Dissecting the success of social games

So what's so fascinating about the Social Gaming space beyond the entertainment factor for those of us who enjoy casual gaming?

Simple: almost every company in space is amazingly profitable.

When analyzing the success of companies like Playfish, Zynga, Playdom, MindJolt, etc., some things become clear very quickly: their experience focuses more on viral marketing than on game development. They mastered massive user acquisition at the lowest possible costs while introducing simple business models to generate revenue. Even more important, they have a relationship with users / players, which is not only critical for their promotional strategies, but also for the development of games and future business models. In other words, his formula for success looks like this:

Success = Simple game + Cloning + Virality + Freemium business model + Direct relationship with the user

Simple gameplay: The simplicity approach taken by game developers, both in terms of access and game mechanics, has significantly facilitated user adoption and repeat visits. Access, which is browser-based for all businesses, is also about being on or off the platform. The games on the platform (those of Facebook, MySpace, etc.) can take advantage of massive and easy-to-use user bases. Off-platform games have more flexibility with game development at the expense of "viral ability". On the game mechanics front, allowing users to quickly understand the game, making the game light, interactive and competitive, have been key aspects of driving user adoption and return. The light and informal approach to game mechanics has also dramatically reduced game development times (3-6 months for most developers), but has also made it easier to clone wildfires.

Cloning: a great legacy of traditional games as the Ataris and Nintendos of the world can teach us. Although it's easy to frown at companies that constantly launch cloned games obviously, cloning is arguably a smart business approach in the early stage and in immature markets. After all, people like to play instantly recognizable concepts just like they like to watch familiar formats on TV (what's the last original Reality or Game Show format you've seen?). Also, if the acceptance of Facebook games is an indication, a cloned game is more likely to meet areas of the market that the original developer of the game has not reached than to erode into that developer's existing market. For example, when Zynga introduced Café World earlier this month (16 million users in its first two weeks), it did not visibly affect Playfish's Restaurant City users or growth counts. As the market matures with users demanding games with more depth and sophistication, cloning will become more difficult and, as a consequence, an unsustainable model. The first proof of this may come with the recently announced Facebook version of Sid Meier's Civilization classic.

Virality: Let's be clear from the start: Zynga and Playfish have invested millions in advertising to gain their initial critical mass of players. They have also mastered making the most of that initial investment, using virality to significantly reduce additional user acquisition costs. As companies on the platform, they have taken advantage of the numerous built-in viral opportunities Facebook offers: integrating and automating status updates, wall posts, suggestions, friends, etc. They have also turned their games into their own advertising platforms. The games promote each other (which is half the reason Zynga hit 16 million in the first two weeks after launching Café World) and encourage user returns through time-based gameplay challenges. friends and those annoying reminder messages https://globalgames.social/