Google has high hopes for mobile games
Google has been making some major announcements recently concerning its various online ventures. Last week, the company announced its intentions in the social gaming space. Google has been seeing a great deal of promise in the game industry and has adopted a focus on mobile games, which have become one of the most lucrative sectors in gaming today. Google has plans to make mobile games more social, but not to tether these games to any particular website or online space.
Google+ Games will close at the end of June
In order to keep mobile games mobile, Google has announced that it will be shutting down its Google+ Games service at the end of June this year. Google+ Games served as a platform for social games in the same way that Facebook has done for years. The platform supports games like Angry Birds, CityVille, and Triple Town, as well as various others. The platform does not align with the company’s vision of mobile games, however, and Google will be focusing its efforts on other ventures.
Developers may return unused funds in games to consumers
Those interested in continuing to play the games that were available through Google+ Games will have to contact that game’s developer. According to Google, the funds that consumers spend on these games will also be an issue that must be handled with developers. Some games will be migrating to other platforms, where unused funds will be honored by the development team. Those that will not be migrating may be inclined to returned unused funds, but there is no guarantee that this will be the case with all developers.
Google Play may draw more people to Google+
With Google+ Games coming to a close, Google is likely to put most of its attention on its Google Play service. This service is being designed specifically for mobile games and is meant to introduce social elements into this space. Google expects that this new service will help boost the adoption of its own social network, which continues to struggle to find a foothold against social networking titans like Facebook and Twitter.
Zynga has some trouble getting traction in mobile games
Zynga had once been a formidable force in the social games sector. The company is responsible for some of the most popular social games in the history of gaming, with much of its success coming from a close-knit relationship with Facebook. Over the past two years, however, Zynga has experienced a proverbial fall from grace among consumers, largely due to allegations regarding copying certain features of other very popular games. Zynga has since been struggling to restructure itself in order to reclaim its throne, adopting a strong focus on mobile games.
Mobile may be the future, but it is not without challenges
Zynga believes that mobile games, especially those designed for tablet devices, could help it reassert its dominance in the game industry. Mobile games have certainly been very successful for a variety of other development studios and continue to be well loved by consumers, but Zynga has had trouble finding the traction it needs to be successful. Last year, Zynga purchased mobile games startup OMGPOP, which is responsible for the highly popular “Draw Something” game. Since the acquisition, however, Zynga has seen lackluster performance in the market.
Dan Porter bows out of Zynga
This week, Zynga has announced that Dan Porter, former CEO of OMGPOP and the head of Zynga, has left the company. Porter is well known as a colorful and outspoken individual in the game industry, two traits that have made his integration into Zynga somewhat difficult. Last month, Porter was quoted as claiming that Zynga deliberately copies the games produced by its competitors, a comment that he later apologized for. Porter’s tenure with Zynga is marked with turbulence, mostly represented by the poor performance of the company’s mobile games.
Sean Kelly to take the helm
Porter did help draw attention to Zynga’s new focus on mobile games, helping generate hype behind the shift away from social gaming. The former executive will be replaced by Sean Kelly, who was formerlly the head of one of Zynga’s most popular games “CityVille.” Kelly is expected to keep Zynga focused on the development of mobile games while also helping the company recover from some of the damage that has been done to its stocks over the past year.
