from around the world on the iOS version of the free PlayUp app.

"We are the only company in the world offering sports fans an all-encompassing engagement experience for the Olympics," said PlayUp USA CEO Dennis Lee. "We've been looking forward to the release of PlayUp 3.1 around the Olympics since we first launched in October. While we've already accomplished tremendous success with previous versions of our app, PlayUp 3.1 for iOS takes our platform to a whole new level. PlayUp is the ultimate one-stop shop for following the Olympics with friends, family and fellow sports fans from around the world."

While all events hosted in PlayUp are accessible to users internationally, Version 3.1 offers targeted sports feeds by geographic location, so the most regionally relevant content is brought to the forefront when a user launches the app – while still being able to access information from various sports across the 194 countries featured in the app.

Kicking off with the Olympics, sports fans can now engage during the Olympics and throughout the year with their favorite brands and sports entities. PlayUp will be presenting more detailed stats, social buzz, and feeds from third-party businesses and developers. Fans can capture the social buzz from their favorite athletes, and with the platform now open to third-parties, sports fans can expect richer, more relevant content within the PlayUp app.

"Now sports fanatics can turn to PlayUp to get sports content, stats, Twitter feeds and more, and can be assured to get their sports fix even when no live games are being played," said Lee. "We now also have the opportunity to connect brands and developers with sports fans and provide these third-parties with more effective ways to connect with potential customers across the globe. There is no bigger and better event to showcase PlayUp's new features than the Olympics."

PlayUp launched in October and enables sports fans to follow their choice of more than 36,000 live games while simultaneously discussing the action with fellow fans on their mobile devices. The free app includes real-time scoring and stats, along with the option to create private rooms to discuss the action with friends or join public rooms to interact with fans from around the world – play by play and pitch by pitch – for every NFL, college football and basketball, NHL, NBA, MLB, and MLS game, as well as a variety of international leagues from around the globe. PlayUp has reached as high as the No. 3 most-downloaded free sports app in the U.S. Apple iTunes Store and No. 1 in 28 countries around the world.

The PlayUp app is available on iOS and Android and can be downloaded for free in the Google Play and in the iTunes Store. For more information, visit www.playup.com.

About PlayUp:

PlayUp specializes in building mobile communities around sports. The company was founded by Australian entrepreneurs Luke Bunbury and George Tomeski in 2007 to develop mobile-based sports/social gaming applications. In 2010, PlayUp games were distributed in more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. In 2011, PlayUp launched the first mobile-based social network dedicated to live sports. The resulting PlayUp social network is the first real-time, mass-market social gaming platform enabling users globally to interact via their mobile devices during live games. For more information, visit http://www.playup.com.

SOURCE PlayUp