Archive for October, 2010

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Nexon America launches free-to-play Vindictus

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Never resting on their laurels, Nexon recently officially launched their highly anticipated MMO Vindictus. A mild departure for the free-to-play giant, Vindictus has a few features in store for gamers that they’re not quite yet accustomed to, at least not in the free-to-play market. Partnering with Valve, Nexon hopes to take free-to-play to the next level through what they’re calling a “breakthrough experience that truly brings physics alive.”

A physics based MMORPG, Vindictus runs on a modified version of Valve’s Source Engine, and allows characters to interact with their physical environment. Not only do these improved physics allow for throwing enemy corpses, shattering walls, and binding monsters with change, it also employes a unique mechanism that affects players’ wear and tear on their armor. Valve’s Source Engine, you’ll remember, is the same one powering Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal.

vindictus

“With the launch of Vindictus, free-to-play gaming will never be the same,” said Daniel Kim, Nexon America’s CEO.“The high-quality content and amazing physics in Vindictus will make it hard for players to believe that this game is free. Vindictus is the leading example of Nexon’s efforts to forever change what players will expect from free-to-play games. More than that, Vindictus is just plain fun.”

To celebrate the launch of Vindictus, Nexon is introducing a powerful female mage character named Evie. Evie will now join the ranks of currently available characters, the dual sword wielding Lann, and sword and shield bearing Fiona. Currently, the game features 3 “episodes” to keep players playing, with presumable more added in the future. Nexon has not commented on whether these will be available for free or via a microtransaction purchase, but I would presume the latter. Additionally, as part of the opening promotion, Nexon America will refill players’ access tokens three times a week.

A nice diversification for Nexon, and the improved physics are sure to up-the-ante in a number of free-to-play circles. However, in a genre so over crowded, and dominated by one particular MMORPG in particular, can Nexon garner enough attention to the title to make it all worth it? If their past track record is any indication as to the market and numbers that they’re able to pull through the door, Vindictus may very well have a very bright future ahead of it.

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WildTangent and Crowdstar partner to bring branded sponsorships in-game

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

The world of advertising and video games has recently suffered a setback with the announcement of the closing down of Microsoft’s Massive, but on the other hand, we have Sony reporting a 60 percent increase in advertising revenues. Clearly, it seems as though more and more firms are moving away from in-game advertising to an in-game branded item/virtual goods solution. Such is the case for social games maker CrowdStar who recently announced a partnership with WildTanget to bring a similar solution to their titles.

crowdstarFacebook’s second largest game developer, CrowdStar will soon feature WildTangent’s BrandBoost advertising technology in it’s top social games including Happy Pets, Happy Aquarium, and It Girl. Players of these games will have the opportunity to be rewarded with virtual goods and premium content in exchange for watching a video or rich media ad, all from the comfort of their favorite title.

“We created BrandBoost to allow brands to build a beneficial dialogue with social game players, and we’re thrilled to work with CrowdStar to provide this solution,” said Dave Madden, executive vice president at WildTangent. “By aligning the dramatic growth in social gaming with a scalable, engagement based advertising model, we are approaching an inflection point where social games can rival TV for marketers’ budgets.”

Part of the reasoning behind WildTanget’s BrandBoost technology stems from various papers and data that points out that although virtual goods sales are projected to reach $2.1 billion in 2011, a large number of players are not making ecommerce transactions. WildTangent wants to fill this void with their BrandBoost technology, offering brands an opportunity to play a much more active part in cashing in on online gaming. Through BrandBoost, WildTangent is able to offer advertisers the ability to support access to virtual goods or additional play time – both items that would otherwise be paid for in real-world cash.

“Branded virtual goods are a hit with CrowdStar’s gaming audience,” said Niren Hiro, CEO of CrowdStar, the leading provider of social games in the U.S. and Japanese markets. “Such items are a win-win for consumers and brands as the virtual items play a central role in engaging and addictive game experiences that create affinity way beyond traditional web advertising.”

