Inside Social Games

Zynga filed 21 trademarks in December, which helped give the company the most out of any social gaming company, according to a review by the site Inside Trademarks (no relation to Inside Network). Here’s more.

Overall, only around 10% of social game developers seek trademarks for game titles and logos; they are typically the most successful developers, with the highest user engagement ratios.

Zynga filed a total of 26 trademarks over the course of the fourth quarter, 2009. The developer has more than all of its rivals combined, or 38% of all social gaming trademarks from large developers, according to Inside Trademarks. Playdom comes in second, at 14%. Combined with Zynga, the two comprise more than 50% of all social gaming trademarks.

It’s not clear if owning trademarks gives companies a clear edge in the market as game mechanics, graphics and other aspects of a game can easily be imitated. While the industry saw a number of intellectual property lawsuits last year, we haven’t heard of anything significant lately. Obtaining trademarks appears to be more of a defensive move at this point.

If you have a hit social game, in other words, you don’t want other developers ripping off the name and trying to trick your users into joining their apps. We’ve seen a number of people introduce FarmVille-themed applications, for example, that promise to let you do things like exchange FarmVille gifts — Zynga has managed to get those applications shut down, it appears. Although the latest ripoff is gaining fast, as we noted earlier today.

[Pie chart and graph via Inside Trademarks.]

April 20 | San Francisco

As we recently announced, Inside Social Apps 2010, our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms, is happening April 20th in San Francisco, one day before Facebook’s official “f8″ event. We’re excited to see all of the developers and entrepreneurs from around the world that are planning to attend!

In addition to the 24 confirmed speakers at Inside Social Apps 2010, including executives from all the largest developers on the Facebook Platform, we’re very excited to announce three more speakers today: Season Xu, Co-founder and COO at Five Minutes (makers of Happy Farm), Dave Etling, VP Product Development at InComm, and Jeremy Liew, Managing Director at Lightspeed Venture Partners. They will be joining our full list of speakers listed below.

• Atul Bagga, VP Equity Research, Games, ThinkEquity
• Adam Caplan, VP Virtual Currency, Super Rewards / Adknowledge
  
• Renata Dionello, Chief of Staff to the CEO, eBay, and former Director of Consumer Business Development, PayPal
• Eric Eldon, Editor, Inside Facebook & Inside Social Games
• Dave Etling, VP Product Development, InComm
  
• George Garrick, CEO, Offerpal Media
• Vikas Gupta, CEO, Jambool
• Sebastien de Halleux, Founder and COO, Playfish, and VP Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, EA Interactive
• Ron Hirson, Co-founder and SVP Product, Boku
• Nick Lawler, Managing Director, Maverick Capital
• Keith Lee, Co-founder and CEO, Booyah
• Jeremy Liew, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners
  
• Vish Makhijani, COO, Zynga
• David Marcus, CEO, Zong
• Lisa Marino, CRO, RockYou
  
• Dave McClure, Investor, Founders Fund Angel and fbFund Incubator
• Rex Ng, Co-founder and CEO, 6waves
• Jason Oberfest, VP Social Applications, ngmoco
• Mark Pincus, Founder and CEO, Zynga
• Shervin Pishevar, Founder and Executive Chairman, SGN
• John Pleasants, CEO, Playdom
• Keith Rabois, VP Strategy and Business Development, Slide
• Peter Relan, Executive Chairman, CrowdStar
• Justin Smith, Founder, Inside Network
• Kavin Stewart, CEO, Lolapps
• Jay Weintraub, Founder, LeadsCon
• Season Xu, Co-founder and COO, Five Minutes

More speakers and a full agenda will be announced shortly.

Finally, a limited set of “early admission” tickets is now available through Friday at a special price of $299. This price will change after Friday, and space will be limited, so we encourage you to register now.

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco

Three years after the Facebook Platform launched in 2007, what started out as sheep throwing and vampire biting has quickly become a profitable billion-dollar industry. Today, social games monetizing through virtual goods have quickly become one of the hottest sectors of technology and entertainment, both in the US and around the world. Where are social apps going, and who is leading the way?

Inside Network is proud to announce our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms: Inside Social Apps 2010, happening April 20th in San Francisco, is bringing together the world’s leading entrepreneurs all in one place to discuss the future of social applications and games monetizing through virtual goods.

This will be an in-depth one day event geared toward developers on Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone, senior executives, and investors. At Inside Social Apps 2010, founders and CEOs of the top social gaming, mobile social gaming, payments, and virtual goods infrastructure companies will be tackling the key issues facing the industry. We’re hosting it one day before Facebook’s “f8″ event in San Francisco, so this will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the key issues facing the future of the Facebook Platform and beyond before Facebook’s official event.

Register Now

A limited set of “early admission” tickets is available through Friday at a special price of $299. This price will change after Friday, and space will be very limited, so we encourage you to register early.

