Monetization
Video Games as Astroturfing
Rachel Maddow covers the controversy over using virtual offers as a political tactic: She does an excellent job of breaking down the economics.
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 [...]
Bioware tries a new tactic with Dragon Age DLC. Penny Arcade Notices.
So, it seems that Dragon Age has integrated virtual DLC directly into the game, allowing players to purchase extra quest lines as an integrated part of their adventure. It’s an interesting tactic, and one that Penny Arcade has seen fit to comment on in the form of a comic: There’s an interesting point being made [...]
Are Social Games like newspapers?
As I’ve been reading more and more about the collapse of print newspapers, and what the real business of print news was behind the articles, the parallels to Social Gaming are becoming more and more obvious. One thing that’s important to remember as the industry pushes forward is that while the actual game is the [...]
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 [...]
Microsoft Office to go Ad Supported?
I’m always interested in how products transition from old to new models (hence the name of this site), but I have to say that I’m surprised by this quote from an MS executive that Office 14 will have an ad-supported component. There will be ad-based revenue streams. There’s an opportunity to draw those pirate customers [...]
Dollhouse: A TV show that’s made for the Internet
Dollhouse, the new show from Joss Whedon, debuted to less than stellar number on traditional TV on Friday. But it also turns out it’s a huge hit on iTunes and Hulu. And Joss is thinking that he’ll just quit television entirely. Looking at his fan base and the kind of work he does it makes [...]
Why MicroPayments Won’t Save the Newspapers
Clay Shirky gives a short lesson in the dos and don’ts of MicroPayments: Such systems solve no problem the user has, and offer no service we want. As a result, conversations about small payments take place entirely among content providers, never involving us, the people who will ostensibly be funding these transactions. The conversation about [...]
In Social Games the Audience Monetizes You
It’s easy to get caught up in the mind set of thinking how you’re going to pry as much money as you can out of the pockets of your audience. But in the end you want to find a way to get them to pay you without having to use extortion. That’s true even if [...]