According to WildTangent, the BrandBoost platform is gaining significant ground across the social gaming space, and can deliver ads to an audience of over 100 million monthly Facebook players. Not only sponsoring virtual goods or extra play time, BrandBoost can also deliver custom branded virtual items, and supports third party ad serving and reporting. Topping off the sundae, the ad platform also supports long-form video and social engagement activities.

With CrowdStar’s reach and sheer volume on Facebook, it should be interesting to see not only how the firm implements it’s first WildTangent based campaigns, but also how gamers will react to it.

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Atari and Cryptic take Champions Online Free-to-Play

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Thanks to long time industry player Atari, and Cryptic Studios, we can now add another pin on the “switching to free-to-play” pin board. Announced yesterday from Los Angeles, Atari Inc. and MMO developer Cryptic Studios are bringing their superhero MMORPG Champions Online over to the free-to-play side.

Slated to officially open in Q1 2011, players will be able to engage in Champions Online in all it’s free-to-play glory. However, fans of epic heroism won’t have to wait until next year to dig in, as a closed beta is set to commence on November 9, 2010.

Billed as an MMO that brings challenges to the table that even the most experienced online gamer will delight in, Champions Online is a fast-pace action title that allows players to take on their own superhero persona. Based on a classic, but never aging, theme of good vs. bad, players can join with Defender and other Champions to slay the evil forces of Dr. Destroyer.

The Champions Online free-to-play version will feature a wide array of premium features that are aimed at entertaining players, as well as cashing in on virtual goods purchases. Adventure packs, items, powers and costumes are all on tap via Cryptic’s C-Store. Borrowing a page from Turbine’s flip-it-to-free-to-play-and-employ-a-hybrid-model, Atari and Cryptic will offer a Gold member subscription service. Current Gold members may continue subscribing (or not), and new comers may play and pay-as-they-go, or buy in to the optional $14.99 per month fee. Obtaining the Gold member status allows players to unlock most of the games’ content, and includes extra features unavailable to free-to-play players.

“Transitioning Champions Online to the free-to-play model is a great opportunity to reach a whole new audience of PC gamers that view subscription fees as a barrier to entry,” said John Needham, CEO of Cryptic Studios. “By taking care of our current subscription-based community and welcoming the addition of new players through free-to-play, Champions Online is poised to build upon its success and to establish a new leadership position as the first free-to-play superhero MMO.”

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Zynga files for Virtual Currency patent – have they gone too far?

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Unearthed by our friends at TechCruch and reported last Friday, it seems as though Zynga has filed for a patent on virtual currency. The U.S. Patent Application #2010022767, titled Virtual Playing Chips in a Multiuser Online Game Network, specifically names FarmVille and Zynga as Examples of Embodiments. The application continues, naming “Non-Redeemable Virtual Currency” and “Non-Redeemable Poker Chips” as Zynga inventions, and thus, objects the company claims ownerships of.

As noted by Alexia Tsotsis in the original TechCrunch article, it appears as what Zynga’s after through this filing is patent on the ability to buy virtual currencies that can not be then later traded for actual currency. The specific wording:

“A method, comprising:receiving, at a server, a purchase order for virtual currency from a player, wherein the purchase order was made with legal currency, and wherein the virtual currency is usable within the context of a computer-implemented game;crediting an account of the player with virtual currency, wherein the virtual currency is not redeemable for legal currency;receiving a second purchase order for a virtual object within the context of the computer-implemented game from the player, wherein the second purchase order was made with virtual currency; anddebiting the account of the player based on the second purchase order.”

I’m no legal scholar, but from what I read from this filing is that Zynga is essentially attempting to patent the process of purchasing virtual currency that cannot then be resold. Additionally, sources indicate that Zynga may implement a fraud prevention system, blocking players from using real world cash to purchase virtual funds from other players within Zynga titles. I see two fundamental problems here, 1.) isn’t the process of purchasing virtual currency a service, and not a patentable action? and 2.) Zynga is effectively targeting the elimination of a secondary market.

