City of Wonder
Playdom is whipping out games left and right these days, and hot on the trails of Fanglies and Market Street is a Civilization-themed city builder named City of Wonder. This game just launched today, so now is your chance to hop in and be one of the first to try out this brand new title.
If you're not a big fan of Social City, you probably won't love City of Wonder. The game is an improvement on the original, but uses the same core mechanics and has a familiarity that Social City fans will feel right at home with. The main goal is to build a city, research technologies, and become wealthy. Players have "goods" which are basically similar to the contracts in Social City. Players research new technologies and have advisors that tell them which ones to pick. Researching new technologies unlocks different decorations and buildings. Population is increased just how it is in Social City, and everything else feels just about the same. Visiting neighbors gives bonuses when you find your 'embassy' within their city.
While I haven't had the chance to dig in too deep yet, there does seem to be some interesting new game ideas. Once you reach level 5 you can take part in "expeditions", which we suspect are for attacking and trading. There are also "Legends" which appear to be characters that give you bonuses such as faster research time. We'll be covering this game more in depth in the future.
Want to be one of the first to try out City of Wonder? Play it on Facebook now!
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn playdom. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn playdom. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Thứ Năm, 9 tháng 2, 2012
Thứ Sáu, 3 tháng 2, 2012
ESPNU College Town's Jay Arrera reveals how TV might help social games grow [Interview]
ESPNU College Town
ESPNU College Town, released just over 30 days ago, has already amassed over 2 million monthly users and released two major content updates introducing Facebook Credits, baseball, softball and myriad new items. Regardless of the Playdom pedigree, social game growth is in a weird limbo where companies will take a step forward only to take two more back. So, it begs the question: how? ESPNU College Town's Senior Producer Jay Arrera tells us how Playdom managed to attract a few million college sports fans in less than 60 days (hint: lots of TV advertisements) and how the studio plans to keep them coming back for more.
What was the inspiration behind ESPNU College Town and why use the ESPNU brand specifically?
ESPN actually approached Playdom. The company had recently launched Social City in the spring of this year, it did very well and actually received the Game of the Year Award at GDC Online. ESPN were big fans of the game and they approached us and said, 'We have an idea for someone to be an athletic director, we've seen that you made a really popular game in the social game space.' We formed a partnership where ESPN would work with Playdom on multiple titles and this is the first title in that series.
ESPNU Campus
ESPNU might be one of the most traditionally advertised Facebook games to date with TV spots found on ESPN. Why is it that you went with this approach to get the word out there?
That was definitely ESPN's drive. Facebook games are traditionally advertised only on Facebook, but part of it was that we wanted to attract ESPN's audience through the strength of their brand. They wanted this to be a game that was played by their audience and so we wanted to bring new users to ESPN's brand and ESPN wanted to bring new players to Facebook. I think we've succeeded; we've seen an increase in traffic from both ESPN.com and their related fan pages. But also we've got a lot of people playing this game who have never played a Facebook game before. Or they've heard about Facebook games, but nothing but bad things about them and are really enjoying and totally addicted to this game now.
What do you think has contributed most to ESPNU's insanely fast growth in just the past month?
I think it's the passion for college sports, specifically their alma mater. What's an important feature for us is to have people able to identify with a real-world school and with that they bring all of their passion, pride and rivalries. People are very competitive with their [school] rivalries. They're also really enjoying the campus-building portion and being able to make their campus look like how they remember it or wish had it ever been.
Going off of that, have you found trouble finding new players in the face of Facebook's recent changes to discovery and Groups?
I wouldn't say we're having trouble finding players, but it's changing the tactics we're using to get the word out. And that's one of the reasons we're really excited about this partnership with ESPN so that we can try a bunch of different advertising mediums that we haven't used before and see which ones are most effective and which ones aren't. The changes to Facebook have absolutely impacted our ability to use channels that we've used in the past. So, we're definitely getting creative.
ESPNU Cross Promotion Social City
How successful have the cross-game promotions been for ESPNU? Is that something that Playdom plans to continue in the future?
