Archive for November, 2010

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Social Games maker Digital Chocolate tops 20 million monthly active Facebook users

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Building on their successful launch of 4 major releases in the month of November alone, with one more planned before month’s end, Digital Chocolate has proudly announced that they’ve now surpassed the 20 million monthly active users on Facebook (according to data pulled from AppData). This news arrives only two months after Digital Chocolate surpassed the 12 million users mark.

Adding to the 20+ million monthly active users, Digital Chocolate claims to be one of the top social games companies on Facebook, as well as having one of the largest mobile footprints in the world with titles spreading across the iPhone, and Android, attracting over 80 million downloads. Based on these figures, the way Digital Chocolate sees it, they’ve added more daily active users than any other games developer on Facebook.

Over the course of November, Digital Chocolate has launched Hollywood City, Island God, Vegas City, and Epic Fighter (someone’s been busy!). While not-quite-yet blockbusters, these new titles add to Digital Chocolate’s large user base, most of whom are focused on Millionaire City and MMA Pro Fighter. Digital Chocolate’s most popular title, Millionaire City, is available for the iPhone, with plans to hit Android very soon. Presumably, we’ll see the same technology employed in Millionaire City that Digital Chocolate is testing via it’s MMA Pro Fighter title. The cross platform tech allows players to battle just about anywhere: on Facebook directly, via their iPhone, or Android.

“Our growth across the world’s most exciting platforms separates us from the crowd,” said Marc Metis, President of Digital Chocolate. “We are unique in combining social gaming expertise, leadership on both Facebook and mobile, a global approach, technology leverage, and scale.”

With one more title waiting in the wings, and a promised Android release of Millionaire City, Digital Chocolate seems poised to be in the polished position with the highly lucrative holiday season just around the corner. Remember, for the past two consecutive years, Facebook has dominated the traffic charts during the holiday season. If Digital Chocolate is quickly pulling in the users (and numbers), the true test of their efforts will be this holiday season. Let’s see what they pull off!

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19 percent of U.S. Gamers purchase virtual goods

Monday, November 15th, 2010

In a new report issued by industry and consumer research firm Parks Associates; the subscription model is rapidly making an exit from today’s gaming landscape. What we’ve all known and felt for a while now, has been put into figures by Parks Associates – microtransactions and virtual goods/items are becoming the major source of revenue for a large number of games publishers/producers. Outlined in their report. “Online Gaming: Global Outlook.” Parks Associates projects a $6 billion worldwide revenue take by 2015.

“Because of increasing average Internet speeds and advances in technology, a large number of game genres are now playable online,” said Pietro Macchiarella, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “With these new online gaming options, people are spending a larger share of their online time playing games. Playing video games currently amounts to ten percent of the time spent online by American consumers.”

And within this 10 percent of online time spent playing games, the report goes further to probe spending and buying habits. They found that 19 percent of all active U.S. gamers spend money on in-game virtual goods. Coinciding with the rise of virtual goods purchases is the subsequent demise of online gaming subscriptions, falling from 35 percent in 2008, down 7 percent to 28 percent in 2010. Upstarts, especially in the social/casual gaming field have contributed grossly to these figures; Zynga, Playdom, etc.. Parks Associates point to both traditional free-to-play firms like Nexon, as well as former subscription based firms like Turbine finding big dollars in virtual goods. What was not mentioned in the preliminary reports from the Parks Associates study is whether or not hybrid models are treated as virtual goods purchases, subscription models, or if the two were painstakingly separated.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to justify subscription fees,” Macchiarella said. “Thanks to social games and free-to-play MMOs, both casual and hardcore players have the option of playing quality games online for free. The virtual-items model that has proven so successful in Asia is finally generating significant revenues in North America.”

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PopCap partners with Square Enix via TAITO to offer Pop Tower

Friday, November 12th, 2010

With DeNA’s amazing success story, it’s not hard to see why every games maker on the planet would want in on the Japanese market. PopCap has taken the partnership route, and recently announced a deal with the TAITO Corporation, a subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., to launch Pop Tower, a social game service for the Japanese mobile market.

