Wooga Diamond Dash
Wooga and RockYou must be on Cloud Nine right now, having Entourage-style parties on New York rooftops. (At least I would after this news.) The two biggest up-and-coming social game developers, RockYou and Wooga, have signed onto Appatyze, the social games advertisement auction service and cross-application bar invested in by our friend Ian Livingstone. Not to mention that Berlin-based Wooga has reported that it has raised $24 million in capital funding from investors like Highland Capital Partners, Tenaya Capital and more.
Appatyze allows developers to sign up for free (for now), install the cross-application bar into their Facebook game, and promote their own game across colleague's Appatyze bar and vise versa. However, developers sell the ad space above their game to the highest bidder, which creates an open market for trading ad space and increasing value. The advertising dollars exist within the network and grow there, in theory.
As of this writing, Appatyze is allowing all beta testers to receive 100 percent revenue from ad sales, which when the service goes live it will charge an Apple App Store-like fee of 20 percent of all revenue. It's a strategic move by both Wooga, which was recently ranked the fourth-largest social game developer, and RockYou, which signed two Loot Drop games courtesy of John Romero. We'll see soon enough whether Appatyze leads to more money generated in social games outside of the almighty Zynga, and hopefully bring more variety into the space.
[Image Credit: Wooga]
Do you Appatyze is an answer to game discovery and profitability woes on Facebook? Could this be what allows small-time social game developers the financial clout to compete with Zynga?
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Showing posts with label advertising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label advertising. Show all posts
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Quote of the Moment: 'A brand is never a replacement for a good game'
Branding
That's all well and good, but it's also not to say that brands aren't "extremely important" to Facebook games today. Playfish GM John Earner made the quip to GamesIndustry.biz during a recent interview. According to Earner, the Facebook game space is growing increasingly crowded. In other words, big time creators like Zynga, Playfish and wooga have a competitive advantage.
"So I think brands are now extremely important, and I think that you either are a big player in the space already and you have an installed base of users, or you have a... man, otherwise I think you're in big trouble," Earner said to GI.biz. "It has just become a much more mature platform, and I'm not saying somebody can't rise up from the bottom--sure they can--but the barriers to entry now have changed in a big way and it's become a lot harder. I see that trend continuing, but at the end of the day, though, a brand is never a replacement for a good game. If you have a great product and a great brand, you'll have a lot of success."
Branding in Facebook games has become almost a norm among the top developers and games. While Zynga has been a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to branded games, the company has employed the pull of major celebrities and companies for some time now. And soon, the company will have its very first branded game: Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game.
We've been told before that the day of the indie game creator on Facebook is through. However, Earner may be right--just look at games like Weeds Social Club and Dexter Slice of Life. While the latter does add refreshing new gameplay, neither of which have exactly taken off, according to AppData. Sadly, it'll eventually be first instinct to see whether Feature Film A, TV Show B or Video Game C has a Facebook game. Check out the interview in full here to learn much more about The Sims Social.
Are you digging The Sims Social still? Are you excited or disappointed at the prospect of branding gaining popularity in social games?
That's all well and good, but it's also not to say that brands aren't "extremely important" to Facebook games today. Playfish GM John Earner made the quip to GamesIndustry.biz during a recent interview. According to Earner, the Facebook game space is growing increasingly crowded. In other words, big time creators like Zynga, Playfish and wooga have a competitive advantage.
"So I think brands are now extremely important, and I think that you either are a big player in the space already and you have an installed base of users, or you have a... man, otherwise I think you're in big trouble," Earner said to GI.biz. "It has just become a much more mature platform, and I'm not saying somebody can't rise up from the bottom--sure they can--but the barriers to entry now have changed in a big way and it's become a lot harder. I see that trend continuing, but at the end of the day, though, a brand is never a replacement for a good game. If you have a great product and a great brand, you'll have a lot of success."
Branding in Facebook games has become almost a norm among the top developers and games. While Zynga has been a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to branded games, the company has employed the pull of major celebrities and companies for some time now. And soon, the company will have its very first branded game: Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game.
We've been told before that the day of the indie game creator on Facebook is through. However, Earner may be right--just look at games like Weeds Social Club and Dexter Slice of Life. While the latter does add refreshing new gameplay, neither of which have exactly taken off, according to AppData. Sadly, it'll eventually be first instinct to see whether Feature Film A, TV Show B or Video Game C has a Facebook game. Check out the interview in full here to learn much more about The Sims Social.
Are you digging The Sims Social still? Are you excited or disappointed at the prospect of branding gaining popularity in social games?
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