MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, who left the social-networking company last year, is part of a group buying the Facebook online game provider MindJolt. DeWolfe, along with former MySpace executives Colin Digiaro and Aber Whitcomb, made the acquisition with Austin Ventures, San Francisco-based MindJolt said today in a statement.

MindJolt provides access to 1,300 games on the Web and has more than 20 million active users on Facebook and other sites, according to the statement. Terms weren’t disclosed. DeWolfe, who will be chief executive, left MySpace in April, about four years after selling the social network to News Corp. as part of a deal worth $580 million.

With MindJolt, DeWolfe is trying to capitalize on the increasing number of people who play games on Palo Alto, California-based Facebook. Zynga Game Network Inc., the biggest maker of games on Facebook, is worth $2.61 billion, according to SharesPost Venture-Backed Index, which tracks trading of shares in private companies.

MindJolt gives developers tools to distribute games on social networks and collect revenue, according to the statement. The U.S. market for games played on social-networking sites, including Facebook and MySpace, will triple to more than $2 billion in 2012, according to ThinkEquity LLC.

Social games generate revenue by selling items that let users advance, such as a virtual tractor in Zynga’s “FarmVille.” Electronic Arts Inc. acquired the social game company Playfish for as much as $400 million in November.

U.S. visitors to MySpace, based in Los Angeles, fell to 69.7 million in January from 75.6 million a year earlier, according to ComScore Inc. Facebook Inc.’s more than doubled in that period to 112 million. DeWolfe’s replacement at MySpace, Owen Van Natta, left the company last month after less than a year at the job. Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, executives who joined after DeWolfe left, were named co-presidents.