Fans of Monster Galaxy, the popular Facebook and mobile game from Gaia Interactive, are in for a treat. Gaia Interactive has partnered with Radar Pictures to bring Monster Galaxy to the big screen.
Top 10 Facebook Game Gets Movie Deal
Social Games
Cross-Platform Flexibility Gives PlayPhone’s PXP an Edge
Revenues from virtual goods sales in social games is growing exponentially each year and has the potential to reach $4 billion globally by 2016. Nonetheless, successfully monetizing social games is nowalk in the park, especially for those developers who may not have all the necessary resources. Luckily for them, the PlayPhone social gaming network just released PlayPhone PXP, a complete tool set ofadvanced virtual goods management tools supporting Android, iOS, and HTML5. More after the jump.
Game Personalization Platform Lets Developers A/B Test Virtual Items
Personalization in games is less talked about compared to various other topics such as distribution and monetization. That’s because it is difficult to discuss as actionable insights get lost among the heaps of data developers collect. Making breakthroughs in this space is a company called Swrve that I had a pleasure to sit down with and discuss their emerging platform. More after the jump.
GREE, DeNA and the Mobile Social Gaming Wild West
Mobile social gaming network GREE has recently announced its plan to launch a cohesive mobile gaming platform by mid 2012. In addition, the Japanese giant is also projecting net sales of around $1.7B, a 40 percent jump from the firm’s previous projections. This news comes at a time when DeNA is aggressively laying out its plans for Mobage Global after achieving a net income of around $105M for the quarter. More after the jump.
Smule Raises $12M Round As It Continues Hiring Spree
According to a recent SEC filing, music app developer Smule has raised $12M in another round of funding after having previously raised $13.5. Best known for its popular mobile apps such as the I am T-Pain autotune app and Ocarina, Smule will aggressively pursue the mobile social music market by continuing to innovate on its existing free-to-play apps. More after the jump.
CrowdStar Goes Core
It’s no longer a mystery: CrowdStar’s entering the midcore market with a strategy game for social gamers on Facebook called Wasteland Empires. The social gaming company’s MAU count fell from 20M at the beginning of the month to 12M in mid October, with Facebook’s changes in how it counts active users accounting for a rough 3M count loss. More after the jump.
Google+ Games: Analysis and Opportunities
In mid-August, Google announced the launch of Google+ games integrated directly into the search giant’s new social network. Silicon Valley consensus is that Google is finally making a direct attack at Facebook and that company’s commanding lead over social networking; the inclusion of social games, which comprise much of Facebook’s own user activity, seems confirmation of that strategy.
Ted Simon of Kabam, one of the developers in Google+ game’s pilot launch, told SocialTimes Pro the company’s so far seen a promising response by Google+ users to its complex strategy games with a deep social focus:
“Based on early returns, we’re pleased with how things are going so far for our two titles on Google+ games, Edgeworld and Dragons of Atlantis,” Simon told us. “Those are both hardcore social games, not casual games, and Google+ gamers are responding to them well. That’s an indicator that members of our primary audience, core gamers, are residing on this platform.”
As Altimeter’s Jeremiah Owyang sees it, Google+ is an opportunity for game developers simply by being a relatively large social network: “All social profiles are key for game developers, as they can tap into existing networks for increased ability for login and registration,” he told SocialTimes Pro. “Secondly, by using existing friend networks they can increase the chance of content, scoreboards, leaderboards, and sharing of virtual goods.”
In the estimation of comScore’s Andrew Lipsman, Google+ will need about 20% total market penetration to establish itself sufficiently and grow organically. “[Once] a site reaches 20% penetration in the U.S. for example,” he explained to SocialTimes Pro, “the network effects tend to strengthen and propel it higher.” (Lipsman noted that Facebook, and before it MySpace only, reached critical mass upon reaching this level of market penetration.) “That means 35 or 40 million users in the U.S.”
According to comScore, Google+ had about 6 million monthly U.S. uniques at the end of July. So while Google+ is showing strong growth in its early months, it will probably still need tens of millions more in the U.S. alone, before becoming an attractive platform for game developers.
Flurry’s Jeferson Valadares did offer cautious advice for developers interested in Google+: “I think if you manage to get support from Google it might be worth taking a chance,” he told us. For those developers who do wish to pursue this opportunity, Valadares had this recommendation: “Be ready to figure out monetization for yourself since Google Checkout penetration is not particularly high,” he told us. Related to this (and based on Flurry’s analysis of iOS and Android app monetization), Valadares recommended that Google game developers “not rely 100% on Google Checkout and to find out alternative ways of making revenue such as Trialpay or find some other payment providers in parallel.”
What’s incumbent on Google, Will Harbin, CEO of leading hardcore social game developer Kixeye, told us, is this: “They need to prove they have traction that makes it worth our while… Meanwhile, life as a game developer on the browser and Facebook is quite good.” He went on to argue that for his company at least, Facebook’s 30% commission on revenue is more than compensated for by the social network’s large user base. “We didn’t see any change in revenue [since switching to Facebook Credits].” Harbin added that the company has been increasing month-over-month in revenue, even with Facebook’s 30% take.
At the moment, Google+ has no key market differentiator to Facebook, in great part because it has branded itself as a network for real names and identities, which is also the core branding identity of Facebook. This cedes enormous advantage to Facebook and, in SocialTimes Pro’s view, misses a tremendous market opportunity: To become the social network that can also appeal to all those who wish to share content with the many individuals in their extended, Internet-based social circles, via hundreds of millions of pseudonymous identities. By a very rough estimate, there are about 200 million of these in the West alone, a great many from Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms, and perhaps as many associated with gaming platforms, such as the online service Steam (30 million) and virtual world games such as Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online, IMVU, and Second Life (25 million+). Allowing and enabling pseudonymous identities would give Google+ a unique value proposition distinct from Facebook. And, because so many pseudonymous identities are associated with online games, such an offering could greatly increase interest and engagement with Google+ games in particular.
72 Percent of iPhone App Revenue Comes from Apps Featuring In-App Purchases
Distimo, the app store market tracking service, continues to reveal the importance of the freemium model. Free app downloads have grown 34 percent since 2010 in contrast to paid app downloads which grew by 7 percent. In the past the firm also reported a 10x growth in freemium revenue from top releases on the App Stor. More after the jump.
Apple’s AirPlay Mirroring Means iPad Games on Your TV — Will This Affect the Games Industry?
As the lines between console and mobile continue to blur, Apple’s eyes remain fixated on conquering the living room experience. Its introduction of AirPlay Mirroring could be a key blow to console makers like Sony and Microsoft who are still trying to gain traction on the mobile frontier. The plethora of content on Apple’s App Store combined with portable devices could be the reason why Apple will be the first to deliver a seamless gaming experience. More after the jump.
OpenFeint’s Game Discovery App Launches On Android
OpenFeint has been the heartthrob of writers in the gaming space, notably for its departing personnel, as it navigates the murky waters of iOS. The latest news to come from the mobile gaming network is its launch of its app discovery platform Game Channel on Android. More after the jump.