From all of us at Inside Network, we hope to see you on April 20th in San Francisco!

World of Warcraft Used to Protest Chinese Game Censorship – While it is not unusual for popular games to have fan made movies made using their in-game resources (dubbed machinima), a recent video called “War of Internet Addition” has come about that is both entertaining and a bit political. Using visuals and avatars from World of Warcraft, the 64 minute video almost directly represents the ever increasing Chinese restrictions of the web in a very satirical fashion.

The Chinese version can be found at Youku’s Buzz blog. English subtitles can be found in seven parts on YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

MyTown Hits 1 Million Users – Though it was one of the most recent of the location-based titles to appear on the iPhone, the social title, Booyah’s MyTown has passed 1 million registered users before competing location games Foursquare and Gowalla. Playing the game means checking in at real world locals, but while Foursquare and Gowalla encourage check-ins with achievements and badges, MyTown focuses on a more Monopoly-like approach, allowing people to actually “buy” locations” and earn money based on who checks in there.

Gavin Newsom Claims Social Gaming Companies Will Help Economy – San Fransisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom says, in a report from ABC, that the city is on its way to recovery, with the creation of more jobs and better economic conditions coming from a more diversified collection of industries — especially social gaming. In fact, Newsom specifically mentions social gaming companies with offices in San Francisco, including Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish.

City of Eternals Sees Strong Starting Metrics – Ohai’s Facebook empowered MMO, City of Eternals looked impressive from the start, but initial metrics are showing just how many are agreeing with that assessment. Within the first 30 days, players that spend money on virtual goods have spent an average of $16.50, and that, of all players, an average of 65 minutes is spent, a day, playing the blood-sucking title with the 10,000 most active playing for 87 minutes.

Although the company hasn’t released overall user traffic numbers, it says 1% of active users play for seven hours a day (note that the game logs you off after 20 minutes of inactivity) and 42% play for multiple sessions a day. 60% of active users returning to play within seven days. Furthermore, of all these users, 60% are male and 40% female with 70% of the games most active members being women.

[via VentureBeat]

Bejeweled Turns 10 – PopCap’s ever popular casual game, Bejeweled has sold over 50 million units, making it one of the top selling video games of all time. In fact, the company states that a copy is sold ever 4.3 seconds. In order to celebrate, PopCap will be hosting its first-ever community-wide competition for it’s one minute, Facebook version, Bejeweled Bitz. The contest is called “Show Your Bejeweled Love” and will feature a myriad of promotional activities and, more importantly, rewards for the best Bejeweled Blitz players. The contest and details will launch next month at Bejeweled.com.

Apple Getting Nicer? - Anyone following or dealing with the Apple submission process for apps, knows how unhappy a great many developers became with the company last year. However, that was 2009 and in the new decade, it looks like Apple is trying to make amends with new and improved services for its application developers. Not only did submissions become faster earlier this year, but the company is now issuing surveys asking a myriad of questions in the hopes of improving their services before the next big boom for the Apple’s mobile platforms comes again (iPad anyone?).

[via TechCrunch]

Mochi Media Partners with USA Network- Earlier in the week, Mochi Media announced its new partnership with USA Networks. Along with the announcement came a week of Valentine’s Day promotions as a celebratory event. Obviously, this team up also means USA’s Character Arcade will integrate all of Mochi’s titles, and to that end, players that play the featured game, Mochi’s “Twin Shots 2: Good and Evil” will be registered to win a Wii Starter Bundle or $25 Best Buy gift cards. The winners will be announced Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Apple Patents a 3D Virtual Apple Store – In other Apple news, the company recently made a big win as it was approved the patent for a 3D virtual store. The concept is to create the more personalized and living feel of shopping at a brick and mortar location, but still have all the benefits that come from everyday online shopping (searches, always open, etc.). The store would be a virtual world with icons representing time of day and color schemes/decor representing the seasons indoors. Curiously, the patent also covers details such as outdoor lighting and settings to reflect time and seasons as well.

[image via Patently Apple]

Electronic Arts Says Digital Business Will Reach $750 Million in Revenue – Earlier this week, Electronic Arts proclaimed that the gaming giant’s digital business was “growing” and is “profitable.” It projected its digital business to reach around $750 million in revenue by next year; a substantial growth over the $575 million this year. Executives say that this is currently the most profitable portion of the company, and they do not expect much growth in regards to their traditional games (i.e. console box sales). Beyond its own online games, it is one of the top mobile developers, holding seven of the top iPhone apps), and big on Facebook via the acquisition of Playfish last fall (granting two top 10 Facebook games). Expect more to come online games to come from the company soon, like Madden Football for Facebook.

