Over the course of this year, we’ve seen several traditional gaming companies trying to figure out a free-to-play model. The latest may be Cryptic Studios, which is reportedly considering the merits of free-to-play for its massively multiplayer game Star Trek Online.

Star Trek isn’t the only brand-name game looking at free-to-play. Earlier in June, Lord of the Rings Online announced that it would become free this fall, relying on a mixture of purchased game expansions and virtual goods to make money.

Although social games on Facebook are obviously successful, their connection to traditional hardcore games isn’t always obvious. So free-to-play MMOs have retained significant differences from their cousins on Facebook — entire sections of the games may require a purchase to open, while dedicated players will often be offered the same sort of simple monthly subscription most MMOs use already.

Figuring out exactly how serious traditional game companies are about using a free-to-play model is also made more difficult by the size of the titles involved; it can sometimes be difficult tell whether move to free play because of genuine faith that it will work, or because of vanishing userbases that force desperate moves.

However, titles like Lord of the Rings Online have the necessary brand cachet to draw in subscribers, so these recent moves seem more significant. LOTRO is also owned by Turbine, which last year made another branded title, Dungeons and Dragons Online, free — and reported much higher revenue to the industry as a result.

Despite Turbine’s success, other MMO makers have said they won’t move to free-to-play anytime soon (most notably Blizzard, the owner of World of Warcraft). But there will be more announcements later this month that could significantly rock the boat for traditional gaming companies, pushing all online gaming further down the road to free.

Though the iPad has proven to be a strong platform for gaming, not all the titles we see on it are serious. Fowlplay HD from Happynin Games is proof enough of that, with a comical approach to bombing. Rather than taking airplanes out to the range, Happynin decided that pigeons in the park would be a much more amusing premise.

In case you haven’t deduced Fowlplay’s aim yet, it’s to take control of a particularly mischievous pigeon and drop a number two on every park-going human you can. Though the concept is a bit gross, it’s still kind of funny, and certainly enough to get this OpenFeint-enabled title into the App Store’s top 50 free applications list. Amusing and easily controlled, Fowlplay is a nice game for the price of nothing, but doesn’t have tremendous longevity — even with its social features.

Fowlplay starts with a top-down view of a very blocky-looking park, where the player controls a tiny pigeon by tilting the iDevice. A simple tap will release the bird’s “payload” on unsuspecting victims below. It’s a very simple concept, but unlike other games that use tilt controls, Fowlplay actually feels very fluid. The bird continually flies forward, and the user must avoid any trees in their path (hit three and it’s game over). The degree to which one tilts left and right determines how fast the pigeon moves in those directions, making it very easy to get out of the way.

As the player floes overhead, the idea is to drop as many “bombs” as possible atop the conveniently square heads of park goers. Each hit racks up points, with bonuses for streaks and accuracy. The endless level appears to dynamically spawn trees and bonus rings that can be collected for added points, ensuring that it never looks exactly the same. Moreover, as the player does better, the automatic forward flying speed increases, keeping the challenge level on par with player ability.

Beyond this, there are also a set of three humorous power-ups that can be snagged, including hot sauce, a football helmet, and a taco. The first gives the bird flaming “bombs,” though they really only add a visual effect, while the football helmet allows you to crash through trees, unharmed, for a short while. The taco, on the other hand… let’s just say it gives the pigeon a bit of an upset stomach, prime for rapid discharge.

As amusing as all of this may sound, the novelty of Fowlplay does not last long. A play session is at best a few minutes long, and despite changing levels, the play is always about the same. This limited longevity is barely improved by the incorporation of the OpenFeint social platform, with its usual addition of global leaderboards and, of course, sharable achievements.

Thankfully, the iPad version of Fowlplay is, again, free. It’s powered through ads, but they’re hardly intrusive, and if they really bother players, they can be removed for $2.99. The only downside is that since the primary controls are tilt-based, the weight of the iPad can almost guarantee the noted, short, play sessions. The iPhone rendition would be better, but since that full version costs $1.99 (though there is a lite version), the free iPad one is, obviously, the better bargain.