I think we'll do it on a case-by-case basis. It worked really well for this game because we were attracting an audience that was very interested in the specific niche we were going for with U.S.-based college sports fans. So, it was very effective for capturing that audience. We'll see how it performs in other games where we're trying to go more broad appeal or even a tighter niche.
What are your thoughts on the approach of other popular sports Facebook games like Madden NFL Superstars and FIFA Superstars? Was there ever an interest in creating more interactive Challenge games during the game's development?
That was one of the first things we discussed as in the design for the game and we had the very deliberate decision to not make this into a hardcore sports simulator. We've seen a number of games on Facebook come out with that approach and they've generally not done well. There is a very different audience on Facebook that are going to be interested in that fantasy simulator-there is definitely a core audience that is into that and they do well enough for that audience, but it's not a broad appeal. Playdom's approach with this particular game is very much so to make it appeal to as wide an audience as possible, that is engaging for casual users as well as fun for someone who is really passionate about their sports.
ESPN has their brand on the line and they wanted to make sure that sports fans were still getting the full sports experience. A lot of that is done by making a lot of activities to do in the game so that if someone just wants to build a college campus, they can experience the entirety of the game just doing that. If someone wants to be extremely competitive and play out in one or multiple sports either in their conference or against their friends, they can do that too. So, it was definitely a deliberate design decision to have a lot of different gameplay options for different audiences.
I'm sure there have been countless comparisons between ESPNU and Social City, so aside from Challenges, what else do you feel differentiates this game from Social City? How about in the future?
Obviously the Competitions and the sports are the big differentiations. One of the things that was pleasantly surprising to us is that most of the players of ESPNU College Town had never played Social City. So, while some of the gaming press have said, 'Wow, it looks just like Social City," that's because Social City was very effective. And now we have an entirely new audience and they're really enjoying the game mechanics as is. They're just as invested in it as Social City players are. Some people play both games and others just play ESPNU College Town; we're really happy with that.
Challenge Mode
Are there any plans in the future to further differentiate the two games or is this as far as it goes?
Oh no, they will continue to differentiate. Playdom has also recently released City of Wonder and some people say that it's very similar to Social City-that game has its own life now, its own audience and its own theme. ESPNU College Town will continue to do the same and we are already reacting to player-requested items and features; some of the recent releases have been because of player feedback. This game has its own audience and we will deliver on that feature list now.
While we're on it, now that the foundation has been laid for ESPNU, where does Playdom take the game from here?
Well, we're still growing the game, so we're still very much in the early part of what we want to do with the game. We're still doing everything we can to get the word out and getting friends to compete and share with their own friends; that's our primary goal right now. We are continuing to work with the player vs. player competition because it's very popular. So, we've got a lot of features coming in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for those changes. As you saw, we just added baseball and softball-there's a lot of college sports out there. We've also got a lot of ideas with ESPN about how to tie in the real world with the virtual world, so you can look forward to more tie-ins there.
The game was perfectly timed with the college football season, but what plans does Playdom have to keep ESPNU relevant in the future when the 2010-2011 football season is through? Will other sports take prominence as the seasons pass?
I think you'll see that as we go along. The best answer I have is that ESPN has made it their art to keeping sports alive 365 days a year and that's what they bring to this game. The ability to be not just a seasonal game, but something that is a collegiate experience year round.
Last but certainly not least, what tips or advice do you have for ESPNU players to get an edge on the competition?
Upgrade your academics! People joke that Academics don't play any effect in the game, but that is absolutely incorrect. That is how you build your student enrollment and how you get a competitive edge in competition. Also, it helps to have a better team, so having better All Stars you absolutely will improve in your Competition. Those two things are probably the most important.
It's been a lot of fun--if you actually look in the Playdom forums, there's tremendous discussion amongst the players trading tips. Also, Playdom actively participates in the forums too, so that's a great place to go to if players are looking for the edge.