Mixpanel Raises Funding – Analytics company Mixpanel is active on and off Facebook, with clients including Kiva, HotorNot, Slide and UserVoice. It has now raised $500,000 in angel funding from PayPal cofounder and Slide founder Max Levchin and Bebo cofounder Michael Birch. For more on the company, check out the recent Inside Facebook guest post on social gaming metrics from cofounder Suhail Doshi.

April 20 | San Francisco

As we announced two weeks ago, Inside Social Apps 2010, our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms, is happening April 20th in San Francisco, one day before Facebook’s official “f8″ event. We’re excited to see all of the developers from around the world that are planning to attend!

In addition to the initial set of 20 confirmed speakers at Inside Social Apps 2010, we’re also excited to announce three more speakers today: Keith Lee, Co-founder and CEO of Booyah, Ron Hirson, Co-founder and SVP Product at Boku, and Lisa Marino, CRO of RockYou. They will be joining our full list of speakers listed below.

• Atul Bagga, VP Equity Research, Games, ThinkEquity
• Adam Caplan, VP Virtual Currency, Super Rewards / Adknowledge
  
• Renata Dionello, Chief of Staff to the CEO, eBay, and former Director of Consumer Business Development, PayPal
• Eric Eldon, Editor, Inside Facebook & Inside Social Games
• George Garrick, CEO, Offerpal Media
• Vikas Gupta, CEO, Jambool
• Sebastien de Halleux, Founder and COO, Playfish
• Ron Hirson, Co-founder and SVP Product, Boku
• Nick Lawler, Managing Director, Maverick Capital
• Keith Lee, Co-founder and CEO, Booyah
  
• Vish Makhijani, COO, Zynga
• David Marcus, CEO, Zong
• Lisa Marino, CRO, RockYou
  
• Dave McClure, Investor, Founders Fund Angel and fbFund Incubator
• Rex Ng, Co-founder and CEO, 6waves
• Jason Oberfest, VP Social Applications, ngmoco
• Mark Pincus, Founder and CEO, Zynga
• Shervin Pishevar, Founder and Executive Chairman, SGN
• John Pleasants, CEO, Playdom
• Keith Rabois, VP Strategy and Business Development, Slide
• Peter Relan, Executive Chairman, CrowdStar
• Justin Smith, Founder, Inside Network
• Kavin Stewart, CEO, Lolapps
• Jay Weintraub, Founder, LeadsCon

More speakers and a full agenda will be announced shortly.

Finally, a limited set of “early bird” tickets is now available through Friday at a special price of $279. This price will change after Friday, and space will be limited, so we encourage you to register now.

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco

Three years after the Facebook Platform launched in 2007, what started out as sheep throwing and vampire biting has quickly become a profitable billion-dollar industry. Today, social games monetizing through virtual goods have quickly become one of the hottest sectors of technology and entertainment, both in the US and around the world. Where are social apps going, and who is leading the way?

Inside Network is proud to announce our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms: Inside Social Apps 2010, happening April 20th in San Francisco, is bringing together the world’s leading entrepreneurs all in one place to discuss the future of social applications and games monetizing through virtual goods.

This will be an in-depth one day event geared toward developers on Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone, senior executives, and investors. At Inside Social Apps 2010, founders and CEOs of the top social gaming, mobile social gaming, payments, and virtual goods infrastructure companies will be tackling the key issues facing the industry. We’re hosting it one day before Facebook’s “f8″ event in San Francisco, so this will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the key issues facing the future of the Facebook Platform and beyond before Facebook’s official event.

Register Now

A limited set of “early bird” tickets is available through Friday at a special price of $279. This price will change after Friday, and space will be very limited, so we encourage you to register early.

From all of us at Inside Network, we hope to see you on April 20th in San Francisco!

2009 will be remembered as the year that casual gaming stormed social platforms and changed the way millions of people socialized with friends online. With an up-to-$400 million acquisition of Playfish by Electronic Arts, hundreds of millions of dollars in venture investments, and some of the highest engagement numbers that online entertainment has ever seen, social games are now impacting businesses across the media landscape. It’s become clear that there are substantial opportunities for social game developers with virtual goods revenue models, but the market is still evolving rapidly.

Get the Annual Membership Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495 $1,995 USD* OR Buy Single Report: $995 $795 USD* * Pre-order discount ends January 25, 2010. All pre-ordered reports will be delivered on January 26, 2010.

That’s why we’re excited to announce a new exclusive original research report with co-author Charles Hudson in our Inside Virtual Goods series that is exclusively focused on the future of the social gaming market, entitled Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010. It will be released on Tuesday, January 26, but is available for discount pre-order for the next 7 days.

How big is the market, and where will social gaming go in 2010? How will existing players fare as Facebook shifts the social gaming landscape, and larger and more sophisticated players enter the market? Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010 provides deeper insight into social game monetization, development, customer acquisition, and the key questions facing the space in 2010 than you’ll find anywhere else.