Overall, Fowlplay HD is a quaint and amusing app for iPad owners. It has a good deal of novelty, and for a free game, it’s pretty fun for killing a few minutes here and there; the developers have aksi noted a coming “Time Attack Mode,” which will perhaps add a little more diversity. That said, it’s likely a game that won’t get picked up that often, once the initial flavor is gone.

In-game offer and monetization company Offerpal Media has laid off an unknown number of employees today. Posting on the company blog, CEO George Garrick blamed the layoffs on Facebook Credits, the in-house game currency that Facebook is asking developers to use exclusively instead of using other payment services.

Facebook has been testing its own advertising offers for Credits, in partnership with TrialPay and RockYou/Peanut Labs, through a selection process that has left out companies like Offerpal and competitor Super Rewards. That didn’t present a problem as long as game developers held onto their own in-game currencies, but there has been more movement toward adopting Credits of late — including large developers signing exclusive deals to use the virtual currency, even as many worry about costs. Writes Garrick:

But like any good business, we must balance our costs with our revenues by business area.  This means that we must downsize our Facebook operations in order to adjust to an anticipated lower scale of Facebook user traffic. At the same time, we will re-focus our resources on our growth areas including other gaming platforms, open web gaming, new Internet verticals, and most importantly mobile through our Tapjoy subsidiary.

Offerpal is not left totally defenseless — in May, the company finalized its own proprietary currency system, called Game Points, which can be used across hundreds of games on Facebook and elsewhere. Everywhere but Facebook is now more of a focus.

But Facebook is still by far the largest social gaming portal, so Offerpal is in the uncomfortable position of having to hope that other ecosystems will grow quickly enough to make up for the developer exodus toward Credits. It recently signed a deal with Yahoo, it is already working with many other gaming sites, and we expect it to continue expanding outwards.

The World Cup is over, and for the first time, Spain takes home the trophy. Even after the spectacle, however, its events can still be felt; from Donovan’s 91st minute goal to favorite Argentina’s devastating loss to Germany. But how has it faired in the social world? Beyond a wave of virtual goods tailored around the tournament, a torrent of social games and applications saturated the market for the past few months. From chart topping games to simple venue finders, there has been an app for every type of World Cup fever.

Typically speaking, whenever a major event (Super Bowl) or holiday (Christmas) has come about, there have been a handful of games associated with them, but namely they focus around special, limited edition virtual goods. Never before have we seen such an influx of social games oriented around a specific sporting event. The general reasons, of course, are the global popularity of the soccer and the World Cup tournament and the rise of social gaming. But as we see below, it was an individual game’s quality that helped it win audiences, with soccer games from Playdom and Playfish coming out with the most users.

The First

It may or may not be considered the first “World Cup inspired,” game as we had come across it back in early May, but Playdom-owned Three Melons‘ Facebook title, Bola, was one of the first soccer titles to really go all out. At the time, the game didn’t function too well, and was a marriage between team management and an actual, though awkward, user-controlled soccer match. Nevertheless, the Argentinean developer set the stage for soccer games. Moreover, with a steady growth up to, now, 4.6 million monthly active users (MAU), it showed how the theme could work.

Traditional Media, New Games

Electronic Arts/Playfish brought in the the biggest EA title to date on Facebook. FIFA. EA Sports FIFA Superstars is a highly stylized, manager simulation, featuring a professional soccer team of the player’s choosing. It is simple in nature, but it manages to truly grab hold of its intended audience, and has now climbed north of 4.5 million MAUs. Additionally, it has even appeared, multiple times, on our Fastest-Gaining Facebook Games (#4) charts as well. The game was well done, and it even made our list of the Best Facebook Games of 2010, coming in at #9.

As a matter of fact, another soccer app, Epic Goal from Watercooler, in tandem with Fox Soccer Channel, also made that list, at #3. While the game has slowly grown, its MAU total is only just over 300,000. Regardless, it is certainly one of the better games out there, with a highly stylized, cartoon aesthetic and an action element to playing the soccer games – with its contextual, point and click interface – that is beautifully fluid and entertaining.