VentureBeat’s Mattew Lynley offers up the theory that Zynga is pursuing this patent in order to protect and further their Zynga Poker title. Zynga Poker, you’ll remember, was the only title specifically left out of the Zynga goes exclusive with Facebook Credits deal that went down on September 8th. And oh look … it appears as though Zynga filed for this patent on – you guessed it, September 9th, 2010.

Lynley makes the case that in Zynga Poker, the use of virtual currencies may for under state gambling rules. In some states online gambling is highly regulated, in others, completely illegal. With this patent filing, Zynga is attempting to make the case that cash flow is one way – meaning players can pay into the system, but never take money out, thus circumventing any governmentally implemented gambling regulations.

Win or lose, I see this as a harmful move by Zynga. If they win, well, they just became the name in practically any and all online games that involve virtual currencies (how is this not a monopoly?). If they lose, they’ve opened the doors to an entire flood of other gaming companies to attempt the same feat, or at least set a precedent for legal minds to work their way around.

zyngapatent

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Sony enjoys 60 percent increase in Video Ad Revenues

Monday, October 25th, 2010

According to official Sony reps, original video content that’s featured on the PlayStaion Network is enjoying a 60 percent increase in ad revenues when compared to last year. While a number of original video content has been created for the network Sony points to this year’s hit show “The Tester” as a primary driver for interested consumers, and thus … increased advertising revenues.

And let’s be clear – original video content created for, and distributed on the PlayStation Network comes nowhere close to the what now seems like doomed channel of in-game advertising. Sony isn’t dishing out any hard numbers, but according to MediaWeek, the company is still working on the learning curve, but are heading more and more in the direction of focusing on extracting advertising dollars and cents out of its programming production and decisions, including the aforementioned “The Tester,” but likewise their game-centric news show “The Pulse” and interactive info-zine Qore.

But that’s not to say that Sony studios will be pumping out new title after title. For now, Sony’s looking to maximize what they’ve got, and presumably construct the recipe for success in the making. As a point of reference, “The Tester,” which was created by 51 Minds (the same team that did VH1’s Rock of Love), pitted contestants against each other to earn the spot to become a professional video game tester. The show ran for 8 episodes and garnered a massive 2.5 million downloads, all of which Sony failed to monetize on.

Looking to cash in, the second season of “The Tester” is aimed at catching 3.5 million downloads, and Sony has already tee’d up EA, Ford, and The U.S. Air Force as advertising partners. These aren’t, however, straight forward, 30 second commercials inserted into episodes. Sure, there will be the traditional ad placement, but additionally, advertisers will have the opportunity to have much deeper integrations, such as one episode of “The Tester” is slated to take place on a U.S. Air Force base.

Again, even with these top shelf advertising partners in place, Sony isn’t planning on overwhelming consumers with more and more choices. Taking cues from ones that have been there (and back), Sony’s senior director, PlayStation Network, Susan Panico says that they’re adopting HBO’s philosophy of a “one foot in front of the other,” or, simply put: gradually.

As noted in the Massive closing article, it seems as though more and more advertisers, as well as console makers are realizing that there’s certainly money to be made on this platforms, and it doesn’t always involve an intrusive ad. By giving consumers more and more options of what they can do with their gaming console of choice, they’re finding that there are plenty more ways to monetize, all the while, still providing attractive advertising opportunities.

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Microsoft to launch Games on Demand service – November 15th

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Microsoft has recently announced a new online PC games store, titled Games for Windows Marketplace that seeks to combine the ease and power of the Web to power this online distribution platform. The Games for Windows Marketplace is slated for a November 15th launch, and will offer PC gamers a healthy lineup of attractive titles, easy navigation and purchasing options, as well as a healthy does of promotions including a recurring “Deal of the Week.”

microsoft“With Games for Windows Marketplace, we set out to create a digital store built for PC gamers end-to-end,” said Kevin Unangst, senior global director, PC and Mobile Gaming, at Microsoft. “And by integrating with our existing Xbox LIVE and Windows Live services, we’ve made it easier than ever for millions of gamers to see for themselves how easy buying PC games can be.”