About the Report

Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010 gives you an inside view of the future at this critical juncture in the intersection of social networking and online games.

We have compiled months of original research from dozens of top executives and entrepreneurs from all parts of the social gaming ecosystem to produce eye-opening source data and analysis that is not available anywhere else. At over 80 pages, Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010 takes the closest look at the present state of social games and the future of what’s shaping up to be a very fundamentally strong and profitable industry.

What We Cover

1. Emerging Social Game Development and Studio Models – There is an emerging consensus around how social game developers are choosing to organize themselves for game development. How do small, medium, and large developers organize their teams? What do development cycle times for original titles and “expansion packs” look like? What is the role of testing and metrics in the development process?
2. Social Game Design and Mechanics – The emergence of a few key game genres with proven mechanics and monetization have spawned dozens of fast followers. Understand how publishers are continuing to innovate as we head into 2010.
3. Monetization Data and Payment Trends – Now that developers have proven the virtual goods model, what are ARPUs really like for different game genres? What is the lifetime value of users, and how long do players stick around? We take an in depth look at monetization methods and rates, and shed light on where payments are headed in the coming quarters. One more note on monetization – you may be wondering about everything you’ve heard about offers and alternative payments for virtual goods. We cover:
   • The offers ‘scandal’ and what will it mean going into 2010
   • Changes that advertisers and payments companies have – and haven’t – made
   • How both direct and alternate payment methods are most likely to grow or contract in the coming year.
4. Customer Acquisition and Marketing Trends – As the social gaming landscape has evolved over the past two and a half years, so have the ways that developers acquire and retain new users. How have user acquisition costs changed, and what do Facebook’s changes spell for the future of the marketing funnel? We take an in depth look at data and trends.
5. Facebook’s Platform Changes, Credits, and What’s In Store for the Future – Just when social game developers were settling in, Facebook announced major adjustments that will dramatically alter the way social games reach users through Facebook. Continued change is likely – what will it be, and how will it impact the industry? In addition, as Facebook rolls out its much-discussed Credits currency, how will monetization and the payments landscape be affected? Finally, will we see another dominant platform emerge? Our overview covers these developments, their impact on the industry, and what else is in store.

What you get

In addition to our deep dive into key aspects of the social gaming ecosystem, the report also offers extended coverage on:

• A brief history on the evolution and growth of this space in the US, including a description of all key players and how they rose to the top.
• Total social gaming market size estimates for 2010, including estimates on the “big three” developers.
• Our take on the key issues facing the growth of social gaming, including our outlook and projections for 2010.

See the full table of contents below:

Table of Contents

Section I: Overview

1. The Evolution of Social Gaming

• What is Social Gaming?
• Why do Social Games Work?
• A Brief History of the Major Eras in Social Gaming
  • Era I – The Virality Era
  • Era II – The Emergence of Paid Distribution
  • Era III – Rise of the Big 3 and the Network Model

2. Social Game Development and Design Processes

• Studio Composition
  • Small Developers
  • Medium and Large Developers
• Platform Services
• Development Cycle Time
  • Expansion Packs
  • True Serial
• Developing Franchise Titles
• Role of Testing and Metrics
• Multi-platform Development

3. Social Game Design and Game Mechanics

• Emergence of Key Genres
• Fast Followers vs Innovators
• Templates / Engines
• Intellectual Property
• Barriers to Entry

4. Monetization

1. How do social games monetize?
   • Virtual Goods
     1. Functional Virtual Goods
     2. Decorative Virtual Goods
     3. Consumables
   • Advertising
     1. Sponsorships
     2. White Label Games
     3. Branded Virtual Goods
2. Monetization Rates
   • How do social game developers manage their businesses?
     1. Social RPGs
     2. Farm Games
     3. Pet Games
     4. Aquarium Games
     5. Poker Games
     6. Flirting Games
     7. Arcade Games
   • Monetization rates of key social game genres
   • How has monetization changed over the last year?
3. Consumer Demographics
4. Payments Breakdown
   • Understanding Offers and the Offer Controversy
     1. The Offer Controversy
     2. Offers in Social Games
     3. Increased Competition
   • Mobile and Alternative Direct Payments
     1. Large Payment Platforms
     2. Direct Payments vs Offers
     3. Direct Payments Breakdown in Social Games
   • Direct Payments
     1. Mobile Payments
     2. Pre-Paid Cards
     3. New Payment Providers
5. Lifetime Value of Social Game Players (LTV) – What do we know?
   • How long do players stick around?
   • When in their lifecycle do users monetize best?
   • Seasonality and monetization lifecycles in social games
   • Banner advertising’s role

5. Customer Acquisition and Marketing

• The Rise, Fall, and Re-rise of Viral Acquisition
• Cross Promotion
• Paid Acquisition
  • Facebook Ads
  • Third-party Facebook Platform Ad Networks
• Network Strategy and Economies of Scale

6. 2010 Market Size and Top Developers Revenue Estimates

• 2010 Social Gaming Market Size
• Top Developer Revenue Estimates
  • Zynga
  • Playfish
  • Playdom
  • Crowdstar

Section II: The Future

1. Facebook Platform Changes and the Relationship Between Facebook and Application Developers

• Impact of Platform Changes
• Developers and Advertising Spend

2. What does the emergence of the big 3 mean for small and medium sized developers?

• Marketing and Customer Acquisition
• The CrowdStar Example
• Can an independent developer dominate a category?

