Idle Games, the start-up that sought to establish a new breed of social games with innovative mechanics, has laid off 25 workers from its Idle Worship team, and is now focusing on casino games.
The developer previously described itself as "the instigator of a holy war against social games that suck and aren't actually social," garnering plenty of positive press and even a GDC Online Award nomination (for "Online Innovation") for its first release Idle Worship.
But the game has struggled to build a sizable userbase since launching in March, and currently has only 10,000 daily active users. Co-founder and CEO Jeff Hyman explained to Inside Social Games that all the attention Idle Worship received failed to make the game profitable.
"There's a good life lesson there that you don't need to innovate on every single vector," he said. "In order to be successful, you don't want the press, reviews, and accolades. You want bucket loads of money."
Based in San Francisco, Idle Games has raised $19 million from investors since opening in 2009. The company still has 40 employees after the headcount reduction, who will focus on the company's new title Fresh Deck Poker and future social casino games.
Hyman notes that with this headcount reduction, Idle Worship can now pay for itself (it currently generates around $0.12 to $0.13 in average revenue per daily user). The game will continue to receive support from the studio.
Really unfortunate. I was hoping Idle Worship would be successful to reignite some creativity in the social space. But good lesson - "You don't need to innovate on every single vector".
I played around on this game for awhile, but in the end, it wasn't really innovative in the gameplay sense. You could say it was innovative in a thematic sense, but only in the social space, as "god games" have been around forever.
"There's a good life lesson there that you don't need to innovate on every single vector," he said. "In order to be successful, you don't want the press, reviews, and accolades. You want bucket loads of money."
This is what ultimately makes me sad. If I were to rephrase:
"Well, trying to make a great and innovative experience didn't work. Lets just stick to things that make money."
Sounds like the game IS successful, but not relative to their expenses. With a headcount of 65 people in San Francisco, they much have an incredible burn rate.
Best of luck to the people affected.
This is what ultimately makes me sad. If I were to rephrase:
"Well, trying to make a great and innovative experience didn't work. Lets just stick to things that make money."