At launch, the Games for Windows Marketplace will feature 100 top-quality titles such as “Fable: The Lost Chapters,” “Lego Universe,”and “Grand Theft Auto III.” Firms already on board include Capcom Entertainment, 2K Games, Square Enix Co., and more. And while big names are always a draw, Microsoft isn’t forgetting about the up and comers either. The Games for Windows Marketplace will also seek to bring indie titles to eager gamers. Of note, Microsoft Game Studios’ own “CarneyVale” will launch simultaneously in retail locations and the Games for Windows marketplace – a great way to measure user uptake in brick and mortar vs. online distribution.

“We plan to deliver some of our biggest and best PC franchises on Games for Windows Marketplace from day one,” said Christian Svensson, corporate officer and vice president of Strategic Planning and Business Development at Capcom. “Digital distribution continues to drive growth in PC gaming, and we’re excited to partner with Microsoft and bring amazing games to this growing marketplace.”

Designed to be quick, easy, and painless, the Games for Windows Marketplace wants to “remove the barriers between gamers and the games they love.” Some key points to note about the new service (direct from Microsoft):

  • Online access, anywhere. Optimized for speed, the store allows for ultra-fast downloads; this means fewer clicks to purchase and download, delivering faster turnaround for gameplay. And since the service lives on the Web, gamers can download games on a PC, anytime, and can easily redownload games they purchase if needed.
  • Deals and discounts galore. Gamers can check out screaming deals on select games every time they visit the Marketplace, as well as the Deal of The Week and other recurring and seasonal offers.
  • Game search functionality. Gamers can search by titles or genres to quickly find the games they want; they can even find new games from their favorite publishers with dedicated publisher pages.
  • Fresh design. The clean, intuitive look and feel makes browsing for games a simple, enjoyable experience. Gamers can easily navigate between pages as they search for the perfect game.

The Games for Windows Marketplace launches in less than a month from now on November 15th at gamesforwindows.com.

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Microsoft officially pulls the plug on in-game advertising unit Massive

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Officially announced in New York yesterday, Microsoft has decided to shutter it’s in-game advertising unit, Massive. According to Microsoft, the technologies developed for/at Massive will be redeployed to their first party ad business, with an initial focus targeted at gaming. Redmond will wind down Massive’s operations, with the brand disappearing by years’ end.

massive_incThe future of the now closed company will eventually expand it’s offerings and technology to other Microsoft opportunities, but the decision comes in the wake of Microsoft’s decision to work closely with the Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB) and continue developing and expanding the technology employed under the Massive banner. This development will seek to meet the needs of first-party gaming advertisers on Microsoft properties such as Xbox LIVE and MSN Games.

The news of Massive’s impending sunset arrived at the beginning of this month, with Adweek breaking an exclusive reporting the news, with sources coming from inside the company. According to author Mike Shields, Massive general manager J.J. Richards had already started looking for a new job, and that the reassignment of Massive employees had already begun.

According to Shelds’ sources, it’s rumored that Microsoft had been shopping Massive around to potential buyers, least of which included competing in-game advertising firm Double Fusion. Microsoft had been seeking a high six, low seven figure deal – a deal Double Fusion obviously passed on. To put this figure into perspective, when Microsoft acquired the ad agency in 2006, they paid anywhere between $200 – $400 million according to estimates.

