Inside Social Games

Because MySpace only reports game installs and not monthly active users, it can be difficult to clearly see what is going on within the platform. Nevertheless, we do what we can with the information available to see how the different apps are doing. While we don’t usually see major changes within the top 25 titles, there is always something of merit to take away from these numbers.

In the past month we have seen some interesting drops in install numbers, as well as some curious gains, and we even saw the appearance of a new game from the folks over at Playdom.

The highlights:

• As per usual, Zynga and Playdom completely dominate the top games or game-like apps for MySpace. 20 out of the possible 25 belong to one of these two developers, with an even 50/50 split between the two.
• Mobsters still beats out Mafia Wars for the #1 spot despite the larger number of Mafia installs this month over last month (approximately 60,000 more than Mobsters).
• Poker Palace continues to do significantly better on MySpace than on Facebook (so far), with the #12 spot and over 3 million total users.
• Beyond Mobsters, Sorority Life continues to be the most popular of the Playdom RPG’ish games at #13, pulling in 213,736 more users than last month for a total of 2,659,417.
• Gang Wars had a negative monthly change of almost 7,000 while Dragon Wars gained 15,000. However, the monthly users for gang warfare still beats out the fantasy RPG by roughly 50,000 people.
• Lastly, the Playdom title Bloodlines makes an appearance at #24 with 1,334,059 installs. The newcomer beats out Zynga’s military RPG Special Forces at 1,330,808 and knocks other Zynga game, Pirates - Rule the Carribean!, off the list.

Ever since Playdom revealed itself, it has continued to strengthen its position on the MySpace Platform. However, Playdom is still struggling to gain a beachhead on Facebook, while Zynga has five of the top 25 games on Facebook.  It will be interesting to see how the company, who is hiring rapidly, focuses its efforts in the coming months.

Mobile payment company Zong announced yesterday that it has partnered with Outspark to bring its payment service to Outspark games. Outspark, an online multiplayer game publisher whose titles include Fiesta, Wind Slayer, and Project Powder , will now be able to provide its nearly 5 million users with a new means of purchasing the company’s virtual currency, SparkCash, with their mobile phones through Zong’s mobile billing service.

The partnership makes sense, as Outspark’s global audience is more challenging to monetize through traditional payment methods. Zong can process payments across 100+ carriers in 17 countries (the last of which was the US in 2008), largely through direct mobile carrier relationships. We expect to see increasing partnerships between publishers like Outspark and mobile payment companies in the year ahead.

“The partnership allows us to introduce the mobile billing concept to a large, growing and global audience of Outspark members,” says David Marcus, Founder and CEO of Zong.

It now appears that the RPGs that have become so popular on Facebook and MySpace are starting to make their way on to Twitter in full force.

It all began with Spymaster, which has Twitter users running about as international spies, and was shortly followed by organized crime title, 140 Mafia. However, now comes a third: SNODS.

SNODS, developed by itch, inc., actually feels like it is the most sophisticated of the three Twitter RPG apps. Like the others, it is hosted from an independent website and tied into players’ Twitter accounts, but the game play is more deeply integrated into the essence of the service.

The way the game works is as such: Players are agents with only one goal in mind - kidnap other users. SNODS’ users can kidnap any Twitter user at any time regardless as to whether or not they play the game (creating highly effective viral distribution). For each captive a player holds, they earn revenue per hour, and the more followers a captive user has, the more dollars they are worth. Here’s the deal though: Only one person can keep each user.

This is perhaps where the key element of the game comes most into play. Players must try to capture, recapture, and steal from each other in order to become stronger. However, one cannot merely do these things at will. Since the game goes directly through Twitter, active users will know when you attempt such tasks, and if they are fast enough, can steal those captives right back. This active element of the game, due to its connection to Twitter, is quite possibly the most time killing feature in any of these web-based social games.

Obviously, SNODS is more tightly knit with Twitter, and in addition to the direct involvement of non-players, users can Tweet a number of various actions they undertake in game. Moreover, they can actually control the game directly from Twitter.

SNODS also lets players give commands through Twitter. As an example, if a player that wants to attack another player, they can type #snods attack @username and it’s done. No need to use the website itself if you don’t want to. However, followers may complain of more spam in their stream if players do this a lot.

This is all merely just the tip of the iceberg though in terms of game play. The game includes a number of other strategic options for holding captives. Players can upgrade holding facilities, hire more guards, and complete missions and daily quizzes for greater prestige in their squad.