ESPNU College Town, released just over 30 days ago, has already amassed over 2 million monthly users and released two major content updates introducing Facebook Credits, baseball, softball and myriad new items. Regardless of the Playdom pedigree, social game growth is in a weird limbo where companies will take a step forward only to take two more back. So, it begs the question: how? ESPNU College Town's Senior Producer Jay Arrera tells us how Playdom managed to attract a few million college sports fans in less than 60 days (hint: lots of TV advertisements) and how the studio plans to keep them coming back for more.
What was the inspiration behind ESPNU College Town and why use the ESPNU brand specifically?
ESPN actually approached Playdom. The company had recently launched Social City in the spring of this year, it did very well and actually received the Game of the Year Award at GDC Online. ESPN were big fans of the game and they approached us and said, 'We have an idea for someone to be an athletic director, we've seen that you made a really popular game in the social game space.' We formed a partnership where ESPN would work with Playdom on multiple titles and this is the first title in that series.
ESPNU Campus
ESPNU might be one of the most traditionally advertised Facebook games to date with TV spots found on ESPN. Why is it that you went with this approach to get the word out there?
That was definitely ESPN's drive. Facebook games are traditionally advertised only on Facebook, but part of it was that we wanted to attract ESPN's audience through the strength of their brand. They wanted this to be a game that was played by their audience and so we wanted to bring new users to ESPN's brand and ESPN wanted to bring new players to Facebook. I think we've succeeded; we've seen an increase in traffic from both ESPN.com and their related fan pages. But also we've got a lot of people playing this game who have never played a Facebook game before. Or they've heard about Facebook games, but nothing but bad things about them and are really enjoying and totally addicted to this game now.
What do you think has contributed most to ESPNU's insanely fast growth in just the past month?
I think it's the passion for college sports, specifically their alma mater. What's an important feature for us is to have people able to identify with a real-world school and with that they bring all of their passion, pride and rivalries. People are very competitive with their [school] rivalries. They're also really enjoying the campus-building portion and being able to make their campus look like how they remember it or wish had it ever been.
Going off of that, have you found trouble finding new players in the face of Facebook's recent changes to discovery and Groups?
I wouldn't say we're having trouble finding players, but it's changing the tactics we're using to get the word out. And that's one of the reasons we're really excited about this partnership with ESPN so that we can try a bunch of different advertising mediums that we haven't used before and see which ones are most effective and which ones aren't. The changes to Facebook have absolutely impacted our ability to use channels that we've used in the past. So, we're definitely getting creative.
ESPNU Cross Promotion Social City
How successful have the cross-game promotions been for ESPNU? Is that something that Playdom plans to continue in the future?
I think we'll do it on a case-by-case basis. It worked really well for this game because we were attracting an audience that was very interested in the specific niche we were going for with U.S.-based college sports fans. So, it was very effective for capturing that audience. We'll see how it performs in other games where we're trying to go more broad appeal or even a tighter niche.
What are your thoughts on the approach of other popular sports Facebook games like Madden NFL Superstars and FIFA Superstars? Was there ever an interest in creating more interactive Challenge games during the game's development?
That was one of the first things we discussed as in the design for the game and we had the very deliberate decision to not make this into a hardcore sports simulator. We've seen a number of games on Facebook come out with that approach and they've generally not done well. There is a very different audience on Facebook that are going to be interested in that fantasy simulator-there is definitely a core audience that is into that and they do well enough for that audience, but it's not a broad appeal. Playdom's approach with this particular game is very much so to make it appeal to as wide an audience as possible, that is engaging for casual users as well as fun for someone who is really passionate about their sports.
ESPN has their brand on the line and they wanted to make sure that sports fans were still getting the full sports experience. A lot of that is done by making a lot of activities to do in the game so that if someone just wants to build a college campus, they can experience the entirety of the game just doing that. If someone wants to be extremely competitive and play out in one or multiple sports either in their conference or against their friends, they can do that too. So, it was definitely a deliberate design decision to have a lot of different gameplay options for different audiences.
I'm sure there have been countless comparisons between ESPNU and Social City, so aside from Challenges, what else do you feel differentiates this game from Social City? How about in the future?