Noted above, Microsoft already has an Interactive Entertainment Business unit, and while Massive held it’s own niche specialty, at the end of the day, it appears as though Microsoft was unnecessarily duplicating it’s efforts. Meaning, in 2006 when they purchased Massive, the topic and industry were red hot, with then Massive CEO Mitch Davis prediction that the in-game advertising industry would be a $2 billion market by 2010, a figure that’s never been realized. The rise in popularity with both gamers and advertisers of central “Hubs” such as Xbox LIVE for Microsoft and Home for Sony have contributed to Massive’s demise. Add to this the fact that via Xbox LIVE, Microsoft can keep the entire advertising dollars pie, while via Massive, they’re contractually obligated to share some of this pie with advertisers, the decision to close down shop at Massive was only a matter of time.

While it’s sad to see any firm close it’s doors, it should be interesting to see what the now re-deployed Massive team can do for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. Surely, years worth of know-how and experience are sure to trickle their way into new Microsoft offerings.

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LOLapps back on Facebook – but bigger questions, and a class action lawsuit, arise

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Call it the straw that broke the camels’ back, or shooting themselves in the foot – but it appears as though Facebook’s decision to cut LOLapps off has far bigger underlying consequences.

After a presumed stern warning from Facebook, LOLapps has been reinstated into the Facebook offerings. The company is quietly admitting that their programs got the boot because of passing user data along to a third party. Their reasoning is that they did this without their knowledge, and occurred only because of the manner in which browsers tracked user data. LOLapps have since dissolved the relationship. How do you dissolve a relationship that you never knew existed in the first place?

So far so good … however. The past weekend saw a story run in the Wall Street Journal detailing how a number of Facebook apps and games were passing user data to up to 25 various ad and data firms. According to the Journal report, with this data, third parties can easily look up a user’s name, regardless of privacy controls. One data firm that was mentioned in the WSJ article was RapLeaf, a user behavior data firm that builds user information profiles. Allegedly, RapLeaf then passed this data on to a number of other advertising and data collection firms. Similarly to LOLapps’ statement, RapLeaf comments that they did so unintentionally.

Post article, Facebook reps say that the company has put measures in place to limit RapLeaf’s ability to access user data. They also issued a statement citing their own policy that addresses developers and that they may not knowingly pass along user information to any ad networks or data firms. They did admit that a number of developers were in fact violating this policy – although LOLapps was the only one caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

The Wall Street Journal article specifically targets the ten most popular apps on Facebook, stating that they were/are all passing user data along to third parties. Three guesses who’s got a major presence in the top 10? You guessed it – Zynga. Oddly enough, none of Zynga’s apps were banned over the weekend, or now in fact. It’s not clear as to whether Zynga was/is passing data specifically to RapLeaf, which could have been the stumbling block for LOLapps. However, it didn’t take very long for Nancy Graf of St. Paul Minnesota to file a class action lawsuit against Zynga.

Filed in San Francisco, CA federal court, Graf’s lawsuit alleges that Zynga collected the Facebook data of its 218 million users and shared it with advertisers and data brokers in violation of federal law, and Zynga’s contract with Facebook. The case is seeking monetary relief for those whose data was shared.

“This appears to be another example of an online company failing the American public with empty promises to respect individual privacy rights,” explained Michael Aschenbrener of Edelson McGuire LLC, co-lead attorney for the class action. “Companies large and small need to learn to follow through on their privacy promises or risk having consumers decide that it is simply not worth it to use their services,” added Kassra Nassiri of Nassiri & Jung LLP, co-lead attorney for the lawsuit.

While I’m quite sure Facebook, and a whole lotta apps and games developers would rather put this one to bed as quickly as possible, it looks like Ms. Graf’s lawsuit is going to make sure that that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. When viewed under this light, PopCap co-founder Jason Kapalka’s predictions might happen a lot faster than we initially thought.

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NY Times to Kachingle – You’ve crossed the line

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

It all started in February of 2009, and culminated yesterday with papers served. In the case of NYTCo vs. Kachingle it looks like we’ve got an eager marketing department and an upset print company/industry over how to, and what method to use, in charging readers for content.