Getting into June saw the first major brands get involved in the World Cup social gaming hype in the form of CBS Sports.com with Galacticos South Africa from Fantasy Moguls. Virtually identical to its predecessor, Galacticos Football, the new soccer app took on a simple, text-based form that allowed players to manage teams that were specifically oriented around the South Africa-hosted tournament. Unfortunately for CBS, the text-based elements just weren’t quite cutting it, as the app has been dropping steadily lately, with around 159,000 monthly active users.

Worldwide Development

Seeing as how the World Cup is, well, international, it wasn’t surprising to see more international game developers pounce on the event. Beyond Three Melons, Shanghai-based company The9 tried its hand as well releasing its Facebook title, Winning Goal.

Though not as simple looking as Galacticos, the Chinese title was a bit overwhelming interface-wise, and most of the management aspects fairly standard. The only thing it really brought new to the table was set of earnable skills – reminiscent of talents in World of Warcraft – that would be used randomly in matches. According to the numbers, however, it wasn’t interesting enough, as the past few days have led to a staggering decline in MAU numbers for Winning Goal, dropping it to below 17,000.

For good measure, it is also worth pointing out Gamevil’s iPhone app, Soccer Superstars. The franchise successor of the Korean developer’s successful Baseball Superstars 2010, this role-playing and action-sports combo made for a truly addicting and aesthetically pleasing mobile experience. With its anime-style and modes ranging from exhibition matches to full-on seasons where the user customizes a single player, it’s a game that is worth the $5 price tag. The only downside, is that the social elements we loved in Baseball Superstars got left, at least for the time being, on the cutting room floor.

Along with Gamevil, Slovakian developer InLogic Software also updated their iPhone app, Footballz with what they called the “Africa Update.” In truth, it’s not like any of the other soccer games we saw, but this OpenFeint enabled title was more of an overly cute, arcade-style game, prompting players to collect yellow balls, while avoiding enemy (red) ones. Unfortunately, the update didn’t provide much in regards to the South Africa-hosted Cup. All it really did was play on the environment, creating three new levels and a savannah background. Nevertheless, it is still a pretty fun soccer game.

Scheduling Apps

Even though soccer games were a highly popular development choice, not everything we came across could be considered one. A very common trend that was noted, though not entirely unexpected, was the simple apps intended to, in one way or another, help or enhance the World Cup experience itself.

The biggest one of note was from official sponsor Visa, on Facebook, with the Visa Match Planner, developed by AKQA. It is basically like it sounds, allowing (well, “allowed”) users to actually plan out, on a calendar when their teams would play, set up reminders, and even view match results.

Even MySpace got some love with this concept, with the creation of an entirely dedicated profile page wrought with live tweets, games, and commentary.

Of course, such apps and pages are oriented around staying home and one of the joys of such a large international event is finding a place of like-minded people to cheer with. Though we never got deeply involved in location-based apps, a London-based application called Vauxhall Corsa Venue Finder did cross our table. It was nothing terribly extravagant, but it did allow users to search real world locations and find brick and mortar venues to cheer on their favorite teams.

Psychics & Supporters

Taking a page from a gambler’s point of view, a number of smaller devs also focused on creating apps that made use of some of social gaming’s oldest mechanics: Leaderboards. These were the prediction games, which, in a nutshell tasked users with predicting the outcome of games (and more specifically, the final score) and ranking friends based on their accuracy. The first of these that comes to mind is an app we heard about back in early June.

The game is called Goal World from Replayful, and while it looked crisp and clean, its innovation was a bit lacking. All the same, and considering its lifespan was likely only oriented around the duration of the World Cup, it did get to about 9,000 monthly active users towards the climax of the event. Unsurprisingly, it has dropped drastically since its conclusion.

A similar app stemmed all the way from Berlin. Developed by Quoobs, Fans2010 is also a clean looking prediction app for Facebook. Clean or not, however, the market for prediction apps just doesn’t seem in the cards for social apps these days, as the game never passed 1,600 monthly active users.

