Social Games
Ten Reasons that Social Games may eat the Casual market
With relatively low production costs and a business model of “Free to try and cheap to buy”, there seemed to be no way that Casual Games couldn’t succeed.
But Casual Games haven’t become the all-encompassing juggernaut that some people were predicted they would be a few years ago. Meanwhile, Social Games are quickly expanding into exactly the same market.
How Social Games Saved the PC Gaming Market
Although there have been good times and bad times, the PC gaming market has always been a bit of a lurching monster. Since the early eighties, when some of the best games came in Ziploc bags with photocopied cover sheets, up through today where some of the most popular titles are fee social games that [...]
Successful Social Games are all about Status
Traditional games are primarily focused on the experience of play. It’s the old “gameplay is everything” model, and while that’s still important, the equation has changed a bit. What a social player is most concerned about is status.
Social Platform Games aren’t (necessarily) Social Games
I love PopCap. Not only are their games built around perfect nuggets of gameplay, but they understand what they’re making so well that even the strange and quirky art for Peggle manages to become an integral part of how game transcends its simple, pachinko-style dynamic.
And Bejeweled Blitz, PopCap’s first official Facebook offering is no exception. [...]
Social Platform Games Enter Into the "Frog Kissing Contest" Phase
While there’s currently a lot of excitement based on the massive amounts of investment that poured into the Social Platform Games market in the last half of 2008, it’s fairly clear that the bloom is off the rose in terms of the rocketing growth that initially spurred the industry.
Unfortunately for any young industry, the really [...]