3. Facebook Credits, Offers, and the Changing Monetization Landscape

• Impact of Facebook Credits
• Offers and Performance Advertising
• Role of Alternative Payment Systems

4. Off-Network Games with Facebook Connect

• Intersection of Social and Mobile
• Open Internet – Farmville.com and Facebook Connect

5. Will Another Platform Other Than Facebook Emerge?

• MySpace
• Twitter
• Global Social Networks
• Global Portals
• Search Engine Application Platforms

6. Investment Landscape

• Venture Capital
• M&A and IPO Landscape

7. Competitive Response in the Broader Media and Games Industry

• Casual game developers
• Console Games Companies
• Casual MMOs and Virtual Worlds
• Diversified Media Companies

More Data, More Actionable Insights

In 2009, social games began to show what kind of value can be created on top of social networks. 2010 will be an even more important year.

Social gaming, powered by virtual goods, is this year’s industry to watch. If you’re involved, or are considering jumping in, Inside Virtual Goods will be one of your most important tools.

One year of original data and exclusive in-depth reports delivered on a quarterly basis is $2,495 and contains:

• A detailed overview of the current state of the industry
• Specific estimates on market size by segment
• Diagnosis of key opportunities and issues by segment

Get The Annual Membership

Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495 $1,995 USD*

OR Buy Single Report: $995 $795 USD*

* Pre-order discount ends January 25, 2010. All pre-ordered reports will be delivered on January 26, 2010.

Although the report will not be released until next Tuesday, January 26, we are offering a special pre-order discount for those who purchase now. A one year subscription is $1,995 until January 26, at which point the price will go to US $2,495. The one year subscription includes three quarterly updates on key developments in the space.

Or, you can download just this report. The pre-order price is $795 until January 26, at which point the price will go to US $995.

Role-playing games on Facebook may seem like an overdone genre, but Castle Age shows just how far it can go beyond “join my mafia.”

For the record, there isn’t anything wrong with the way many existing Facebook RPGs play. They could just be so much more. At first glance, though, Castle Age may seem just like these other titles. The basics are all there, with your standard stats of attack, defense, stamina, energy, etc. Players do quests to gain experience, or fight players to gain dominance. They even visit town to buy equipment to become stronger and land to earn income. However, despite the familiarities, there is something deeper behind this fantasy RPG.

Upon entering the “world,” players are greeted the story of their burning home and immediately prompted with a choice on whom to save. The character becomes their first hero/general which allows them to actually do quests. As the player progresses, certain quests can be done with any hero, and others require a specific one that they may find or purchase later. Also, various heroes grant their own unique bonuses to the player. As an example, we ended up with the cleric Penelope who grants a 1% discount toward all soldiers – more on them in a second – purchased in “Town” (this is where many soldiers, items, magic, and so on are bought). Later, players can unlock, through quests, or buy other heroes for different bonuses. However, only one hero at a time can grant their special abilities by being equipped as a general, meaning that this will likely play into some strategies at later levels. Moreover, by level 10, players can even begin upgrading these units.

Soldiers needed for your army to complete many quests and fight other human opponents. At their core, these characters are nothing more than machine guns, knives, and explosives that you might find in something like Mafia Wars but because of their dramatic artwork and that they are not objects, but people, makes them feel more like units in a strategy game and not an inanimate things.

In fact, the artwork plays a lot in the connection to the game as a whole. Despite copyright issues half a year ago, Castle Age has come back with new and absolutely gorgeous fantasy art. Each screen has a character that no matter how insignificant they seem, is dynamic and memorable looking. This is a visual representation of a fictional writing rule to never make a character a flat or stock character no matter how tiny their role, because it isn’t believable or memorable. In the case of Castle Age, the imagery fills the role of remembrance, but it is that other art form, writing, that makes it feel more believable.

For every page and every character, save the purchased units like foot soldiers, there is some small bit of text that is designed, with word bubbles, to look like the character is speaking to you. It might be a tip, instruction, or just what services they offer, but each piece of it feels like part of this world. This isn’t Shopkeeper 32A selling you that +5 to Attack Dagger. It is Vulcan, a fiery blacksmith with biceps the size of your head and a hammer half again as large. In fact, this same writing is what drives the player further into the story of the game.

