Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

“The battle’s been raging for years to try and put together a ‘social network for gamers’.  The idea is that gamers everywhere need a place where they can hook up with one another, share their scores across all their platforms, challenge one another and find new games.  I’ve seen it tried in some form by EA Rupture, Zynga, OfferPal (now TapJoy), Facebook and even Apple.  Among the various efforts, though Raptr has stood out as a solid option, combining a simple interface with a plethora of options.  Today, Raptr’s upgrading.

Raptr announced today that they are launching a social news platform, which is essentially a news feed.  This will be broadcast to its 8m+ user base today, and the goal is to get gamers interacting with one another more, and likely discovering new games and opportunities based on the feed.  They’re not saying much about the algorithm that chooses what gamer stories you see, but they’ve indicated it will be based on what you play, what platforms you use and what your friends do.  Raptr’s CEO, Dennis Fong, explains:

“At Raptr we’re reinventing the way people stay connected and informed about the games they care about. We’re excited by the launch of the new community-driven website because it builds upon the success of our existing service and provides a new way to discover and share content.”

Check out Raptr and let us know what you think.  The list of features available at the site are given below as well, in case you weren’t sure what else you can get out of the service.

• Personalized news feed
• Community-curated content
• Expanded topics to include all things related to gaming
• Suggestion engine to help you discover new games
• Automatic gameplay and achievements tracker on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3
• Centralized buddy list and friend tracker
• In-game chat and web browsing for PC games”

Source:

• socialtimes.com by Neil Vidyarthi

“Without question, the social gaming market is the newly hot space in the game industry.  Some of the leading developers have emerged as companies only in the last few years and in that time have managed to gather tens of millions of both dollars and users from these games.   With these outstanding numbers and increasing sociality of games not only on the web, but on mobile and console platforms as well, it seems like a very attractive market to enter.  However, for all its potential, it’s a place that many independent developers and traditional game publishers are having difficulty being successful in.  The reason for this is because these games are overwhelmingly financed by microtransactions of virtual goods, and knowing how to inspire users to pay you for virtual goods is something that’s not easy to master.

This article will attempt to shed light on these economics within the social games market, what kind of opportunity exists for new entrants, and provide strategies that independent developers with limited resources can use to make a successful entry into the market.  This article is one of a two part series that will focus on strategies independent developers can use to be successful.  The next will focus on strategies for publishers to enter the space.”

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Amid booming consumer spend on PC social networking games in 2010, Zynga managed to pad its market share lead over the other top operators, based on the success of its CityVille and FarmVille offerings, new IHS Screen Digest (NYSE: IHS) research indicates.

Consumer spend on Zynga’s PC social networking games and its revenue from lead generation and advertising activities amounted to $544 million in 2010, giving it 39.1 percent share of the global market, a 4.2 percentage point increase over 2009. This represented the largest increase among the Top 5 operators.

The IHS Screen Digest market ranking of the Top 5 PC social networking game operators is presented in the attached table. The market sizing of PC social network games combines consumer spend on both microtransactions and operator revenues that have been derived from lead generation and advertising.

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Despite the record-breaking activity resulting from the release of Zynga’s CityVille on Facebook in December 2010, the leading social network has seen its gaming userbase swiftly settle back into the mature groove heralded in the second half of last year. One record left untouched by CityVille’s immense touchdown is that of average engagement of the top games, which stubbornly holds firm.

Wheras Zynga may have successfully expanded its position on Facebook in the past quarter, performance isn’t as rosy for some of 2010′s major companies, as increased competition and other factors take toll, and newly released games become essential for combating churn, offering little growth.

Further, we offer closer looks at the numerous alternative networks to Facebook that are presenting opportunity to European operators, such as V Kontakte, Tuenti and Nasza Klasa. Three prominent Facebook titles of various note are also examined in greater detail: Bejeweled Blitz, Ravenwood Fair and Millionaire City.

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“By the end of 2010, Facebook was the leading social networking site in 15 of the 18 European markets included in this report. Only the Netherlands, Poland, and Russia have other social networks – in each case a home grown site – with audiences larger than Facebook. With 48 percent monthly penetration of the internet user population in the Netherlands, Facebook currently ranks second to Hyves, while it also ranks second in Poland with 55.5 percent penetration behind Nasza-klasa.pl. It should be noted, however, that Facebook is growing rapidly in both those markets. In Russia, Facebook has its lowest penetration in Europe at 18.8 percent, currently lagging behind leaders
Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, and Mail.ru – My World.”

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