Perhaps, though, these apps aren’t completely about numbers. A lot just appear to be fun means to support one’s team. Such is the case with another curious game called CrazyFoosball from iThink Labs. The concept is simple enough, asking players to choose the international team of their preference to support. From there, they play a simple game of foosball (although the controls are a bit slow and clunky), and score goals to support their team. Moreover, as users play, they will garner further support for their team, recording it in a set of leaderboards based on players who chose that team, goals, and daily top scores. The app peaked around 10,000 MAUs, but since July 4th, has dropped drastically to just over 5,600.

Conclusion

In the end, the World Cup has generated more international, social, developments for the various social networks than just about any other event in times past. Ranging from high quality titles, to simple applications springboarding off the tournament’s popularity, these concepts have run the gamut as far as variety and style is concerned. While the simple concepts (e.g. prediction games) did marginally well for a time (one must take in the considerably lower development costs in these cases), they are not timeless. Well-crafted designs, on the other hand, were the ones that got big and may even continue to grow.

[Top photo via Getty Images.]

It’s going to be difficult, over the coming week, to avoid the story of Google’s investment of $100 to $200 million in Zynga, the world’s largest social gaming company. First reported by TechCrunch, then seconded by VentureBeat (and perhaps also GigaOm), the rumor hasn’t been confirmed by either Google or Zynga company but seems very credible.

If true, it’s a bombshell, and could mean Google will be getting into the social gaming market in a big way relatively soon, potentially as a way to build our more social-network like services that could help it compete with Facebook more directly than it has been able to so far. The plan, according to the reports, is that Zynga will provide its games as a core part of a new Google social gaming platform, that ties in with existing Google social connections and communication channels.

Myspace, Hi5, Yahoo, Microsoft — just about every major competitor appears to have independently decided that games are the channel through which to strike at Facebook. But is that truly Google’s plan? Below we’ll take a look at what Google and Zynga might have to gain from a deal.

Google

That Google is interested in games is not news. Earlier this year, the company bought Labpixies, a small development studio, hired a developer advocate, and began searching for a games product manager.

The company’s exact aim is difficult to discern, though. It is no longer just a search giant, since it owns successful web products, a growing mobile platform in Android, and has a decade-long ambition to succeed in social networking. Its previous social gaming moves reflect the multi-platform focus; the product manager position, for example, asks for experience in both web and mobile gaming, while Labpixies owns cross-platform titles.

Does Google want to create a social gaming platform that spans the web and devices?

Social games are popular, fundamentally, because people like to play games with their friends. Facebook’s developer platform has done the best job of that to date, but Google, like other companies, is trying to refine the social connections and communication channels that it has available to make itself a better destination for gaming. One can imagine a Google user playing FarmVille by seeing notifications come through Gmail chat, a widget in their personalized inbox, a notice on YouTube, or any other destination.

The apps could have a place in any of its web products, independent of any new social networking initiative, or even in search as Bing recently demonstrated. Games will certainly also be important to Android, which may prove to be an attractive mobile platform to a game developer like Zynga. And, Google’s ads division, still its main profit center, might have encouraged a Zynga investment to get better access to in-game advertising.

Zynga, in turn, has email addresses gleaned from Facebook users, along with mobile phone numbers and other information, that it could use to tie in with whatever Google creates. It might even try to use Facebook Connect to make it easier for Facebook users to play on Google’s platform.

Meanwhile, Google is planning to take another shot at social networking soon — following earlier, partially successful efforts like Orkut, or the OpenSocial platform standard.

Zynga

Here, there’s a simpler equation. Assuming Zynga negotiated good terms on the investment, not giving away too much of itself, then the deal was a good one for the company. It probably didn’t, considering that some recent reports and sources in the industry peg the company’s valuation from $4 billion to $6 billion, if not higher.

But Zynga could get money from other sources; it’s also looking for strategic deals, as with its recent $147 million SoftBank investment, which could provide a way into the Asian markets.

Google is a major Facebook competitor, so Zynga can be seen as wisely giving itself an escape hatch in case Facebook ever turns hostile — a possibility despite the new contract the two companies recently signed. But like Google itself, Zynga is surely aware that the search giant’s past social networking attempts have mostly failed. In fact, it has already been trying to do this. It announced a distribution deal with Microsoft in February and another with Yahoo in May.

