Facebook’s Popularity as a gaming platform caught the big studios completely unawares
Something strange happened to video games in 2009. A low-budget Facebook title involving the care and upkeep of farm animals became one of the industry's hot- test properties. Now, gaming's big studios have finally taken notice.
There are more players in Zynga Game Network Inc.'s Farm Ville (82.4 million, or 1% of the world's population) than there are Twitter accounts. The collective bafflement of game companies the world over was best illustrated at one of the industry's major annual conventions in March, the DICE summit in Las Vegas, where Facebook was called “strange, big and terrifying“. “Face- book kind of knocked us all on our collective backsides, don't you think?“ said academic and game designer Jesse Schell in a keynote lecture.
Farm Ville was launched in June, and it's taken names such as Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and publishing giant Electronic Arts nearly a year to brave the wilds that is the Facebook game market. In March, SOE launched Pox Nora, a combination of a turn- based strategy and collectable card game set in a fantasy world of creatures, relics and spells. The object is to accumulate Nora or magical energy which helps collect decks of cards called “runes“. The runes allow you to battle creatures your friends control.
Digital Chocolate, a popular mobile phone game maker, considers social net- working games integral to the “Facebook experience“. After their Facebook debut with Tower Bloxx in 2008, they've increased their presence with a number of new launches.
Safari Kingdom, brings with it 20 wild animal species, 100 different characters and around 80 types of decorations to personalize it. All animals, (genus and species notwithstanding) begin their existence as eggs. Players can also visit their friends' kingdoms and help take care of their pets while they're away. The developer hopes the game will give players a positive vibe about protecting the environment.
Facebook games make money through “micro-transactions“, or sales of virtual goods. While all the games are free to play, certain “premium“ items require real-world money. Players spend real money to buy virtual credit in a game's currency. A mystifying side effect of the popularity of this model has been the rise of a virtual finance industry--advertisements in Facebook now offer “virtual credit cards“ that generate in-game money the more you play a certain game.
Indian game companies are not far behind the Facebook trend. Zapak Digital Entertainment currently has two games on Facebook.
Mahindra Great Escape, started in February, and Crazy Idiots Test (C.I.T.), started in December. Mahindra Great Escape allows players a 4x4 experience of a sports utility vehicle (SUV).
So should dormant gamers become part of the craze? Barnhart feels social gaming is here to stay. “Facebook makes it that much easier to play games with people you already know,“ he says. “They also extend your Face- book network as you find new friends who share the same interests as you.“
Now also ibibo is promoting the same around the world
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