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The Average Social Gamers Are 43-Year-Old Women [Infographic]

Megan O'Neill — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:11:14 +0000

Have you ever wondered who plays the most social games? A new infographic from Flowtown breaks it down. ‘Who Are Social Gamers?’ takes a look at everything from the gender, age, family situation, education, income, employment and more to find out who, exactly, social gamers are.
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IPO Market Roundup: 10 Social Media Sector Companies to Watch

Tom Johansmeyer — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:12:31 +0000

Groupon, Angie’s List, Pandora, Zillow, LinkedIn … it’s been an interesting year for social media IPOs so far. And, there are more on the way. Zynga is set to go public in the next two weeks, and there are plenty of other interesting companies with hefty bank accounts thanks to venture capital investment. Hey, there are lots of social media and internet companies that have already filed their IPO paperwork. It can be hard to keep track sometimes! So, let’s take a look at 10 of the most interesting objects of IPO speculation:

1. Zynga: the social gaming leader is the next social media IPO in the pipeline. The company is doing its IPO roadshow this week and is rumored to have an IPO date of December 15, 2011. But, the numbers keep looking uglier. The latest is that the capital raise, of around $1 billion, will come at a valuation of only $9 billion.

2. Kayak: Kayak is a tool you can use to search for cheap travel options across a wide range of online travel agencies and other travel websites. The company filed for its IPO a year ago but still hasn’t pulled the trigger, largely due to market conditions. It’s most recent S-1 update shows positive results, but the CEO says the company doesn’t have to go public (i.e., for the capital it needs to operate). This follows mixed messages from the CEO and the CMO.

3. Yelp: letting people vent about awful consumer experiences is a great business, it seems. The user-generated review site is looking to raise $100 million by going public, but there are few other details so far. Rumor has it the IPO valuation could be as high as $2 billion.

4. LivingSocial: once thought to be on the road to an IPO, right behind competitor Groupon, LivingSocial has effectively pulled out of the process, opting instead to raise another $200 million in venture capital money. The deal comes with an implied valuation of $5 billion.

5. Gilt Groupe: this year has been a good one for online consumer business companies (even Groupon and Angie’s List managed to go public – and let’s not forget about Zillow, HomeAway and Pandora). According to Kevin Ryan, Gilt’s CEO, the company is looking to go public in 2013.

6. Twitter: market-wide speculation has the microblogging site nailing its IPO in 2013, as well. With only $140 million in revenue forecasted for this year – despite an implied valuation of $8 billion in its last venture capital round – this makes sense. Twitter would benefit from time to keep picking up new advertisers and launch its self-service model.

7. ExactTarget: the email and social media marketing platform filed last week to for an IPO that would raise $100 million. Details are still thin, but it’s worth keeping in mind that ExactTarget, though not profitable, has a strong growth plan in place. Capital used to fuel expansion could be what it needs to go the distance.

8. Glam Media: CEO Samir Arora wouldn’t say at Business Insider IGNITION 2011 last week when he plans to take Glam Media public. The recent hire of an IPO-ready CFO, however, indicates that discussions must be in the works.

9. Jive Software: briefly rumored to be an SAP takeover target, the B2B social media software company has filed to raise $117 million in its IPO. It isn’t profitable yet, but Jive Software is optimistic enough to pursue a valuation of above $500 million (half the level of earlier speculation about the company). Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital and the cofounders stand to get richest.

10. Facebook: no social media IPO list would be complete without Facebook, right? The latest rumor is that the company is going to file in April and go public in September. The goal, it seems, is to raise $10 billion in capital on a $100 billion valuation. But, there’s been no shortage of rumors about the Facebook IPO for a long time now …

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Brazil’s Social Gaming Market Projected to Reach $238M by 2014

Kenna McHugh — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:20:33 +0000

The social gaming market in Brazil is predicted to grow as large as $238 million by 2014, according to a study by social research firm SuperData. That is a momentous increase from the $136 million the market is predicted to be worth at the end of the year.
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Tapjoy and PapayaMobile Team To Deliver Social Game Discovery on Android

Azam Khan — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:00:58 +0000

Tapjoy and PapayaMobile today announced that they are partnering to launch Social Marketplace that provides users with recommendations on which apps to download. Both companies have released a flurry of announcements recently and this particular news could be great for developers and users alike. More after the jump. continued…

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Q&A with Q-Games on PixelJunk Monsters Online for Facebook

Azam Khan — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:15:21 +0000

As console developers continue to expand to social and mobile platforms, I had a chance to get with Bear Trickey, Jesse Venbrux and Zach Aikman of Q-Games who recently launched PixelJunk Monsters Online on Facebook in an interview where they shared their approach to developing for Facebook. More after the jump. continued…

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Cross-Platform Flexibility Gives PlayPhone’s PXP an Edge

Azam Khan — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:55:58 +0000

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 no walk 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 of advanced virtual goods management tools supporting Android, iOS, and HTML5. More after the jump. continued…

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Game Personalization Platform Lets Developers A/B Test Virtual Items

Azam Khan — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:40:12 +0000

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.

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GREE, DeNA and the Mobile Social Gaming Wild West

Azam Khan — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:45:26 +0000

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. continued…

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CrowdStar Goes Core

Azam Khan — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:00:59 +0000

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. continued…

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72 Percent of iPhone App Revenue Comes from Apps Featuring In-App Purchases

Azam Khan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:20:02 +0000

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 Store. continued…

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Apple’s AirPlay Mirroring Means iPad Games on Your TV — Will This Affect the Games Industry?

Azam Khan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:50:21 +0000

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. continued…

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OpenFeint’s Game Discovery App Launches On Android

Azam Khan — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:32:03 +0000

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. continued…

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Is The Majority of Social Gaming Revenue Coming From Outside Facebook? Report Says Yes.

Azam Khan — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:15:15 +0000

Just a year ago when people mentioned social games, it was a synonym for Facebook games. Fast forward today, Viximo’s latest report entitled ‘Beyond Facebook’ claims that all the other social networks, that comprise 70 percent of social networking traffic in the world, bring in more gaming revenue combined. More after the jump. continued…

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wooga Launches Magic Land Island on Mobile With Facebook Support

Azam Khan — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:55:22 +0000

Facebook’s mobile announcement is spawning an army of games with Facebook tie-ins. Social gaming company Wooga is leaping into the HTML5 frenzy by launching its first mobile game Magic Land Island that can be accessed on almost any device. More after the jump. continued…

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Storm8′s Blockbuster Titles Launch On Facebook Mobile Apps

Azam Khan — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:35:26 +0000

Storm8, one of the premier mobile game developers for iPhone and Android has just launched 3 of its popular mobile titles with Facebook connectivity. This announcement comes in lieu of Facebook’s recent announcement to support third party mobile apps with its social infrastructure from within its own mobile apps. More after the jump. continued…

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