Though it isn’t perfect, SNODS is the best Twitter RPG to come out yet. The kidnapping element alone is fantastic (just imagine how many people are trying to capture Ashton Kutcher, for example), and makes excellent use of the Twitter graph. Best of all, however, the game has some reasonable strategy involved. Even if game commands could be a little easier to remember, this is merely picking nits. Overall, the game feels pretty solid.

We look forward to kidnapping you soon!

Each month, it seems like there are a few surprises in store on the Facebook gaming charts. Back at the start of June, we saw a number of new titles appear within the Top 25. One in particular, Farm Town, debuted at #4 with nearly 8 million monthly active users. It just goes to show that even today, with Facebook’s viral channel allocation limits in place, new games can still become popular once word starts to spread.

Of course, distribution has always been an issue for new companies with no marketing budget, but Farm Town shows that things can still grow without a lot of initial spend. This month, Zynga is hot on the heels of Farm Town with its own new farming release, FarmVille.

The highlights from this month’s Top 25 Facebook Games:

• FarmVille, the newest farming game from Zynga, is debuting all the way at #8 with just over 5 million users. Zynga has been heavily promoting FarmVille inside its other games, and goes to show just how strong its cross promotional muscle really is.
• In another surprise, MindJolt Games moved from #6 to #4 with a gain of over 4 million active users this month. It surpassed YoVille (who now holds #6) as well as newcomer Farm Town (who got bumped to #5).
• As expected (and predicted) the Sim-like Restaurant City continues its steady rise in the rankings. With a gain of over 1.6 million MAY, the latest Playfish title tallies in at 5,861,728. Will it overtake Pet Society in the future? The gap is closing.
• PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz jumped from #13 up to #11 despite its simplicity and Metrogames‘ Biotronic increased drastically in standing, moving from #21 to #15. The game now has 3,398,277 monthly actives.
• Metrogames’ other title, Waka-Waka, jumped three places with a gain of over 1 million to 3,109,541 players in the last month.
• Chain Rxn, on the other hand, seems like it is going to be a fad - it faded drastrically from #11 to #21.
• Two new titles make their debut as a new game from TheBroth, Inc. Barn Buddy appears at #18 with almost 3.2 million MAU, and Pillow Fight, by Shikha, shows up at #23 with about 2.6 million.

For the second month in a row, new games have appeared on the Top 25 charts. While the latter, Pillow Fight, seems like it could be short lived, it goes to show that new developers can be successful on the Facebook Platform. Out of all the latest numbers, we think the most interesting to watch will most likely be Bejeweled Blitz, Biotronic, and Restaurant City. Much more coming soon.

This year, E3 played host to a number of major announcements, many of which married mainstream games with social platforms, such as Facebook Connect coming to the Nintendo DSi.

Microsoft’s announcements were especially interesting. The company launched Project Natal, a camera-based motion system with both face and voice recognition. It also relaunched the New Xbox Experience, which could make the gaming system entirely more social.

Project Natal is perhaps the most impressive piece of console hardware we have seen in a long time. Unlike the Wii, its motion capabilities require no controller. However, Natal isn’t just about games. While it can bring Wii-like gaming to the Xbox, there is so much more to it.

Natal can work on Xbox Live, which Microsoft has tried hard to turn into a more authentic social community. While it hasn’t worked out as well as Microsoft had hoped, Project Natal brings PC-style interaction to the television.

Microsoft’s presentation displayed the use of facial and voice recognition. The people performing the demonstration simply said the name of the person they wished to speak with, and they were immediately connected to their video feed via Xbox Live. They could also share virtual clothing to try on. In the demo, the avatar (whose face looked similar to the user) could wear the goods — a dress in this case. Based on her movement, she could turn around and move.

Object scanning allows for even more sharing. Natal will (hopefully) enable users to scan real items and use them in the games. In the demo, they used a skateboard.

It all seems far-fetched, right? Microsoft says it isn’t.

In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Shane Kim, Microsoft’s corporate VP of strategy and business development for its interactive entertainment decision, said that while much of the above may be conceptual at the moment, a lot will be very real. “[It’s] a completely plausible scenario,” he says, referring to the trying on of clothing and similar activities.