One possibility is that Zynga, like some others, sees a more distributed future for social games, in which they could be spread across the web and used via whatever social graph is most convenient. Like Microsoft and Yahoo — and even Zynga’s free-standing gaming sites — Google will need to create a more effective social graph for users than what it has now. Up to this point, Facebook has been better at providing the social connections and communication channels that Zynga needs than any other company.

Another point: to create mega-hits like FarmVille, Zynga became a master of ad campaigns on Facebook, using them to bolster the growth of games. It has also experimented with non-game ads, on the web and even on billboards and buses. Perhaps it will start pulling in users through Google advertising?

In the end, Google and Zynga likely share many motivations for the deal. But while Google has work to do before its investment can bear real fruit, Zynga has at least succeeded in allying itself with what is, for the time being, still the internet’s superpower.

And, a note for those following Zynga’s finances. The company has had an odd paperwork trail in the last year or so, but the Google investment helps explain it. The company has never filed standard regulatory paperwork showing that it has raised the SoftBank money, or the $180 million it announced it was receiving from Digital Sky Technology back in February. Instead, piecemeal filings have been showing up for smaller amounts. Google’s money represents another large chunk, that so far hasn’t been accounted for.

There are a few possibilities, some of which we’ve gone over already. Zynga may be delaying paperwork filings to cloak its financing activity. It may also be signing deals with these larger investors where it provides them with a subscription agreement to purchase a certain amount of stock at a set price by some agreed-upon date in the future. Google may be in this mix.

Another possibility could be that Google (and maybe SoftBank and DST) bought shares from earlier investors. We’ve been hearing hints about early stakeholders selling — and MediaMemo recently reported that one, Pilot Group, has now mostly gotten out, and for a big profit.

Conclusion

At this point, what is clear is Zynga’s still-strong industry position. It is big enough that it has the flexibility to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, cut deals with the largest web companies in the world, buy up talented smaller rivals, and explore new platforms, even as Facebook changes cut into its home-base traffic. The remaining question for Zynga, Google, and everyone else interested in social gaming, is still this: can they create successful alternative platforms? The Google investment shows that the industry is searching harder than ever before.

FrontierVille is once again the leader on our weekly list of fastest-gaining Facebook apps by monthly active users. However, the Zynga is still showing signs of a gradual slowdown.

Reaching the 27 million MAU that Zynga’s previous hit Treasure Isle had at its peak now seems unlikely for FrontierVille, unless the game has a longer-lasting appeal than most other social games we’ve seen. That may be possible, but only time will tell. In the meantime, here’s the full AppData list:

Name MAU Gain Gain, % 1. FrontierVille 18,689,101 +3,450,915 +22.65 2. Millionaire City 3,235,680 +1,446,356 +80.83 3. EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars 4,428,130 +939,277 +26.92 4. 開心 Lounge Bar 648,011 +619,503 +2,173.08 5. Baking Life 3,176,620 +612,185 +23.87 6. SuperFun Town! 924,937 +495,754 +115.51 7. Verdonia 3,189,555 +476,340 +17.56 8. Fashion World 2,083,070 +467,744 +28.96 9. Element Analyst Creator 561,454 +465,839 +487.20 10. Pet Resort 397,633 +357,376 +887.74 11. Zoo Kingdom 1,417,983 +350,434 +32.83 12. Casino City 710,271 +347,742 +95.92 13. 建立你的測驗 351,769 +314,924 +854.73 14. Bejeweled Blitz 10,585,386 +283,232 +2.75 15. Office Wars 306,305 +280,293 +1,077.55 16. Horse Gaga 546,752 +267,377 +95.71 17. Birdland 716,095 +241,005 +50.73 18. Songs 2,890,673 +233,259 +8.78 19. Games 4,088,001 +229,949 +5.96 20. Resort World 1,123,514 +207,487 +22.65

While Fr0ntierVille’s big gains are to be expected, Millionaire City stands out for its 1.4 million new MAU. In just a few short weeks, the city builder has vaulted developer Digital Chocolate’s size on Facebook, as you can see from the chart below.