Obviously the Competitions and the sports are the big differentiations. One of the things that was pleasantly surprising to us is that most of the players of ESPNU College Town had never played Social City. So, while some of the gaming press have said, 'Wow, it looks just like Social City," that's because Social City was very effective. And now we have an entirely new audience and they're really enjoying the game mechanics as is. They're just as invested in it as Social City players are. Some people play both games and others just play ESPNU College Town; we're really happy with that.
Challenge Mode
Are there any plans in the future to further differentiate the two games or is this as far as it goes?
Oh no, they will continue to differentiate. Playdom has also recently released City of Wonder and some people say that it's very similar to Social City-that game has its own life now, its own audience and its own theme. ESPNU College Town will continue to do the same and we are already reacting to player-requested items and features; some of the recent releases have been because of player feedback. This game has its own audience and we will deliver on that feature list now.
While we're on it, now that the foundation has been laid for ESPNU, where does Playdom take the game from here?
Well, we're still growing the game, so we're still very much in the early part of what we want to do with the game. We're still doing everything we can to get the word out and getting friends to compete and share with their own friends; that's our primary goal right now. We are continuing to work with the player vs. player competition because it's very popular. So, we've got a lot of features coming in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for those changes. As you saw, we just added baseball and softball-there's a lot of college sports out there. We've also got a lot of ideas with ESPN about how to tie in the real world with the virtual world, so you can look forward to more tie-ins there.
The game was perfectly timed with the college football season, but what plans does Playdom have to keep ESPNU relevant in the future when the 2010-2011 football season is through? Will other sports take prominence as the seasons pass?
I think you'll see that as we go along. The best answer I have is that ESPN has made it their art to keeping sports alive 365 days a year and that's what they bring to this game. The ability to be not just a seasonal game, but something that is a collegiate experience year round.
Last but certainly not least, what tips or advice do you have for ESPNU players to get an edge on the competition?
Upgrade your academics! People joke that Academics don't play any effect in the game, but that is absolutely incorrect. That is how you build your student enrollment and how you get a competitive edge in competition. Also, it helps to have a better team, so having better All Stars you absolutely will improve in your Competition. Those two things are probably the most important.
It's been a lot of fun--if you actually look in the Playdom forums, there's tremendous discussion amongst the players trading tips. Also, Playdom actively participates in the forums too, so that's a great place to go to if players are looking for the edge.
Thứ Năm, 2 tháng 2, 2012
Social City: Earn 90 City Bucks in magazine trial promotion
Long time players of Playdom's Social City will know that it's pretty difficult to earn City Bucks in a completely "free" fashion, that is unless you own an iPhone or Android and can take advantage of the app-exclusive offers.
For internet-only players, the opportunities for loads of free City Bucks are hit or miss, but a newest offer might actually be something worth looking into. For a limited time, users can sign up for two free, two-month trial subscriptions to two magazines (from a list containing: People, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, or Time magazines). When doing so, you'll earn a whopping 90 City Bucks as a reward. Note: the offer can be activated via the Newspaper's Financial News page.
Now, there is a catch with this, but luckily, it's nothing too sinister. When signing up for this offer, you will automatically be entered into the magazines' auto-subscription renewal services, meaning that after your two month trial of each is up, your subscription will be renewed automatically, and you will be charged the appropriate regular subscription price. However, it stands to reason that if you closed your free trial accounts before the two months was over (or, say, immediately after receiving your City Bucks), that you could avoid spending any real money on the deal.
For internet-only players, the opportunities for loads of free City Bucks are hit or miss, but a newest offer might actually be something worth looking into. For a limited time, users can sign up for two free, two-month trial subscriptions to two magazines (from a list containing: People, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, or Time magazines). When doing so, you'll earn a whopping 90 City Bucks as a reward. Note: the offer can be activated via the Newspaper's Financial News page.