Referencing the Milo demo, in which a person naturally interacts with and commands an avatar, Kim says the technology is very real and not just a concept, noting that “the power is actually in the software.” The Milo concept is very social. This character appeared frighteningly interactive as an avatar. It recognized users and their voices, and reacted accordingly. It was easily something out of science-fiction. Such a technology would take avatar systems used by social developers to an unfathomable level.

With all these new technologies, Microsoft is hoping to attract more than its usual core gamers. Kim hopes the New Xbox experience will give people the desire of having a Facebook experience on their television (a more likely scenario with the company’s announcement of a Facebook Connect integration). Beyond Natal, there are a few different ways this could go.

One element is the ability to watch movies and television. Currently working with SkyTV, Microsoft delivers live TV to the UK through Xbox Live. It’s a feature that may come to the US in the future.

Second, there is the adoption of free-to-play games. Testing the microtransaction waters, games like Joy Ride have appeared on the 360. In some cases, these games work on ad-supported models, but the use of virtual goods as a revenue source is becoming more common.

According to Kim, the possibility of similar, PC-oriented companies developing for the Xbox market is emerging. He believes that the access to the television could add significant social experience, but it will be up to the developers to determine if “that is worth the economic trade-off” since the Xbox isn’t a completely open system like the PC.

Regardless of whether Xbox Live breaks into these markets with free-to-play games, the New Xbox Experience will, this time, truly be new. Project Natal alone is going to change the face of gaming with some phenomenal technology, creating innumerable social possibilities.  While Kim says Natal won’t be around for 2009, it wouldn’t be surprising to see in within the next two years. The free-to-play games will likely start appearing much sooner.

[images via Gamasutra]

eRepublik — a hybrid title that is part strategy game, part MMO and part social network — currently claims around 126,000 regular players (and 350,000 registered accounts), coming from 200 countries and growing steadily. Players visited more than 3.7 million times in May.

Earlier this month, the game’s developer, eRepublik Labs, finalized a $2.77 million round of funding, led by Paris-based AGF Private Equity. The company previously received $1 million from AGF and several angel investors.

Guillaume Lautour, a partner at AGF, will be joining the company’s board. The company says it plans to invest a good portion of the financing into the eRepublik title. It also hopes to grow the company beyond its current level of 30 employees in order to add new games to the company’s portfolio.

Here’s how eRepublik works: Players log in and join a country. Employing social means, they grow that country by making economic choices, such as starting businesses. To become more powerful, counties may also declare war on one another. Since there aren’t any NPCs in this world, the elements of game play rest solely in the hands of the users — known as “citizens” —that run it. The entire game is rendered in 2D, enabling it appeal to many demographics.

While the specific details of eRepublik’s future plans remain unclear, the social strategy game itself has been repeatedly updated based on user input. While that may be slowing down the development cycle, the company hopes that involving users along the way will yield a much better game more quickly than it otherwise could.

According to a joint release from China’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce this past Friday, virtual currency (as well as “prepaid cards of cyber-games”) may no longer be legally traded for real goods or services.

The official statement from the Ministries states: “The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services.”

This decision, possibly influenced by the recent case in which virtual currency extortion led to three years of prison, is expected to affect millions of people in China who make part or all of their living through such means. Dubbed “gold farming” by many, a vast number of companies hire people to play MMOs for the sole purpose of collecting large sums of virtual currency and selling them to other players. In turn, however, those “farmers” inflate and usually adversely affect in game economies. While this is a significant win for many game companies that fight against these services, the reasoning behind the ban is not necessarily because of their complaints, according to the Chinese government.

The primary justification, as stated by the government, is that this will curb (at least to some degree) illegal online activities such as gambling. Unfortunately, this approach will put many Chinese citizens out of work. While the virtual currency trade industry is global, an estimated 80-85% of gold farming companies stem from China. In fact, last year, the industry totaled over one billion yuan or around $150 million within the country.

Of the game companies and platforms that provide virtual currencies for their players, Tencent.com has been affected the most. Its virtual currency, QQ Coins, has been the most popular online currency to be traded by these industries. With 220 million registered users, it is not hard to see why. Suffice to say, such companies have openly supported the new ruling.

How exactly the ruling play out depends on the extent to which the Chinese government will apply the new ban. It is doubtful that this will snub out gold farming and selling completely, but it is certainly going to drop it in droves.

Want to travel around the world and meet new people? Then you might want to check out a new iPhone game called Foursquare. Despite the name, it doesn’t deal with the schoolyard ball game. Rather, it looks at what’s hot in the world around you and the people who are involved.