EA SPORTS FIFA Superstars is third, having crossed four million MAU. The problem is that the World Cup, which was likely one of the biggest growth drivers for the game, just ended. It’s possible that with the soccer tournament over Superstars run will be too; we’ll be able to tell you for sure next week.

開心 Lounge Bar, at number four, is a restaurant management sim that has been around since March, but only recently started growing. It’s now the fastest-growing Chinese language game we’ve ever seen, having picked up 619,503 new MAU in just three days — although successful Chinese-language games are also becoming more common.

And it’s worth noting that SuperFun Town! has dropped down to number six, having ceded its briefly-held position as fastest-growing city builder to Millionaire City. However, the game still qualifies as a hit, with plenty of potential growth ahead of it.

Check out the top headlines and insights this week from Inside Facebook— tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.

Monday, July 5th, 2010

• Yet More Quiz Creators Appear on This Week’s List of Fastest-Gaining Facebook Apps by MAU
• Kraft Foods Focuses Messaging on Facebook
• Work For Us App Brings Job Hunting to Facebook

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

• Gaga Gets 10M Fans, the World Cup and Music on This Week’s Top 20 Facebook Pages
• Europe’s Facebook Growth Moved East in June 2010
• Bharti Airtel Brings Free m.facebook.com to India
• UTV Indiagames Releases Lucky Ganesha on Facebook
• Facebook Continues to Roll Out Hovercard Previews for News Feed Items
• Facebook’s June 2010 US Traffic by Age and Sex: Users Aged 18-44 Take a Growth Break

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

• Windows Messenger Leads This Week’s List of Fastest-Gaining Facebook Apps by DAU
• Gigya Releases Stats On Social ID Use, Talks About Facebook’s News Feed
• The Facebook Global Monitor July 2010 Edition is Now Available
• Developer Note: Facebook Making Minor Change to Multi-Friend Selector
• In Depth: New Facebook CTO Bret Taylor Discusses Platform Governance, Social Gaming, Viral Channels, and Credits

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

• Malaysia’s MOL to Provide the Latest Payment Option for Buying Facebook Credits
• Apigee Tests and Teaches Facebook APIs
• Facebook Hires This Week: Yahoo, Google and Microsoft
• Facebook Buys Social Travel Startup Nextstop
• Is South Korea Finally Opening Up to Facebook?
• In Depth: New Facebook CTO Bret Taylor Discusses Open Graph, Mobile and Regional Growth, and Advertising
• Facebook Closing Gift Shop, Getting Out of Direct Virtual Goods Business

Friday, July 9th, 2010

• From Social Life to Impending Death on This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Apps
• Buddy Media’s Brand Platform Grows With Facebook, Goes Global
• Another Payment Option is Available for Facebook Credits: Plastic Jungle’s Gift Card Exchange
• Who’s Using Facebook Around the World? The Demographics of Facebook’s Top Latin American Markets
• Facebook Roundup: Ads, Likes, Lawsuits, Privacy, Drinks and More

Inside Social Games extends a big thank you to our sponsors for supporting the continued growth of Inside Social Games. Check them out below!

Sometrics is a provider of virtual currency monetization solutions for social app and game developers.

Offerpal Media is a managed offer network for social applications and online merchants.

Wooga is one of the largest developers of social games in Europe.

Frima Studio develops social games for big brands.

6waves is an international publisher and developer of gaming applications on the Facebook platform.

Social Gold powers payments, subscriptions, and virtual economies for online games.

SponsorPay provides offer-based virtual currency monetization for online games and social apps.

Kontagent is a developer of analytics solutions for social application developers.

Super Rewards is a monetization solution for applications and games running on social networks like Facebook.

AdParlor is an advertising network designed specifically for social networking sites.

SoftLayer provides cloud and dedicated hosting services for social application and game developers.