Kachingle is a voluntary micropayment system, primarily used by blog and journalistic content properties around the web. The argument stems from a series of incidents around February 2009, whereby Kachingle approached various NY Times executives about providing their services to the print giant. Kachingle wanted access to the articles and blogs, and would pass along revenues derived to the NY Times.

So far so good, no?

Well, here’s where things get interesting. It appears as though Kachingle, whether intentionally or not, failed to mention that they’d be keeping a percentage of the revenues acquired, according to the NY Times; obviously a deal breaker.

Ok, so a dead deal. Let sleeping dogs lie.

According to the NYTCo’s legal filing, Kachingle crossed the line when they launched Kachinglex.com, which looks remarkably like the NY Times blog format. The platform is designed to draw readers’ attention to the “looming paywall,” under way at the NY Times, and offers, “Here at Kachingle, we are committed to helping keep the web open and social. Kachingle is an alternative to a forced, solitary paywall. And now you can support the New York Times blogs you love directly, with a voluntary contribution of just $5/month.”

It also appears as though the Times mentions copyright issues, these issues are not specifically addressed in the lawsuit filing. Trademark issues, are however addressed in the legal papers. The Times also filed a cease and desist DMCA takedown notice with Kachingle’s ISP.

Overall, it looks like the NY Times might even be doing more good for Kachingle (this coverage is a prime example), than harm. If the possibility of Kachingle providing payments for the NY Times was an obscure deal dating back to February of 2009, it’s no longer obscure as of today. And for a site that according to compete.com averages around 5k visitors per month, it’s odd, and perhaps showing, that the NY Times would decide to dedicate resources to a problem, if you want to call it that, over a few stylesheets that look the same.

The NYTCo’s filing:

Complaint Ny Times v Kachingle

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LOLapps pulled from Facebook for TOS violations

Monday, October 18th, 2010

One of Facebook’s largest (12th, in fact) suddenly had it’s hit title Critter Island, along with all of it’s other properties pulled from Facebook this past Friday evening. A quick look at Inside Social Games’ AppData figures confirm – all LOLapps now redirect to Facebook.com.

lolapps-logoLOLapps, which in addition to Critter Island hosts a number of other games, quizzes and gift apps on the Facebook platform suddenly found themselves in the dark over the weekend. Those playing Critter Island, or expecting to I should say, were greeted with the following message, “We’re sorry that Critter Island et al is not currently available. We’re actively working to resolve these issues and will keep you posted. Please stand by!” Prior to the pull, LOLapps was attracting well over 14 million monthly active users, with just under one million daily active users. Gone.

And now comes the most troubling part – why? In an extremely brief statement, Facebook reps commented, “We have disabled applications from LOLapps due to violations of our terms.”

The rumor mill is abuzz with speculation, with some sources reporting that LOLapps didn’t see this one coming, and in effect, have been blind sided by Facebook’s decision to say “No way, Jose!” The Quora forum has seen a blizzard of activity, with many a user speculating that Facebook’s decision to pull the plug is based on LOLapps exploited a bug in the platform’s system regarding the posting of messages to user walls. LOLapps CEO Arjun Sethi isn’t saying a word, “We can’t provide comment at this time. We will update you as soon as we are able to.”

This wouldn’t be the first time that Facebook has decided to ix-nay a developer. You’ll remember the Pencake saga that erupted over this past summer, with several of their quiz apps suddenly vanish overnight. Pencake’s case was more clearcut, as their got caught with their hands in the “do not spam” cookie jar, where as LOLapps may or may not be in the same situation.

While rules and regulations are put in place to protect the business and end consumers, Facebook’s apparent lack of “Cut it out or we’re shutting you down,” messaging doesn’t bode well at a time when the platform is trying to convince and welcome developers to the table, much to the “ummm…errrr, how exactly is this better for us?” coming from a number of developers.

It’s clear to say that without Facebook, LOLapps wouldn’t have a bright future ahead of it. As most policy violations usually end up as a stern first time warning, given Facebook’s lack of initial contact, let’s hope they’re not looking to make an example out of LOLapps.

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