In the past, we took a look at a similar game, Gowalla, that has players log-in from various locations using the iPhone’s GPS system. Users could earn rewards based on where they went. Foursquare is similar in many ways.

The developers describe the app as “50 percent friend-finder, 30 percent social city guide, [and] 20 percent nightlife game.” In the game, players “check-in” from a given location, and see which of their friends are in that area. Based on where you check-in from, you can earn points and achievement badges.

Unfortunately, you can’t earn points during normal work hours (no procrastination allowed), but you can earn extras for discovering new places, traveling (to more than one place a night), and checking-in multiple nights in a row. Unfortunately, these points and badges have no use beyond bragging rights. If you check-in from a place more than anyone else, however, you get a nifty “The Mayor” title for that location.

The game is broken up into two parts: The “Top 12” and the “To-Do” lists. The latter is what you are looking to do, while the former is where you’ve already been — complete with short, personal reviews.

Currently, however, there are only 12 available cities, limiting the amount of people who can effectively use the application. Moreover, some features within the game are only available through a full web-browser on your computer. What’s the point of having an iPhone app that encourages checking-in from new locations if you have to use a computer for some of the venues?

Foursquare is a good idea that hints at the potential of increasingly social location-based mobile games in the future.

Social networks have been growing around the world, but we spend most of our time talking about North America, Western Europe, and Asia. Less talked about is VKontakte, a social network based in Russia with 36 million global users and the most popular website in the country. Now, having seen the success of games and applications on social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and hi5, VKontakte is calling more developers to build for its platform as well.

Since launching its platform a few months ago, the company says over 50,000 applications have been added, with more coming every day. There’s no review fee, and VKontakte says it’s adding additional translation and localization services for developers, alleviating language barriers and cultural differences. Following the initial application upload, a translation can be completed in as little as a day or two.

For developers monetizing their apps and games through virtual currency, VKontakte has a virtual currency API like that of “social entertainment” site hi5. Dubbed “Votes,” Vkontakte’s virtual currency works the same way as hi5 Coins. Users purchase Votes through the social network itself. They can then use them to purchase goods and premium services within any of the applications that offer them.

While VKontake’s API information pages are only available in Russian for the time being, the social network says it’s currently working on English renditions. If you happen to know Russian, you can register and dive right in. If not, check back later at their upload and API pages.

Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft has dominated the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game market for more than four years now. During the course of its existence, the game has exceeded anyone’s expectations. Globally, it has more than 11.5 million users, and is available in five languages.

So can someone overtake Blizzard’s record breaking game? In a recent interview with VideoGamer.com, Ryan Barker, the lead designer of Warcraft forefather Everquest, gives his opinions on the matter.

Barker strongly believes the power of social networking — and Facebook in particular — could create an MMO like no other. One of the issues with Warcraft: As the game’s life goes on, it becomes harder for new players to catch up, which leads to a lack of new accounts. Despite efforts to mitigate the issue, it is a barrier that eventually all MMOs succumb to in their lifetime.

Barker feels an MMO on Facebook could ease this problem.

“Facebook doesn’t care how long you’ve been on Facebook,” says Barker. “You’re still going to go on and be just as much of a part of the community right away at day one and day 200.”

In the end, it’s the community and content that make MMOs so addictive. Granted, any game that has some form of individual character progression will experience similar problems (for example, in traditional MMOs a level 10 player cannot help a level 70 player, and in the reverse, the level 70 has no challenge when helping the level 10). However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It merely requires designers to think of new ideas that are different from the standard experience.

While World of Warcraft is tremendously popular, Barker does not feel that it is untouchable. He feels that a Facebook MMO will take what Blizzard started and run much further.

“At some point someone’s going to do an MMO that really caters to that group [Facebook users],” he says. “And [they are] going to have a billion subscribers or whatever.”

An MMO on par with Warcraft, Everquest, or an older title like Ultima Online that makes use of Facebook could raise the bar in the market and surpass Blizzard.

Presentation still matters, however. The aforementioned games have an incredible style to them, both in terms of game play and visual effects. That said,  we do not expect any Facebook games currently available to be a WoW-killer just yet.

Thus far, some of the highest quality games have come from Playfish, Large Animal Games, and a few others. They all lack the production value needed to make Barker’s theories a reality. This isn’t to say it will not happen in the future, but we will likely have to wait awhile.