Up to 18 people can play in a single Deal or No Deal Facebook game at once, mirroring Endemol’s 1 vs 100 XBox Live game which, Valkin says, attracted 144,000 simultaneous users at its peak and an average of 55,000 while it was running (a new season starts next week in the UK). Deal Or No Deal the TV show is now in 50 countries and has spawned PC games, console games, fruit machines in pubs and much else in terms of merchandise—the Facebook game is simply an extension of that.

But casual games aren’t just an optional add-on for Endemol, they’re a real revenue driver says Valkin: “All the projects we showcased today are not only revenue-generating but profitable projects and some by much than you might think.” He declines to say exactly how much Endemol’s online assets generate, but to be profitable is a start. Valkin says “much more” is to come in 2010 from Endemol in porting its IP onto Facebook and other social networks in the form of games and other projects.