Now, there is a catch with this, but luckily, it's nothing too sinister. When signing up for this offer, you will automatically be entered into the magazines' auto-subscription renewal services, meaning that after your two month trial of each is up, your subscription will be renewed automatically, and you will be charged the appropriate regular subscription price. However, it stands to reason that if you closed your free trial accounts before the two months was over (or, say, immediately after receiving your City Bucks), that you could avoid spending any real money on the deal.
Thứ Năm, 22 tháng 12, 2011
Top 25 Facebook Games - August 2011: Gardens of Time hits the big time
For all of the Playdom and Disney nay saying lately, the duo seems to be proving everyone wrong with a single game. Gardens of Time has been on a steady climb since its release, and this month it's the fifth largest Facebook game at nearly 16 million monthly players. Just last month alone, the game garnered another 1.7 million players, which is impressive for any game that wasn't made by You Know Who. (Has Zynga reached Voldemort-like proportions yet? We like to think so.)
Of course, Zynga maintains the same top four spots it did last month, even as CityVille lost over 8.5 million monthly players and Empires & Allies lost over half a million. Even FarmVille lost another 3.4 million monthly players, though it'll take a lot more than this for Zynga to lose its reign.
And oddly enough, Monster Galaxy lost a whopping 8.4 million monthly players last month just after gaining over 6 million the month prior. This caused the game to fall back from the mighty top five to now eighth place at 10.6 million players. In fact, loss is somewhat of a trend this month, with 18 of 25 games losing monthly players. This could be attributed to a list of factors, but we're gonna' go with: It's summer, and most folks would rather be outside than in front of the computer.
AppData top 25 Facebook Games August
New additions to the Top 25 are Mall World, which comes in at number 24 with 5.3 million monthly players, and Zoo World 2 in the 20 spot with 6.4 million monthly players and a gain of nearly 3 million. However, publisher RockYou, according to Inside Social Games, uses the same app ID for the sequel to Zoo World as the original, meaning RockYou has not separate the traffic from both games.
Unfortunately, Ravenwood Fair was knocked off the leader boards this month, as was MindJolt Games from the rise of Mall World and It Girl's far leap from 21st place in June to the 14 spot this time around. Gardens of Time has hit the coveted top five because, while there are hidden object games out there, it seems that Playdom hit the previously untapped genre at just the right time. It speaks volumes to Facebook games partnership director Sean Ryan's plea for developers to experiment with new genres (at least to Facebook). At this point, it just might be the only way to reach at least fifth place.
Of course, Zynga maintains the same top four spots it did last month, even as CityVille lost over 8.5 million monthly players and Empires & Allies lost over half a million. Even FarmVille lost another 3.4 million monthly players, though it'll take a lot more than this for Zynga to lose its reign.
And oddly enough, Monster Galaxy lost a whopping 8.4 million monthly players last month just after gaining over 6 million the month prior. This caused the game to fall back from the mighty top five to now eighth place at 10.6 million players. In fact, loss is somewhat of a trend this month, with 18 of 25 games losing monthly players. This could be attributed to a list of factors, but we're gonna' go with: It's summer, and most folks would rather be outside than in front of the computer.
AppData top 25 Facebook Games August
New additions to the Top 25 are Mall World, which comes in at number 24 with 5.3 million monthly players, and Zoo World 2 in the 20 spot with 6.4 million monthly players and a gain of nearly 3 million. However, publisher RockYou, according to Inside Social Games, uses the same app ID for the sequel to Zoo World as the original, meaning RockYou has not separate the traffic from both games.
Unfortunately, Ravenwood Fair was knocked off the leader boards this month, as was MindJolt Games from the rise of Mall World and It Girl's far leap from 21st place in June to the 14 spot this time around. Gardens of Time has hit the coveted top five because, while there are hidden object games out there, it seems that Playdom hit the previously untapped genre at just the right time. It speaks volumes to Facebook games partnership director Sean Ryan's plea for developers to experiment with new genres (at least to Facebook). At this point, it just might be the only way to reach at least fifth place.
Thứ Ba, 13 tháng 12, 2011
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, "finally?" During a panel named "The Rise of Social Games" at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we've come to love.
