Announced nearly two weeks ago, Facebook's minor redesign for games is slowly starting to roll out to users. The changes were made in an attempt to improve the experience players have while actually in a game, as well as improve discoverability, making it easier to find games that you want to play. From what we've seen so far the changes are solid improvements, or at least they will be once everything starts to work as advertised.
When Google+ first launched, the first thing I thought about was how the service could be used for games. Up until it came out there really was no direct competitor to Facebook, and so social network games could really only be found in one place. So it wasn't exactly surprising when Google announced that Google+ would be getting games, but it was still exciting. The service has slowly been rolling out to users, and I've spent the last week or so playing around with it to get a feel. But the big question, of course, is whether Google+ is a better gaming platform than Facebook.And it depends.
On the same day that Google+ Games was officially announced, the folks at Facebook announced a number of changes to the platform aimed at improving the gaming experience. Let the competition begin.
Whoa, that was fast! Today, Google announced the launch of Google Games, with details on how it will work and launch partners.According to the blog post, users will be able click on a games button on top of their Google+ stream to play games, view game updates from friends in your circles, and see the latest games played, invites, and accomplishments.
According to an interview by Dean Takahashi of Venture Beat with Google executives Bradley Horowitz and Punit Soni, Google will charge game developers 5% for micro-transactions, not 20% as reported by this expert. And, much lower than Facebook's 30% cut.This is great news for game developers launching on Google Games in the short term. And such a stupid move by Google after making all the right moves so far.Why? Because once you start out at a low price, it's very hard to get the number back up without making your partners angry. Just ask Facebook.
Facebook plans to improve both discoverablity and virality of social games in the second half of 2011, according to an Inside Social Games interview with Sean Ryan, Director of Game Partnerships at Facebook.How? It's all about the algorithm.
A famous quote from George Orwell's Animal Farm is, "all animals are equal, but some are more equal then others." Based on Dean Takahashi's excellent article in VentureBeat, this is how game developers perceive the relationship between Facebook and Zynga. Whether a special partnership exists or not, according to Takahashi, the mere fact that rumors are swirling will have a huge impact on social gaming in the year to come --- for Zynga, Facebook, and if they play their cards right, Google.
Every Casual Connect there is a theme that permeates through the hallways, lecture rooms, and social fests. One year its downloads, next year it's Facebook, iPhone, Android. So what was the phrase repeated time in every conversation at the show? Freemium games.