Pop Tower will not be a slimmed down, on-the-go experience, but rather, feature custom built social adaptations of some of PopCap’s top shelf titles including Bejeweled, Chuzzle, and Zuma. Taking the experience one step further, PopCap and TAITO will tie all the games together in a completely new metagame that will feature RPG elements, and be specifically tailored to Japanese audiences. These custom built adaptations will feature completely revamped game modes, as well as include a number of social functionality, allowing Pop Tower users to interact with friends. Naturally, game and character customizations can be done via the in-game virtual goods mall, and/or premium service plans.

The announcement arrives directly on the heals of PopCap’s recent milestone of selling over 1 million units of its single player mobile games. Pop Tower is PopCap’s first entry into the mobile social gaming space; a sector that generated over $1 billion of revenue in 2009. Additionally, this is the first product released under PopCap Tokyo, and the company has been drumming up business in Asia in recent months, with major announcements in China and Korea. In China, PopCap has strategic partnerships with one of China’s largest social networking sites, RenRen, and in September announced an agreement with NCSoft to bring PopCap World to Korea.

“Social games on mobile devices looks set to dominate gaming worldwide and Japan is already ahead of the curve. PopCap is about identifying the curve and getting ahead of it. It’s not about being “trendy” or “first”; it’s about being the best; taking the talent and time to create something genuinely innovative. The Japanese game market is the second largest in the world, but historically, few Western companies have succeeded here,” comments PopCap Vice President for Asia/Pacific James Gwertzman.

TAITO SVP of Content, Akihito Shoji adds, “With Bejeweled and a host of other successful properties, PopCap Games is a casual gaming giant. The social game market is undergoing remarkable growth, and we have high hopes for this partnership. Mobile social game is a critical part of our overall strategy, with much of our resources devoted to the design and management of games that are not only fun pastimes, but also foster interaction and communication between players. We’re confident that our mobile social market experience and PopCap’s strong casual properties is a winning combination, and one that will deliver a whole new experience to the game users.”

Pop Tower is set for an early 2011 launch on a leading Japanese social network.

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New Report: Southeast Asian gaming market to reach $1.7 billion by 2014

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

In a recently released report by leading Asian video game market intelligence firm Niko Partners, it appears as though Southeast Asia is following China’s lead in regards to online gaming growth. As part of a regional market size estimate and forecast of seven individual market reports, Niko predicts that the Southeast Asian market (including the region of Taiwan) will reach $917 million by the end of 2010, and will grow to $1.7 billion by 2014. This figure represents a 14 percent compound annual growth rate over a four year period.

While each of the countries profiled in the study have their own unique factors involved including specific gamer behavior and the availability of video games, the most significant markets to watch are Vietnam and Taiwan. However, countries currently experiencing growth, particularly in the online gaming usage and revenue generating sector include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore. As mentioned above, each of these markets contain their own unique factors surrounding video game usage. Religious, cultural, economic, regulatory, technology, geography, and language are all factors that contribute to the differences between each individual market. Of all factors that bind these unique groups together, Niko found a surge in PC online gaming being the most common theme.

“Niko Partners has provided data-oriented market intelligence on China’s online game industry for eight years,” said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners. “As a result of researching the Southeast Asian markets as well as Taiwan, we recognize that China has influenced the online game industry throughout Asia, and in some countries that influence has been quite important. Our understanding of the online games segment and of Chinese online gamers and the overall video game market in China provides Niko a unique and relevant vantage point to analyze these additional emerging markets in Asia.”

Additional notable statistics from the Niko Partners report:

  • In 2010 there are 64 million gamers throughout these seven Asian emerging markets : Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and the region of Taiwan.
  • Niko identified these emerging markets as having the most promise and importance in Southeast Asia for the games industry.

The full reports, broken down per country, are available from Niko Partners and are filled with 32-38 pages of data based on 120-130 surveys and interviews in each market, as well as 28-30 data examples per report.

