business
The Collapse of Complexity and the rise of Social
Because games are built out of much of the same conceptual materials as the web itself (code and art), they’ve resisted a lot of the economic shockwaves that have created such a disturbance in traditional media. But they’re not immune to it. We’ve had ample proof over the last year that any genuine growth is [...]
Why the iPad Isn’t Insanely Great
Apple has, in the past, always built their consumer products around a need that has either been unaddressed, or closes an obvious “hole” in the marketplace, even if most people didn’t realize how obvious it was until someone built a shiny-white plastic a bridge across it.
Core gaming data is irrelevant to Social Games, unless it isn’t.
I mostly ignore the data on core gaming when it comes to reading tea leaves for social, but the Nintendo Wii has really shaken things up on the console side in a way that I think has relevance for the Social Space. They’re making a truly mainstream play…
Over on the Wired Gaming Blog, Chris Kohler [...]
Why Zynga is worth $2.5 Billion
With their latest huge investor Zynga is now valued at somewhere around 2.5 billion dollars, give or take a billion (and who’s counting, right)?
As usual when these huge valuations come around, people tend to question whether or not the company is really worth it, especially when you consider they pulled off this kind of value [...]
Zynga gets shut down- Updated
After writing a few days ago that I felt that Michael Arrington had unfairly targeted developers as being culpable for scam advertising offers, Zynga goes ahead and proves me wrong by allegedly blocking the IP addresses of Facebook employees from seeing certain ads, and getting Fishville banned in the process.
That’s led to Facebook taking action– [...]
Are VideoGames Dead?
Interesting series on whether videogames are “dying”.
What’s interesting is that I think there’s lots of interesting information here about what’s going on in the core business, and I think there’s a major shift coming in the business models as we head to the next generation.
I’m also wondering if the term “budget title” is being used [...]
O’Reilly explains what may kill the Kindle in the long run.
There’s few people out there who have a better understanding of digital publishing than O’Reilly. He’s spent the better part of the last two decades publishing technical books that have given developers the information they need to make innovation happen, while being a driving force behind the rise of “Web 2.0″.
In this article for Forbeshe [...]
Why the XBox 360 may already be the next generation’s winning console
It’s heresy among the gamers to say that any particular console may have “won” a particular round of the game wars, especially when you’re talking about features not directly related to the games themselves. Over at Offworld, Jim Rossignol posts an excellent article discussing how the XBox may already be a generation ahead.
All I have [...]
Your Game is a Service Business
My latest opinion piece is up over at Inside Social Games.
Here’s a taste:
But whether it’s what we play, or how we play it, some companies are beginning to figure out that even though they are now directly responsible for dealing with their irate customers, that relationship is becoming as important as the product itself, and [...]
Are used games a missed opportunity for Publishers?
There aren’t many companies that sell games that aren’t in the used game business these days. Gamefly jumped in last year, and now Amazon is getting on-board.
That’s clearly an issue for publishers and developers since games aren’t a tiered business like movies, so there is no point in the business that they can be guaranteed [...]