The intersection of three on fire markets in technology sector: mobile, gaming, and social networks is getting more and more of attention. Thus, mobile social gaming will be definitely the hottest trend this year. Social gaming drastically transformed the way people socialize with friends online. Moreover 2011 will be remembered as the year when it will become a $1 billion business. As reported by eMarketer “nearly 62 million US Internet users, or 27% of the online audience, will play at least one game on a social network monthly this year, up from 53 million in 2010”. The social gaming revenue is consisted of three driving forces: virtual goods, lead-generation offers and advertising. This year they are expected to generate $653 million, $248 million, and $192 million respectively. On the other hand, Gartner’s estimation of the total mobile gaming market by 2014 is incredible $11.4 billion, as reported by The Economic Times. Furthermore, “as mobile devices become more ubiquitous (especially in emerging countries), we’ll see developers utilize the GPS, accelerometers, camera and directional compass features to surpass the abilities of video game console platforms. We’ll also see mobile tablets and portable gaming platforms usher in millions more mobile gamers thus fueling increased demand”, says Mark Fidelman, Vice President of Sales at MindTouch, the leading open source collaborative networking company. Thus, it is no surprise that companies have already foreseen the benefits of intersection between mobile, gaming, and social networks markets. Let’s take a look at some of this year’s current and predicted trends that might have impact on mobile social gaming.
1. Facebook Credits mandatory for game developers: As reported by TechCrunch 4 months ago, Facebook made Facebook Credits mandatory for Games, with the rule going into effect on July 1, 2011. In other words, Facebook Credits will be “the exclusive way for users to get their ‘real money’ into a game but developers are still allowed to keep their own in-game currencies (FarmBucks, FishPoints, etc.)”, reports TechCrunch. The rule applies to Canvas games only. Thus, games that use Facebook Connect are not affected. What’s the positive side for game developers? As Facebook marketing manager Deborah Liunoted at the Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011 conference in San Francisco, one universal currency will make users confident that when they purchase Facebook Credits or receive them as a gift, they can spend them in any game on Facebook. Information Week SMB reports her belief that this will “encourage more people to play games, and encourage current game players to expand the number of games they play”. Moreover, Rick Thompson, co-founder of Playdom, a social media games developer acquired by Disney in 2010, said at the conference that the decision shows Facebook is “addicted” to social media gaming and will keep investing in this area of its business, reports InformationWeek SMB. And what’s the negative side for game developers? With the new rule, Facebook automatically receives a 30% cut whenever consumers make a purchase with the currency. This has raised fears among some smaller developers about the viability of their businesses’ future, reports InformationWeek SMB.
2. Google is getting into gaming business: Last year in April, Gamasutra reported that Google continues its expansion into game-related areas and for that purpose it hired the industry veteran Mark DeLoura. He was named as “Developer Advocate” for games at Google. A bit later, in July, 2010, TechCrunch reported that “Google quietly invested $100 million in Zynga in preparation for a new product dubbed Google Games”. Next, it was Slide, which develops social games, “while its investment arm Google Ventures backed gaming companies like ngmoco (popular iPhone/iPad game developer) and SCVNGR (location based game)”. Another indicator of Google’s real effort to enter the gaming market appeared last month when TechCrunch uncovered that a “job offer surfaced on Google’s LinkedIn profile”. According to this offer, Google was looking for a Product Manager to “grow its brand-new business – Games at Google!,” reports TechCrunch. Moreover, it was stated that this person will be responsible for designing “strategies for game distribution and discovery, player identity, game mechanics, and more”. Thus, Google is serious about getting into gaming.
3. Zynga is creating its own network: Last week, Mashable reported the 14th acquisition Zynga made in 12 months. It is the DNA Games, a social game studio behind Facebook games Casino City, Slot City and Barworld. Casino City, DNA’s most popular game, has 1.5 million monthly active users, reports Mashable. Flock, a social network browser that launched in 2005, was another acquisition Zynga made in January, 2011. The company’s browser allows users to access their social networks while browsing other websites. As reported by VentureBeat,“Chief executive Shawn Hardin wrote that the deal is a ‘perfect fit’ and that Flock will help Zynga in achieving their goal of building the most fun, social games available to anyone, anytime – on any platform”. According to TechCrunch, “the engineering talent within Flock has been sought after by companies like Twitter and Google, and it appears that Zynga wants a piece of that for their games”. Furthermore, mobile social gaming is what Zynga seems to be aiming to. Acquiring Newtoy, mobile game company, or Floodgate Entertainment, which is saidto be “well-versed in the mobile games space with releases like a mobile adaptation of Civilization and Flowerz, a Windows Phone 7 game, under its belt”, indicates Zynga’s efforts to get more into mobile gaming. This again brings us to the point that some of the biggest players in gaming business are already trying to capitalize on intersection of the three hottest markets: gaming, mobile, and social networks.
4. Electronic Arts (EA) acquired Flight Control creator Firemint: In the beginning of this month, Electronic Arts (EA), an American developer and publisher of computer and video games, acquired Firemint, a privately held mobile development studio based in Melbourne, Australia. It is mostly recognized as the developer of Flight Control and Real Racing for iPhone and iPad. Barry Cottle, Executive Vice President and General Manger of EA Interactive said: “The Firemint team is remarkable for its critical and commercial success. Having them as part of EAi will accelerate our position as worldwide leader in game development for mobile devices and online gaming platforms.” Recently, EA also purchased Mobile Post Production (MPP), another mobile developer. These moves show EA intentions “to dominate the market for mobile games on smartphones and tablets, where it already has a big presence”, reports VentureBeat.
5. Apple: Free currency in social games is out: In April this year, TechCrunch reported that “Apple is clamping down on incentivized downloads”, thus it became much harder to buy yourself popularity on the AppStore. Game developers that used this technique, rewarding users if they install another app, to gain popularity need to find another strategy since Apple started to reject such apps, reports TechCrunch. The reason for this is “the weird imbalance on Apple’s top app charts, as apps that may suffer from bugs, or simply aren’t that enjoyable suddenly rise to the top of the free or paid app charts. This “padding” makes other games (those that don’t use this incentive-based download feature) look worse by comparison, which Apple claims simply isn’t fair”, reports Games.com.
The gaming design is definitely changing. It is not about being mobile or social only, but it is about being both. Competition is buying talent from all three fields. Moreover, as the battlefield gets crowded, the rules of the game change, imposing greater challenges on game developers’ side. Thus, watch out the latest trends in the industry, learn quickly, learn often and grab the opportunity.