Honestly, we're surprised this didn't happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn't get into why it's taken this long for Disney to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer--and we enjoyed quite a bit--peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company's name, according to Pleasants. "We think it's an advantage, if you put game play first," Pleasants said.
It's comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam's Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
[Source and Image Credit: VentureBeat]
Are you on board with the growing trend of branded games on Facebook? Do you think developers will maintain integrity as the focus on branded content in their games intensifies?
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we've come to love.
Honestly, we're surprised this didn't happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn't get into why it's taken this long for Disney to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer--and we enjoyed quite a bit--peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company's name, according to Pleasants. "We think it's an advantage, if you put game play first," Pleasants said.
It's comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam's Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
[Source and Image Credit: VentureBeat]
Are you on board with the growing trend of branded games on Facebook? Do you think developers will maintain integrity as the focus on branded content in their games intensifies?
Thứ Ba, 11 tháng 10, 2011
Playdom co-founder: Facebook farming games aren't social games
Rick Thompson, co-founder of Disney-owned social game studio Playdom, is not happy with the lot of social games. During an interview with All Things Digital (ATD), Thompson was asked if he finds many Facebook games enjoyable. "I think they are fairly scarce," Thompson told ATD. While he did shout out to games like Kixeye's Backyard Monsters and Gardens of Time by his own former company, Thompson said that the established powers in social games are having a hard time raising the bar.
"I tend to think that those will not be very interesting in another two years, and they aren't social games," Thompson said to ATD, referring specifically to the myriad of Facebook games that insist on farming mechanics. "They are single-player games with the possibility of visiting your friend's aquarium – that's not social." (And you should already know just where Thompson is pointing.)
Despite this, Thompson says that the maturity of Facebook games is leaps and bounds beyond what it was just three years ago, mostly because of how much it costs developers to acquire new users ever since Facebook changed things up. But Thompson--now a social gaming veteran that has invested in companies like Funzio of Crime City fame to Idle Games--still sees companies that focus primarily on increasing players numbers as, well, doing it wrong.
Thompson isn't alone here, either. A number of analysts and designers alike are calling the industry out. Most recently, Eedar analyst Jesse Divnich claimed that we're on the verge of the next generation of social games. Designers like Braid creator Jonathan Blow, however, simply see the current lot of Facebook games as exploitative and not much more. (And we all know how Ian Bogost feels about the games.) Sadly, it likely won't be until arguably forward-thinking games like IdleWorship become as profitable as, say, FarmVille that Facebook games begin to agree with Thompson's sentiments on a wide scale.
Do you agree that the current lot of top Facebook games lack real social gameplay? What do you think it will take until that becomes a reality in the top 10? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
"I tend to think that those will not be very interesting in another two years, and they aren't social games," Thompson said to ATD, referring specifically to the myriad of Facebook games that insist on farming mechanics. "They are single-player games with the possibility of visiting your friend's aquarium – that's not social." (And you should already know just where Thompson is pointing.)
Despite this, Thompson says that the maturity of Facebook games is leaps and bounds beyond what it was just three years ago, mostly because of how much it costs developers to acquire new users ever since Facebook changed things up. But Thompson--now a social gaming veteran that has invested in companies like Funzio of Crime City fame to Idle Games--still sees companies that focus primarily on increasing players numbers as, well, doing it wrong.
Thompson isn't alone here, either. A number of analysts and designers alike are calling the industry out. Most recently, Eedar analyst Jesse Divnich claimed that we're on the verge of the next generation of social games. Designers like Braid creator Jonathan Blow, however, simply see the current lot of Facebook games as exploitative and not much more. (And we all know how Ian Bogost feels about the games.) Sadly, it likely won't be until arguably forward-thinking games like IdleWorship become as profitable as, say, FarmVille that Facebook games begin to agree with Thompson's sentiments on a wide scale.
