A game center goodbye, and more info on mobile verification!

The official Habbo blog, blog.habbo.com published an article announcing a few interesting pieces of information, read on to find out more.

The blog post informs us about the game center's reason for closing aswell as the announced date for closure - March 31st, it also tells us phone verification is to be implemented for the upcoming changes to user registration and verification methods. The blog article is then signed off by throwing a little spoiler in there with the hint of R-O-M. You can read this blog post in full below.

By now you’ve probably read your local article discussing the game center leaving Habbo. We opened the game center in October 2012 for game developers, and boy did we have a big amount of interest!

Regular Habbos and up-and-coming game studios started working hard to polish their games and have them published onto the game center for all you Habbos to play. We’d like to thank all those who took the opportunity to create a game for our Habbos.

This decision has come because ultimately we want to improve our user experience. Plus the graphics of some of the games simply did not fit with Habbo. We want to provide the best service to you guys and we know that keeping in tone with Habbos pixelated graphic style is important, so we’re going to stick to what we know best!

The game center will continue to be operational until March 31st, so if you have credits left to spend in a game, make sure you do before that date. Of course, Habbo Stories will continue to be available after this date. (We’ve got some exciting campaigns coming soon from Habbo Stories!)

So, what’s this number verification thing?

A few of you investigative types have delved into the client, found references to a new number verification feature, and have concerns about the security of your number should you opt to provide it. I’m here to put those concerns to bed.

If a player gives us their number through this service, an SMS containing a verification code will be sent to their phone, then they simply enter this code into the client window. Afterwards we store the number in such a way that means even we don’t know what it is, similar to how passwords are stored.

This new feature comes hand in hand with some upcoming changes we’re making to new user registration – we’re not going to force anybody to give us their number and we’re certainly not looking to spam your phones! After the SMS verification, you won’t receive another SMS from us.

On the plus side, being able to verify numbers is a good thing! If we can verify that an account is authentic, then we can offer that account better prices and exclusive deals! There’s even something for you old schoolers.. what was that thing’s name.. the R-O-M?

Have you got any idea what R-O-M could stand for? Leave any ideas in the comments!