Zong Expands Executive Team – Mobile payments provider Zong expanded its executive team this week. Joining the company will be Elena Krasnoperova as Vice President of Analytics and Fraud Management; Stephane Kasriel as Vice President of Sales and Business Development; Sandy Taylor as Vice President of Finance; and Tim Armandpour as Vice President of Engineering.

Jeff Jordan Joins Booyah’s Board of Directors – With over seven years experience with companies such as eBay and PayPal, Jeff Jordan, President and CEO of OpenTable has joined MyTown developer Booyah’s board of directors.

Foursquare Adds Layers from Huffington Post & Independent Film Channel – Independent Film Channel (IFC) recently asked its user base for descriptions of their favorite locations. The results were then selected to fit the IFC brand – “Always on, slightly off” – and uploaded to the Foursquare network, granting users that visit those locals nice IFC tips. According to Read Write Web, The Huffington Post has launched a similar Foursquare layer this week as well. These launches continue a number of location-focused partnerships with big brands that began months ago.

Foursquare Improves – In other Foursquare news, the location-based app is planning to begin rotating specials that users see in a particular area (so they don’t always see the same stuff with frequent visits), expand the physical range of location-based offers beyond 200 yards, and impress upon venue owners should designate employees as “Staff” (so they are ineligible for deals and “mayorship” in the app). Furthermore, TechCrunch points out that the developer is also hinting at hardware integration, such as barcode scanners, in the future.

Android Not Doing Well With Apps – A post from Internet2Go suggests that the Android is not doing so well from the developers’ point of view. Apparently, users are not buying apps on Android quite as much as iPhone users are.

[image via i2G]

Only 17 “Successful” Social Games for 2010? – In an interesting post from Trip Hawkins’ blog, new social games “lacking a growing virtual goods economy and unable to easily exceed 100,000 daily players (DAU)” will have a hard time generating revenue and recovering from development costs.  Based on this benchmark, only 17 new games, so far this year, have reached that mark, including FrontierVille, My Empire, Millionaire City, and Verdonia.

The Settlers – My City Goes Live – Ubisoft franchise, The Settlers, went live, officially on Facebook Friday with The Settlers – My City. This marks one of the bigger social endeavours taken on by the developer. We previewed the game, late last month.

AT&T Annouces Mobile Payments Service – AT&T is getting into the mobile payment processing service this week or its smartphones. Working with Apriva, it has announced that it will enable vendors to accept credit and debit card payments.

Following brief stabs at porting titles to the iPhone and other devices in in past years, most top social game developers have by and large ignored mobile devices. Their reasons have been solid: the mobile social gaming market is by most accounts smaller than on Facebook, it can require significant changes to a web game, and it has very different customer dynamics.

But now we’re seeing signs that the biggest companies are becoming more interested in mobile again.

The clearest example is Zynga’s recent release of FarmVille on the iPhone. That seemed like an obvious move — Zynga is working hard to keep the FarmVille brand alive even as it ages on Facebook.

We recently received word, though, that the trend may go beyond FarmVille. Playdom, for instance, recently hired Steve Makofsky, a former Microsoft and Yahoo executive with deep experience in mobile, to become its new vice president of mobile platforms.

Like Zynga, Playdom has some older games on the iPhone, but has not made any big effort to put its newer games on any mobile platform. But hiring for a senior-level position suggests that there will be a substantial team working on mobile.

Zynga, also, is on the lookout for experienced mobile team members — both a product manager for mobile devices and a mobile user interface designer.

It’s unlikely that most Facebook game developers will move quickly toward mobile. However, it looks like the largest companies are at least thinking hard about how to at least integrate mobile development in the future.

Their platforms aren’t proven to work as well as social networks in terms of of social games’ focus on user-to-user communication and the virtual goods business model. But overall, the opportunities are looking better than ever have before. The iPhone continues to lead, now with the iPad device and iPhone 4 firmware that broadens the types of games that developers can build for the operating system. Android, meanwhile, continues to see device sales increase, even though app success stories are few and far between. Other companies, like Microsoft, RIM and Nokia, are also busy trying to improve their own developer platforms. It makes sense that as competitors in the mobile industry improve their platforms, social game companies are preparing to take better advantage of all of their efforts.