Do you agree that the current lot of top Facebook games lack real social gameplay? What do you think it will take until that becomes a reality in the top 10? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Top 25 Facebook Games - October 2011: FarmVille falls even further
FarmVille I Quit
Things are just not looking up in the world of digital agriculture. This month, FarmVille gets knocked down yet another spot to fourth place with nearly 35.4 million monthly players, ousted by Zynga's brand new Adventure World. Admittedly, we were afraid of what would happen to the Zynga Boston debut given its terribly slow start, but it has amassed 35.7 million monthly players. (Keep in mind that FarmVille still has more daily players than Adventure World.)
The massive developer's two most popular Facebook games are now CityVille--still at number one with 74.6 million monthly players--and Adventure World in third place. That leaves The Sims Social, arguably the biggest upset in Facebook gaming since, well, Zynga first beat itself at its own game, trailing close behind at number two with 66.5 million monthly players. Many wonder whether EA's wildly successful Facebook game can completely beat Zynga, and at the moment it seems to have peaked, according to AppData.
Top 25 Facebook Games October
Aside from FarmVille seemingly nearing the end of its life on top despite even a new expansion, Lighthouse Cove, it looks like Zynga's most threatening competitors are solidifying their positions. As games like Gaia Online's Monster Galaxy drop over 10 places from the list completely and Cie Games's Car Town are knocked from the list one a few of the little guys remain. Ninja Saga hangs tight on the list, dropping one spot to 23rd place with 5.9 million players, while Social Point makes a major dent in the charts with Social Empires gaining over 2 million players to hit the 18 spot.
Other than Playtika's Slotomania at number 19 and King.com even bumping one spot up to 20th place with Bubble Saga, it's important to notice what's happening here. Aside from a few strong and likely savvy smaller developers, the Top 25 is slowly becoming dominated by the biggest names in social gaming. The giants of Facebook gaming are asserting their supremacy just as they did in the traditional games space, and it's likely only going to get harder for indie creators to find this level of success on Facebook. Hey, there's always Google+ Games, right?
[Source and Image Credit: Inside Social Games]
Do you think FarmVille has seen it's best days already? Do you think new independent developers still have a chance at hitting the Top 25? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Things are just not looking up in the world of digital agriculture. This month, FarmVille gets knocked down yet another spot to fourth place with nearly 35.4 million monthly players, ousted by Zynga's brand new Adventure World. Admittedly, we were afraid of what would happen to the Zynga Boston debut given its terribly slow start, but it has amassed 35.7 million monthly players. (Keep in mind that FarmVille still has more daily players than Adventure World.)
The massive developer's two most popular Facebook games are now CityVille--still at number one with 74.6 million monthly players--and Adventure World in third place. That leaves The Sims Social, arguably the biggest upset in Facebook gaming since, well, Zynga first beat itself at its own game, trailing close behind at number two with 66.5 million monthly players. Many wonder whether EA's wildly successful Facebook game can completely beat Zynga, and at the moment it seems to have peaked, according to AppData.
Top 25 Facebook Games October
Aside from FarmVille seemingly nearing the end of its life on top despite even a new expansion, Lighthouse Cove, it looks like Zynga's most threatening competitors are solidifying their positions. As games like Gaia Online's Monster Galaxy drop over 10 places from the list completely and Cie Games's Car Town are knocked from the list one a few of the little guys remain. Ninja Saga hangs tight on the list, dropping one spot to 23rd place with 5.9 million players, while Social Point makes a major dent in the charts with Social Empires gaining over 2 million players to hit the 18 spot.
Other than Playtika's Slotomania at number 19 and King.com even bumping one spot up to 20th place with Bubble Saga, it's important to notice what's happening here. Aside from a few strong and likely savvy smaller developers, the Top 25 is slowly becoming dominated by the biggest names in social gaming. The giants of Facebook gaming are asserting their supremacy just as they did in the traditional games space, and it's likely only going to get harder for indie creators to find this level of success on Facebook. Hey, there's always Google+ Games, right?
[Source and Image Credit: Inside Social Games]
Do you think FarmVille has seen it's best days already? Do you think new independent developers still have a chance at hitting the Top 25? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
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