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Hello Kitty Online says Hello to prepaid cards

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Sanrio Digital has recently announced a partnership with prepaid card provider InComm to bring prepaid cards to “key retailers” for its Hello Kitty Online (HKO) massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). Utilizing InComm’s experience in the point of sale gaming field, HKO prepaid cards will be available for purchase with a pre determined monetary value that can then be used in the game’s in-game item mall. These prepaid cards are now available in select retailers across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

“Partnering with InComm for our HKO card distribution across North America and Europe allows us to offer fans of Hello Kitty Online the flexibility of an easy payment option or gifting, as well as the value-added bonus points and special virtual items obtained by redeeming HKO game cards,” said Robert Ferrari, vice president of publishing & business development of Sanrio Digital. “InComm is a leader in the prepaid transactions space, and we aim to deliver only the best payment options to our fans, so I speak for both companies when I say it’s an ideal pairing.”

HKO, or Hello Kitty Online, is the official online game developed by Sanrio Digital, and they claim it to be the first MMOG to integrate social networking services into a true social gaming experience. These services, accessible all while in-game via SanrioTown, allows players access to blogs, video sharing, and Hello Kitty email. These features function in concert with the standard avatars, guilds, skill based crafting, housing and of course, pets.

The HKO prepaid game cards are currently available in two denominations, $10 and $20 (similar price points apply for Euro and Canadian Dollar spenders). In addition to just having the funds to spend in-game, purchasers receive free bonus points and a level 8 farm. The $20 prepaid card also grants an exclusive in-game house. HKO is available both as a free download, and/or a Premium Edition retail boxed version. The Premium Edition is currently only available in North America, but soon arriving on European shores. I’d be hard pressed to imagine that Sanrio will not be offering a special deal in combination with InComm’s prepaid cards surrounding the European launch.

“We are excited to expand our online gaming payment suite with a top tier partner such as Sanrio Digital and the launch of Hello Kitty Online,” said Dave Etling, vice president of product development at InComm. “InComm is committed to being the leader within the prepaid digital content space, and opportunities like this allow us to create a value proposition for both our gaming and retail partners that is unrivaled in the category today. As demand grows for gaming cards – one of the most popular payment methods in the online teen gamer demographic – InComm’s prepaid solution continues to create a success story for everyone involved; especially consumers.”

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Aeria Games goes big with free-to-play MMOFPS on Unity 3

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

Aeria Games has recently announced plans to bring to market the world’s first free-to-play MMOFPS built entirely on the Unity 3 game engine. Announced in conjunction with Brazilian Aquiris Game Studio, Aeria’s decision to launch a free-to-play MMOFPS on the Unity 3 engine marks an important step in the adoption of the engine in the gaming space. Rooted in a modern warfare style, the new title will be available on both Mac and PC, with a browser based version expected shortly after the initial launch.

“Using the Unity 3 engine means we’ll be able to allow anyone, anywhere, to jump into the game and compete, through a client or via the browser” said Mauricio Longoni, CTO of Aquiris Game Studio. “Unity provides the kind of cutting-edge 3D game experience one expects from modern titles, yet does so with near-universal compatibility.”

Currently unnamed, Aeria’s MMOFPS will allow players to face off against each other in lightening fast gun fights in various modes, back by a massive arsenal of modern, realistic military weaponry. Aeria is also utilizing Electrotank Inc.’s electroServer 5 technology, allowing for a massively scalable game server, and capable of delivering super fast real-time multiplayer actions – read: no lag.

“Being able to play a robust, fast-paced FPS against a worldwide audience, regardless of platform or location, is a feat by itself,” said Lan Hoang, CEO of Aeria Games. “Presenting this opportunity free of charge is an achievement that redefines what players should come to expect from free-to-play gaming.”

It should be interesting to see how players take to this yet unnamed title from Aeria. There are a number of similar titles on the market today, each with their own unique following and dedicated gamer type. However, none of these titles bring to the table the type of processing power available via Unity 3. By offering this normally top shelf engine to the masses in a free-to-play title just upped the ante for all others in the space.

Again, the Unity 3 driven MMOFPS from Aeria is yet unnamed, but Closed Beta Testing is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2011. Stay tuned at aeriagames.com.

Sidenote: Interesting to note that Aeria chose yesterday as the day to make their announcement of this title, only one day after EA’s announcement of a free-to-play Battlefield title, as well as the same day the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops is available to the public. Coincidence? You decide.

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EA announces new Battlefield Play4Free (or Heroes take two?)

