Glitch dev lashes out against Zynga's business model

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

Not all social games developers are in love with Zynga's business model. Some are bucking against what Tiny Speck's Stewart Butterfield is calling a "scorched earth policy" that will do far more harm in the long run than what helps the industry now.

Butterfield is the co-founder of Tiny Speck, which recently launched the sleeper MMO hit Glitch. While both Glitch and Zynga's games are browser-based and use microtransactions to fund the titles, the similarities end there. Butterfield says that he is adverse to how Zynga creates artificial walls in its games: "The fundamental design of the game became 'Here's a stop sign in your gameplay, you can stop now and come back in a day, or you can keep on playing and it will cost you three bucks, or a buck, or ten bucks, or whatever it is.'"

Butterfield called Zynga's approach "unsavoury" and said that it leads to burned-out players and a "lame future" for the genre where gamers are unwilling to return. Ultimately, he predicts that people will forget Zynga's efforts entirely: "They won't be as into it as someone who's playing WoW is in to WoW, or someone who's playing EVE is into EVE, or even someone who's playing Civilization IV is into Civilization IV. It's a much lighter touch."

For more Stewart Bufferfield goodness, make sure to check out our interview with him on Massively Speaking!

Glitch dev lashes out against Zynga's business model originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Second Life pwns Gordon Freeman, Warhammer Online, others

Tateru Nino — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, EVE Online, MMO industry, Warhammer Online, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Wagner James Au at New World Notes is carrying some surprising data from ratings giant, Nielsen Media Research. From actual measurements of usage across over 180,000 homes in the USA, Linden Lab's Second Life (paradoxically measured under the 'PC games' category) rates the number two most played title, just behind World of Warcraft.

Forget Warhammer Online, or EVE Online, they don't even make the top ten. World of Warcraft and Second Life beat out Gordon Freeman (Half Life 2), Civilization IV and StarCraft. As for actual weekly usage, Second Life is top of the pops at an average of 760 minutes per user per week. World of Warcraft earns the top spot with 653 minutes per user per week, but has a whole lot more users.

How about Google's YouTube, the 800 pound gorilla and market leader of online video? Just 47 minutes per week (figure from C|net).

Facebook? 84 minutes per week. Myspace, just 10.5 minutes per week (figures from ITProPortal).

This data is measured from actual homes, as we mentioned. Almost 200,000 of them, so it isn't just data that's centric to the hardcore gamer. This is a random sampling of ordinary people.

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Second Life pwns Gordon Freeman, Warhammer Online, others originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments