|
[What's the right platform strategy for social games? Zynga, Ngmoco and Evony debate whether mobile, social networking, and dedicated websites are the right moves -- and each has its own answer to the question.]
With social gaming currently sizzling hot, some developers are rethinking their platform strategies in order to capture additional eyeballs. While one leaps from Facebook to a dedicated web site and to iPhone, another hops from browser to Facebook. Meanwhile a third has decided to stay put on devices like the iPhone and iPad.
It's a potpourri of strategies, to be sure, with each of the developers confident that theirs is what will work best for their particular game.
Take San Francisco-based Zynga, for example, best known for developing browser-based games that work both stand-alone (on FarmVille.com, for instance) and as apps on social networking sites like Facebook. Practically a year to the day after FarmVille launched on Facebook in June 2009, the wildly popular game was expanded to the iPhone.
According to Mark Skaggs, Zynga's VP of product development, no one should have been surprised: "Our strategy is to go where the players are. And since we know that there are a large number of our Facebook FarmVille players who have mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, why not let them have the opportunity to experience our games from that platform as well?"
In addition to expanding the FarmVille gamer population, Skaggs believes it's also important to give current players more choices.
"Some people don't sit in front of their computer all day," he explains. "And let's say their crops are coming due on FarmVille, but they have no access to the game at the moment. How great is it that they can just use their iPhone to play?"
Skaggs denies that the transition had anything to do with the difficulties Zynga has experienced with Facebook. Since its peak of 85 million users in March 2009, FarmVille has shed more than 18 million of them. The troubles stemmed in part from Facebook's decision to limit app notifications, which many developers rely on for the viral growth of their titles.
FarmVille
"I wouldn't tie the two together," he explains. "Facebook is a great partner and that's going to go forward. But there are also other platforms and other avenues that we're exploring as well." Skaggs chose not to elaborate.
Skaggs doesn't necessarily believe that Zynga's strategy -- to extend its game to mobile devices -- is the right one for all social game developers.
"Any business that has gone from zero to 500 million users in just a few years is going to attract developers who want a piece of that and who have their take on the best way to do business," he says. "Ours is just one of the strategies out there."
|
Printer-Friendly Version
Casual games like Farmville and Tetris often have a longer shelf life because of what marketers refer to as "snacking" - the ability to pick up or leave a game without a significant time commitment. So while the product itself may be sustainable for the long term, its growth is not. In other words, Farmville's decline would have occurred regardless of changes to Facebook's policies.
That said, product life cycles can follow a variety of patterns, and Zynga could see its popular farming game return to growth if it proves successful on other platforms or if it is introduced to new markets. In fact, farm games have long been popular in the Far East and Zynga simply expanded that market by introducing an English language version adapted for American audiences.
I would have liked to hear insight from Downie on why he believes this statement.
The long term forecast is that the barrier to entry for game design will continue to drop.
If anything, Downie et al. should be concerned with their own innovation, since as the market matures, they'll have serious competition from *every* angle. It's foolish to think that "bigger companies" will have some sort of control over this market, like the EA's of the past might have.
Without evidence, I hesitate to say that notification changes had no impact whatsoever, but I agree that the impact was probably minimal. The fact that the decline correlated with notification changes does not establish a causal relationship. Nevertheless, it does raise the issue of the risks (and opportunities) associated with relying on a single business partner or software platform. Zynga has clearly benefited from the phenomenal growth of Facebook, but the company is looking for ways to reduce that dependence and, by tapping into new markets, return to growth.
In my experience, the game was first discovered by those under age 30. But most young people find the game boring and quit after a few days. All of my high level neighbors are over age 40, and mostly women. In essence the teenagers try the game for a few days and get their friends and parents to try it. But its the parents that stick with the game. It is very rare for a computer game to appeal to women over 40. And many of these women are in a position to pay real money occasionally, if Zynga can find compelling content that these power players are willing to pay extra for.