Monday, November 8th, 2010

When EA and DICE set off to experiment in the free-to-play world a while back, gamers’ response to their free-to-play Battlefield Heroes was mixed. Some (myself included) loved the cartoonish take on a not-always-fun topic, while others snubbed the title for the same attributes, or, not realistic enough. Well it seems like EA has listened to user feedback, and is now bringing forth a new free-to-play, or play4free as EA refers to it, in a much more “traditional” sense.

Announced this past Friday, EA’s Battlefield Play4Free is arguably a complete antithesis to Heroes, featuring photo-realistic characters, environments, weapons and maps. Clearly, EA is targeting a very different audience with their newest offering. Billed as a deep PC shooter, Battlefield Play4Free incorporates a number of traditional Battlefield series notables including vehicle warfare, sandbox gameplay, and 32 player online shoot’em down goodness.

“We broke new ground in 2009 with the launch of Battlefield Heroes; a game that has 6M registered players worldwide. Now we are complementing that arcade shooter with a core, realistic Battlefield shooter experience that fans have been clamoring for,” said James Salt, Senior Producer, Battlefield Play4Free. “Battlefield Play4Free is for serious shooter fans who are looking for a premium – but free – experience that rivals top console titles.”

And if EA has anything to say about it, Battlefield P4F will take on those console titles via it’s advanced graphics, production vales, and incredible depth and realism – again, an almost 180 degree turn from Heroes’ modus operandi. Battlefield P4F pulls elements from Battlefield 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, providing players with the most popular maps, classes, and weapons from the two titles, offering players up to 16 different vehicle choices.

This newest iteration in the Battlefield franchise is a clear indication that EA is now taking free-to-play quite seriously. Remember, when Battlefield Heroes launched, EA and DICE were bravely taking the plunge in a still-to-be-proven market (i.e. North America). Since garnering over 6 million players, and learning quite a few valuable lessons along the way, it’s clear that EA now feels as though the timing is right to launch a “serious, hardcore” free-to-play title, and see how the market responds. My guess? Well, let’s hope those Play4Free servers are up to the challenge, as I suspect that even non-shooter fans like myself won’t pass up a moment (or 100) to go give this one a try.

The Battlefield play4free official launch is scheduled for Spring 2011, but trigger happy applicants can sign up to be included in EA’s closed beta of the project, which kicks off November 30th, at battlefield.play4free.com.

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EA signs exclusive 5 year deal with Facebook Credits

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Electronic Arts has recently announced that they’ve signed an exclusive 5 year deal with social networking platform Facebook to solely use Facebook Credits as it’s payment method.

You’ll remember that as part of the Playfish acquisition, EA now counts “Pet Society” and “Restaurant City” in it’s storehouse of games. These two rank in the top 10 games played on a daily basis on Facebook. EA has more recently launched popular football and soccer themed titles, and intentionally or not, Playfish COO Sebastien De Halleux casually mentioned that the timeless classic, “Monopoly” would soon receive the social treatment.

“Since gaming has emerged as the most popular category of applications on Facebook, the natural next step is for EA to broaden our relationship with Facebook and its 500 million users,” comments Barry Cottle, EA Interactive’s senior vice president and general manager. “Our goal is to make the best games tailored specifically to the platforms on which people want to play.”

According to the terms of the agreement, and similar to many other microtransactions based agreements today, EA will receive 70 percent of all sales, with Facebook taking home 30 percent. Considering the recent words from Facebook, and their push to make the platform more “developer friendly,”it looks like EA could be on the winning side of this agreement. Now, as long as they can avoid getting caught passing UID information along, they should remain in Facebook’s favor.

“We are pleased to enter into this long-term partnership with EA to make it easier for people to purchase virtual goods across some of the most popular games on Facebook,” Dan Rose, Facebook’s vice president of partnerships and platform marketing, said in the release. “Playfish has a great reputation for building high-quality games on Facebook, and we look forward to working even more closely with them and the larger team at EA.”

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A shift in direction at Zynga?

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

When mobile gaming really came to the forefront, and a number of social games companies had successfully implemented mobile versions of it’s games, there was one glaring hole in the bunch: Zynga. The social gaming giant which has garnered most of it’s profits from players on Facebook was a bit late to the mobile party, and up until a few months ago featured only a handful of titles available for mobile. Granted, they’ve been making moves to catch up, most notably with their iDevice version of their smash hit FarmVille. Note: iDevice. Zynga’s not said a word about Android, and it’s growing market share. Until now.