Bit by bit, the story unfolds for the player with each piece requiring more experience to be earned — “A hero wishes to meet you: Earn 5 experience points.” Once a quest is done, then that new piece of story is unveiled. And, coupled with the art, the player actually gets sucked in to the game world. However, this same method leads to some very smart social features as well.

Every so often, the story will come to a boss. Rather than a simple quest, a story blurb will introduce it and the player must defeat it to move on. However, in order to attack it they use the stat, Stamina, which in most RPGs, is used only to attack other players. Frankly, this simple double use of the stat has actually given meaning to it for players that previously only cared about story in Facebook RPGs.

Anyways, with the boss fight, the battle is open for several hours. Each boss has a great deal of hit points, thus requiring many attacks to defeat it. Since one attack uses one stamina, and players have relatively limited stamina before they must wait for it to recharge, help from friends becomes very useful. Players can actual issue a “Call to Arms” that cries for help on their newsfeed, and friends can join and attack as well, earning a little bit of experience for themselves each time they take a swing at the big bad guy.

Additionally, players can also invite friends to join to not only grow their army size (like in Mafia Wars), but assign them to their Elite Guard as well. This makes for another level of gaming and social depth as the Elite Guard are friends who are assigned to specific jobs – Cleric, Thief, Paladin, etc. – that grant the player special bonuses (i.e. +1 Attack) for a 24 hour period.

The game is further deepened by the player’s ability to ”worship” demi-gods every 24 hours and thereby earn favor to purchase rewards, chests with random rare units for army, and more. However, this is still just the tip of the iceberg. Castle Age is extremely deep and complex with a myriad of features to learn. Just to list some examples beyond these demi-gods, players can duel each other one vs. one or with armies for stat bonus, they can earn achievements, create items and monsters with alchemy, generate epic bosses, train with non-player characters, visit the oracle for special bonus (offers and currency sales), repeat quests to gain influence and extra stats, as well as purchase and participate in constantly changing special offers an items in-game.

With just under 3 million monthly active users, Castle Age has certainly been a slowly growing game but one that has endured not only the test of time, but legal issues as well. It is a game with beautiful artwork, deep story and play mechanics, and a complexity that is completely forgotten through its immersiveness. So long as it can avoid anymore unnecessary copyright issues, this is a game that ought to continue to grow over 2010, and after playing it, you will certainly see why it was one of the top ten most significant social games of last year.

We’ve been taking a look at some of the many ninja Facebok games in the past couple of weeks. Ninja Saga is one of the biggest we’ve seen yet. With nearly 1.9 million monthly active users, it’s worth a closer look.

Ninja games are a common genre on Facebook due to the popularity of ninja animes, especially the Naruto series, in popular culture. And Ninja Saga, like many other games, has clearly been inspired by that Japanese cartoon; meanwhile, Crunchyroll has released the only official Naruto Facebook game that we know of.

Ninja Saga walks a razor’s edge when it comes to copyright issues. The art style itself is wonderful, but looks an awful lot like Naruto. Clothing, hairstyles, even ninjutsu (essentially magic) attacks, and architecture are taken, almost identically, from the series with only the most minor of details changed (like color). In fact, even the story of a nobody looking to become the “Kage,” or head ninja, is the same. Nevertheless, and issues of copyright aside, the game still proved to be fun.

Players are given a basic storyline and work through missions that vary based on the level and rank of your character. After a basic tutorial, the user is promoted to “Genin,” which is basically your bottom-rung ninja. As such, you are only able to do the most basic of missions, working your way up the ladder as you level up and earn some ninja prowess.

The missions themselves are fairly straightforward, but come with a turn-based combat like most RPGs. Players make an attack, it takes up X amount of time and “chakra” (mana), then the enemies attack. Repeat. Over time, users get more attacks, more items, and eventually, more party members leading to a fairly enjoyable and in-depth battle system.

Of course, this being a Facebook game, those other party members can be your Facebook friends. You can’t use them unless they actually join the game. However, the extra party members makes things a lot more interesting (not to mention easier), and more fun. Heck, you can even use what jutsus their character knows to teach your own avatar some new tricks. Furthermore, if you aren’t looking for teammates, you can always challenge said friends to player-versus-player bouts or pick fights with random opponents using the Ninja Saga’s “Live PvP” system in order to win .

As for other features of the game, it has all the basic elements of distributing attribute points when you level — buying new equipment, customizing your avatar, and training new spells. Also, once a player is strong enough (and high ranked enough) they can even purchase their own pets. Sadly, we didn’t get to see this as our virtual ninja skills are not yet apparently not up to the task. Nevertheless, and as with most Facebook games nowadays, this is all done with either the earnable in-game currency of gold, or the purchasable virtual currency, Saga Tokens.

