Tag: social mobile games

Mobile games off to a rocky start at Zynga

| April 5, 2013

Zynga mobile gamesZynga 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.

Mobile games catch the eye of Facebook

| March 31, 2013

Facebook mobile gamesFacebook has some high hopes for mobile games

Facebook has long been a strong presence in the realm of social gaming due to its status as one of the most used social networking platforms in the world. The social network has been supporting various kinds of social games over the past several years, and has plans to continue doing so, but Facebook has also been growing more interested in the world of mobile games. Facebook has announced plans to reach out to a demographic it has not pursued in any serious fashion over the next year: Core gamers.

Facebook to focus on core gamers

Core gamers represent the stereotypical demographic of consumer that plays games in some way. This demographic is typically separated into various subclasses, such as mid-core and hardcore. Facebook has taken a strong interest in core gamers due to the fact that they are willing to devote a significant amount of their time to games that they enjoy or, in some cases, games that they do not enjoy at all. In the world of mobile games, more time spent playing a game itself generally translates into more money spent by the consumer, whether by participating in advertising or purchasing in-game content or virtual currencies.

Social network to offer developers promising incentives

Facebook is formulating a plan to attract mobile game developers to its platform, hoping that these developers will produce games that are attractive to core gamers. Currently, the social network is showing interest in a wide range of genres for these games, though which genres Facebook will focus on more intently will be determined by further research into what gamers actually want to play. Mobile games themselves are somewhat attractive because of their easily accessible and addictive nature, so Facebook may be interested in genres that play to the strengths of mobile gaming.

Mobile games may help Facebook overcome the past

Facebook experienced a turbulent 2012, with much of the social network’s turmoil being based on poor performance in the stock market. Lackluster security has also been a major problem for the social network, an issue that has served to plague Facebook for some time. Mobile games may be able to help the social network put much of its past troubles to rest, as long as these games are as successful as the company is hoping they will be.