Announced at Facebook’s mobile event , Zynga’s first Android device title will be … Farm Poker. An odd choice you say? Perhaps not. Zynga’s second most popular title garners around 36 million monthly and 6 million daily active users on Facebook. Not too shabby. Toss a little bit of cross promotion of your other titles in there via Facebook’s single sign on, and it looks like a recipe for ultimate success.

According to Chris Morrison at insidesocialgames.com, Zynga is also angling to make Zynga Poker the worldwide standard in Hold’em, adding Chinese language support to the game back in August.

But why Poker? Why not take your number 1 hit, and continue that train a-rollin’? There are a number of factors involved, least of which is FarmVille’s growing age and shrinking user base. The addition of FrontierVille has helped Zynga keep, if not boost, userbase numbers, but there’s certainly a bit of cannibalization from one title to the other.

The other factor to consider in Zynga’s decision to push Poker is it’s independence. Remember, Zynga Poker is akin to “The Cheese Stands Alone.” Poker is the only Zynga title that was specifically left out of the exclusive Facebook Credits deal that went down early in September. Over the past year Zynga has made significant moves to liberate themselves from Facebook dependency, with varying success. Poker games certainly attract a unique segment of gamers – one that Zynga could be trying to repeat their gathering and nurturing, turned bluff and raise strategy on.

One more factor to keep in mind with Zynga Poker is Zynga’s application to patent “Virtual Playing Chips in a Mulitiuser Online Game Network.” Note that the patent does not file for coins, credits, vcash, etc., but rather, refers directly to Chips. As far as I’m concerned, nothing says poker louder that the term “Chips”. If in fact Zynga is trying to corner and establish the global Hold’em standard, patenting the monetary mechanism involved would certainly be a good way to do it.

Combined with Poker’s relative freedom from the rest of the Zynga stables, their possible bid at cornering the global Hold’em market, a Chinese localization, and the seemingly unstoppable spread of Android, Zynga Poker may very well mark the beginning of a significant shift in strategy at Zynga.

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Poll indicates Parents should be responsible for violent video games

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

Early in September we discussed the upcoming case of Schwarzenegger vs. EMA, and how the supreme court had been asked to rule on the controversial 2005 California state law restricting sales of violent computer and video games to minors. The law specifically cites sale or rental to anyone under that age of 18 that portrays fictional, “killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting of an image of a human being.” That day has arrived, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard opening oral arguments from both sides yesterday.

Given this context, a new poll from the First Amendment Center couldn’t arrive at a better time. According to the recent survey, a vast majority of Americans believe that it should be the responsibility of parents to safeguard and determine what level of violence in video games is appropriate for their children.

The First Amendment Center Vice President and Executive Director Gene Policinski comments, “The survey results show a clear majority of Americans see parents having the most responsibility for deciding whether violent video games ought to be purchased or rented by children, but a smaller majority also approve a government ban.”

The survey was conducted via telephone by Gallup, and was covered over two days; October 29-30. Gallup sampled 1,033 adults aged 18 or older. The survey asked how much responsibility parents should assume when it comes to what their children are playing. The same was asked of video-game manufacturers, the government, and/or retail or online stores.

The results:

  • 86% said parents should have a “great deal” of responsibility, the highest result on the question, with just 4% saying they have no responsibility.
  • 43% said video-game manufacturers and retail or online stores should have a “great deal” of responsibility, with less than 20% saying the groups should have no responsibility.
  • 28% said government should have a “great deal” of responsibility, with 26% saying no responsibility.

And despite parents owning up to a major responsibility factor, 68 percent of those surveyed indicated that the Government should be able to prevent sales or rentals of violent games to children under 18. 31 percent said the Government should be hands off, with 2 percent undecided.

“In recent decades, adults concerned about the impact of comic books, popular music and movies on children have pressed for government control of content, but voluntary industry codes and parental monitoring largely have worked,” said Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center. “Mom and Dad are still in the best position to keep inappropriate content out of the hands of kids.”

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