Perhaps it is a good and bad thing, but this game was fun enough to really drive a desire to purchase said tokens. With the wonderful artwork, fun game play, and a story that looks to unfold through Flash animations, buying new stuff quickly became addictive as it would allow more of this ninja world to be seen. Unfortunately, the bad part of all this is that all this praise toward artwork and story are there because most of it is unoriginal and almost a direct copy of Naruto. This also means that sooner or later Ninja Saga could run into some legal trouble. Either way, the game is fun, and if legal issues are taken care of, it actually does the Naruto franchise justice.

Social game developers have a strong tradition of closely imitating, er, flattering each others’ titles by using similar mechanics, themes, graphics, currency pricing and most everything else. Well, here’s a new game from Chinese developer Boyaa, called Happy Baby. While we have only recently discovered it, it’s hard to say that it is truly “new.” Anyone that’s been on Facebook a while is will aware of Playfish’s popular top title, Pet Society, and that’s what this game is: Pet Society in Chinese.

Pet games are still popular even though they’ve been around for a long time — indeed, pet games were big in Asia before they were elsewhere in the world. Nevertheless, Happy Baby has gained more than 200,000 monthly active users so far. Not bad, although not nearly as much as the gains that big Facebook developers Zynga and CrowdStar have seen with their new pet games, PetVille and Happy Pets.

Happy Baby starts the player out with the creation of their own, animal-like avatar. With flat colors and simple shapes, it should be something familiar to Pet Society players, because, frankly, the avatar could fit right in with the Playfish title and few would be the wiser. The game’s simple 2D house has a familiar user interface, as well. As a matter of fact, the only “significant” difference was that the bottom menu bar was in color.

Okay, so it looks the same, but so how does it play? Well, it does a good job at teaching the ropes, using achievements and objectives to show the player how to feed, clean, and brush their pet. Then it shows them how to place furniture, interact with it, and leave your home. It is all very simple and intuitive, especially considering it’s all written in Chinese and we don’t speak Chinese. Then we went outside.

Lo and behold, it also looks like the Pet Society world. Even details were preserved, such as the shaking of trees for random coins, or the racing of other players at a stadium for money. Want to meet random people? Go to the coffee shop? Want to skip straight home? The game will teleport you right there. All features from Pet Society.

So, other than aforementioned interface colors, what is different? There are some extra mini-games in the stadium such as javelin throwing that make use of a sort of quick-time event coupled with timing to throw farther, and there is also a mall of sorts that has a row of shops you can walk past (though you cannot visit them at the movement). Other than these, the only noticeable differences were that there are less stores in town, total, and trash can pile up in your house over time and you get money for cleaning it up (similar to Restaurant City).

When broken down, Happy Baby isn’t a bad game, but, then again neither is Pet Society, so how could it be? It is, however, a blatant rip-off, and while we have seen a myriad of clones on Facebook before, Happy Baby might as well be a Chinese language version of Pet Society.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has proven to be the place to watch for new Zynga titles, in the sense that the company has been busy trademarking names for future games. FishVille was one example from last fall, then PetVille was another, and now Games.com has noticed that the company has trademarked 21 new games on either December 16 or 21 of last month.

The list includes a range of new and old-sounding genres that use words like: hospitals, hotels, zoos, animals, treasures and crime. Straight from the USPTO:

Readers will note that many other games in these genres already exist. In the hospital category, we have Vojo World’s Medical Mayhem. In the animal/zoo category, we have Rekoo’s Animal Paradise, RockYou’s more recent Zoo World, and many others. We haven’t seen blockbuster hotel or “frontier” games on social networks yet, but it’s pretty easy to imagine a simulation game that lets you run your own hotel or create a frontier town. We’re also intrigued by the appearance of gambling-related titles like Poker Blitz, Casino Blitz and Casino World — Zynga had a big hit with its Texas HoldEm poker game but it has appeared to be more focused on sim games these days.

Overall, the list of trademarks suggests that Zynga is continuing its strategy of picking promising genres, then making games that are good in their own right but also tap in to Zynga’s massive cross-promotion ability on its other games and its big warchest for advertising.

Company chief executive Mark Pincus laid out his thoughts on this year in an interview with us from late last month. He emphasized that Zynga is going to try to make its games even more social — so you’re having lots of social interactions with friends inside of games, rather than on Facebook or other platforms. He also said that he expects his company’s games to stay focused on the mass market of social gamers, rather than trying to increase complexity for niche hardcore types:

I think there’s a continued trend towards greater simplicity. We learned that lesson this year. While our games are more accessible than hardcore games, nobody realized making them more simple would unlock more users. Nobody would guess that one of most popular categories would be fish swimming around in a bowl. I would be shocked if it didn’t get even more simple.

