Earlier this year we reported about three European ‘dark horses’ – developers with millions of users on Facebook but often overlooked. One of them is French Telaxo; a company that managed to enter the top 10 of social game developers relatively unnoticed and currently reaches over 10 million monthly active users across its more than 100 mini-games.

Having strengthened its development team, the publisher now announced the release of MiniFoot, its first multiplayer real-time title on Facebook, launched in five languages. Up to 10 players can compete simultaneously in this football (soccer) game. Telaxo relies on cross-promotion effects from its network of casual games to boost MiniFoot’s visibility. Currently in beta, the game will be officially released in March.

MiniFoot marks Telaxo emergence into the free-to-play business model with sales of virtual goods. So far, revenues were generated from advertising only. “Our goal is to improve the social experience of our games and to stimulate competition among the players. In MiniFoot, users can earn ‘Boosters’ to improve the characteristics of their player before a game, but can also purchase it to increase their chances of victory,” said Telaxo’s founder Mathieu Collas.

Established in 2004 and based in Orleans in France, Telaxo currently ranks at #7 of worldwide publishers of social games (in monthly active users). The publisher focuses on small casual games, with  Bouncing Balls (800,000 players per month), Wild Wild Taxi (600,000 players per month) and Tower Blocks (470,000 players per month) being the most successful ones.
Telaxo was able to grow in the shadow of industry giants, especially in emerging countries, due to its niche position and particular attention paid to localization in 25 languages. Its audience has been steadily growing, and its turnover has doubled in 2011, according to the company.