When then-at-the-time social network Hi5 announced almost one year ago to date that they’d failed to secure another round of financing, and were forced to dramatically cut staff members, it looked as though the social networking site was on death’s door.
Less than one month later, Hi5 had more or less reinvented itself, titling the platform as a social entertainment site, Hi5 switched from social networking – to social gaming. They brought Bill Gossman on to steer the ship, and in just over 8 months, had reached a visibility level high enough to lure Alex St. John over to the Hi5 side.
Could MySpace now be on a similar trajectory?
Announced at yesterday’s GDC events, MySpace has completely revamped the Games section, allowing both developers and players much easier access to application and analytics tools, and discovery and sharing, respectively.
From a users’ point of view, the new format should allow them to stay up-to-date with personalized game notifications, as well as discover new games through a system tailored recommendation system – including data from popular games charts and friends’ games. Users’ rating input will also affect future search and recommendations results.
On the developer side of the table, new analytics tools, as well as a new API, will allow devs to review application specific analytics. These tools will allow for invitation conversion, active users, notification responses, and demographic data, as well as tracking of the source of app invites. MySpace is also now utilizing the Unity 3D engine (as is Bigpoint with their Battlestar Galactica MMO), which allows developers to crank out 3D browser based entertainment. MySpace has also implemented Scoreloop technology, which allows games to share leaderboard, achievement, challenge, and buddy lists across different platforms. Rounding out the shiny new toys for developers is GroovyCortex, a cloud-based service that is designed to provide a “low latency push [data] for multiplayer games.” And just for that added extra push – MySpace announced MySpace Neon, a slated iPhone app that will give users mobile access to their MySpace games. While no mention of mobile play is to be heard, MySpace says that users will be able to interact with their games, share notifications, view their game related stream, and allows for remote installation of games.
So while the news that News Corp (MySpace’s parent company) is putting the push on focusing on MySpace as a gaming platform, this is the first solid ‘flag in the ground’ that we’ve seen come out of the games division at MySpace. But the question is…is it enough, and is it in time, to help the once King of the Hill regain it’s place back at the top?
The main draw for hi5 is/was Big Six’s proprietary commerce platform. This new acquisition will allow hi5 to expand their commerce in virtual goods and games sales. hi5 currently employs a commerce system that includes a universal virtual currency that can be spent in any of their titles. This acquisition brings new technology to hi5 in terms of payment processing, fraud detection and conversion optimization. As an added bonus to the deal, Big Six have also designed a social gaming platform that will now become part of the core hi5 site.
St. John’s new role at 
Gossman, former CEO of Audience Science, CEO of Sabrix and founder and COO/CFO of @mobile, as well as a current executive in residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures, hi5’s main investor, brings his wealth of experience in online advertising, behavioral targeting, and additional forms of online audience monetization.