Boku Gets New Partners, Features, Languages -- Mobile payment provider Boku announced 12 new service partners this week: Zoosk, 6waves, Snap Interactive, Cie Studios, GameDuell, Cyberstep Communications, IGG, King.com, NHN USA, Ntreeve, Outspark, and Perfect World. Boku lets users purchase virtual goods through its mobile payments service. Along with the partnerships announcement, the company also says it is making improvements to its technology. Now, the platform will be able to immediately recognize carrier providers for phone numbers as well as whether or not it is mobile or land. This cuts down on the number of steps needed to sign up for the service by removing the user need to manually identify it themselves, thus attracting more customers. Boku will also be localizing its service into 20 new languages.

iPhones see 35% In-App Purchase Conversion Rates -- The iPhone title, Homerun Battle 3D is seeing a conversion rate of 35% for in-app purchases (according to an interview with Pocket Gamer). Prices range from $0.99 to $19.99 and have thus far generated 30% of all revenues for the game. The company reports that the more expensive goods are higher sellers. Most players are buying the items to garner an advantage early on, or to make up for frequent loses while in competitive mode. Despite success, however, the company feels that Apple’s $0.99 minimum price for in-app transactions is too high and is hurting business.

Class-Action Offers Scam Lawsuit Now in Court — The law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff LLP, the one that said it was looking into a possible class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Zynga and other companies over scams in offers, has now filed. The firm, along with Wexler Wallace LLP, is representing a class-action plaintiff who was tricked into signing up for a mobile subscription service. They’re looking for up to $5 million.

Zong and Jambool Announce Partnership - Mobile payment provider Zong announced yesterday that it has partnered with Jambool, the parent company of payment provider Social Gold. This will allow Zong’s mobile payments to be available through Social Gold’s Flash API (which is already being used by about 100 developers) for virtual goods purchases.

Flurry Launches iPhone App Discovery Platform, AppCircle - Analytics startup Flurry has launched AppCircle. With the platform, developers can track detailed analytics such as time spent on an app, what other apps users use, and how much they are spending. The platform is free to the developer, and Flurry sees nothing unless a sale is made.

The company says that around 14,000 developers using the system, and can track around 40 million unique users monthly. Flurry also says that it is tracking about 66% of iPhone and iPod Touch users and an equivalent percentage on the Android, meaning that the platform can recommend more relevant games to users for multiple devices.

Apps that make use of AppCircle can make recommendations to users about other games they can buy. The ad is a non-intrusive single line at the bottom of the screen that can be tapped and leads to where it can be purchased. Only then does Flurry take a cut. Currently, should an app be purchased, the developer receives 70% of the price (Apple gets the rest). Of that percentage, either $0.50 or 30% (whichever is greater) is shared with Flurry who divides it between itself and the app that hosted the recommendation link. Apple will also give 5% to Flurry via Linkshare.

iPhone Pirates – Piracy on the device continues, as this Gamasutra article details. Indie game developer Bram Stolk, said that his game, The Little Tank That Could, had 1,114 copies in circulation. Only 45 had actually been sold. A the recent Game Developers Conference in Shanghai, China, ngmoco said it was experiencing a 50%-90% piracy rate. Now, another indie developer, Smells Like Donkey, is reporting the same percentage for its iPhone title, Tap-Fu. Greg Yardley, CEO of the analytics company Pinch Media says that of the 8% of iPhone apps that utilize its software, around 60% of them are being pirated.

Fizzy.com Launches Game Developer Network – Online games developer 3RD Sense, operator of Fizzy.com, has launched a the Fizzy Game Developers Network (GDN). The new network will provide Flash developers a means to showcase, distribute, and earn revenue from their titles. Developers may upload their games to GDN as either free-to-play or pay-to-play with the former earning money based on the number of plays it receives. The latter, however, will earn 50% of all sales, plus further income from the number of plays. Currently, Fizzy.com sees around 1 million unique users a month, and distributes games across a myriad of partner websites as well.

uSocial Ordered to “Cease and Desist” — Facebook has sent a cease and desist notification to the marketing company, uSocial for violation of the social network’s terms of service. According to BBC News, the company sells Facebook friends and fans and was “letting people profit from their profile.” uSocial “violates its rights by sending spam, using web tools to harvest pages, getting login names and by accessing accounts that did not belong to the marketing firm,” according to the report.

Viximo Parnters with Interscope Records -This past week, virtual goods platform Viximo announced a team-up with Interscope Geffen A&M, allowing them to develop licensed virtual goods from Interscope artists. The first round of these new goods will be based around Lady Gaga and slated to release the same time as her album on November 23. In fact, the “Lady Gaga Line” will be attainable through a virtual gifts store on the Lady Gaga, Facebook Fan Page with all payments, analytics, and transactions handled by Viximo.