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Free for All: Why social gaming could destroy MMOs and how we can fight it

Beau Hindman — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, Free for All, Miscellaneous

I am a huge fan of social media. Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus -- it all makes sense to me and has shown to be a very useful tool in not only communicating with friends but finding new games, developers, and websites. My Twitter feed provides enough news and information that I can skip any standard media. I haven't watched a local newscast for a long, long time. On top of that, I can communicate with readers in real time, sharing photos and tidbits of cool.

Has social media affected MMO gaming? It definitely has. Watch any smart developer's Twitter feed and you will see the community team interacting directly with players, answering questions, hosting contests, and helping players feel as though the developers are actual people. Social media has also changed how we connect to our games, MMO or not.

All of this means that everything is social now. Going to the dentist? Share it with your friends. Defeated a boss monster on your Xbox? Tweet it. Just picked up that epic sword in Dark Age of Camelot? Post it to your Facebook. Heck, many MMOs now have a Twitter or Facebook option built right into the client. All of this instant connectivity is nice, but it's possible that the "massively" part of MMO will soon apply to any game. What will this do to the genre?

Continue reading Free for All: Why social gaming could destroy MMOs and how we can fight it

Free for All: Why social gaming could destroy MMOs and how we can fight it originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMObility: Parallel Mafia is not a typical Mafia game

Beau Hindman — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, New titles, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Mobile, Hands-on, Casual, Crime, Miscellaneous, MMObility

If you have played Parallel Kingdom by PerBlue before, then a lot of what I am going to describe might sound familiar. If not, then it might sound very unique and exciting. The truth is that I have been attempting to get into Parallel Kingdom for a while but always found myself a bit overwhelmed, so I was excited to be invited to check out PerBlue's new title Parallel Mafia. I hoped that I might squeeze in some questions about Parallel Kingdom while I had the team on the line. Sure enough, I not only got introduced to the new title but left the interview knowing a lot more about Parallel Kingdom. I have been playing heavily since then. As I compare the two titles, I can see a lot of similarities, but there are some nice differences as well.

Both titles are location-based MMORPGs. I have always wanted more options in the genre, but I imagine it's a tough one to develop in. What's the point of the real-life connection? Why would players want to play in a game that is basically spawned on top of Google Maps?

Continue reading MMObility: Parallel Mafia is not a typical Mafia game

MMObility: Parallel Mafia is not a typical Mafia game originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tiny Speck and Trion Worlds make gaming headlines in 2011

Justin Olivetti — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Browser, RIFT

Trion Worlds and Tiny Speck are two MMO studios that have made waves in 2011 with their ambitious plans and potential profit margins, according to the Wall Street Journal. The publication's article examines how these companies are running contrary to Zynga's model by producing top-tier content without trying to nickle-and-dime customers.

Trion's story is seen as one of high risk and higher rewards, especially considering that it was bringing in no revenue before last March while developing three titles. "RIFT has had tremendous success -- the commercial results are just astounding -- but we've got two more big games coming... There is no joy in Mudville," said Trion's David Reid. The article notes that once a MMO breaks even, the profit margin can be as high as 70%.

Trion is reportedly adding 100 new people to the team in the first part of 2012, which will put this studio in giant-sized territory: 520 employees in total.

Tiny Speck may not be as large, with just 41 employees, but the team is growing due to Glitch's success. Even though the potential to make money is there, co-founder Eric Costello says that the team puts in long hours as primarily a labor of love: "The game industry is famous for running their employees into the ground, and we definitely don't want to do that, but we've also found that building a game is a lot harder than we thought it would be."

Tiny Speck and Trion Worlds make gaming headlines in 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dan Stahl beams back aboard Cryptic Studios

Jef Reahard — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play

Dan Stahl couldn't stay away from Star Trek Online for long, and now the former executive producer is back in the fold to head up the Foundry team for Cryptic Studios and parent company Perfect World Entertainment.

Stahl, who left STO for Zynga in September, posted on the o-boards earlier this evening announcing his return. "There is something magical going on at Cryptic these days and I'm very happy to be back working on the MMOs that I personally love to play," he said.

The Foundry is Cryptic's suite of user-generated content tools that is currently available in Star Trek Online and slated to appear in the company's upcoming Neverwinter title.

Dan Stahl beams back aboard Cryptic Studios originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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.

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Zynga reports record revenue in last quarter

Matt Daniel — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Economy, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

A recent SEC filing from Zynga, creator of the social gaming epidemic known as FarmVille, revealed that the company is reporting a record quarterly revenue of over 306 million USD, though -- bizarrely enough -- profits are almost 54 percent lower than they were this time last year.

Revenue isn't the only thing that's on the rise, either. The company reports 152 million unique monthly players, compared to the 151 million the company reported in June. The average number of daily players, however, dropped from 59 million to 54 million. At any rate, the company seems to be going strong, with new titles such as the recently announced (supposed MMO) CastleVille just on the horizon.

Zynga reports record revenue in last quarter originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott blames Blizzard for ignoring the social gaming field

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

Richard Garriott, who heads up social games outfit Portalarium, publicly put the screws to Blizzard and other major MMO companies for overlooking the casual gaming space. In fact, he says that World of Warcraft's biggest challenger won't be from another AAA title, but from the "Zyngas of the world."

Talking to Industry Gamers, Garriott accused Blizzard and EA of dropping the ball when it came to social gaming, which Zynga has since explored and exploited. "The only reason Zynga exists is because people like EA, people like Blizzard, failed to step in," he said.

Garriott sees these small start-ups as having great potential in the near future. "I think within a few years, you'll see that's not really the case," he said. "I think you'll see that the quality level that comes up through the casual games will rival the quality of traditional massively multiplayer games and then, because it's not something you have to subscribe to, because it's something that virally spreads, and especially because, as people churn out of a big MMO they've got to go somewhere."

Garriott's Portalarium is currently working on an upcoming project that is "much more like Ultima Online than people might expect."

Richard Garriott blames Blizzard for ignoring the social gaming field originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zynga's CastleVille hopes to enter MMO territory

Brianna Royce — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

Zynga, maker of social games FarmVille and CityVille, has declared its intention to take the plunge into the MMO market with a new game: CastleVille. "Zynga is bringing massively multiplayer role-playing games to the mass market," creative director Bill Jackson announced from Zynga's San Francisco HQ. What game mechanics justify calling the game an MMO? According to Jackson:

You can build your castle, show it to your friends, and craft things like potions or armor. You can follow the game's story and its characters. You can trade and barter with friends by visiting their towns. And you have to defend your town against beasts who are outside the walls. The game has more personalized storytelling; players explore the world around them. You meet characters and make them happy and unlock new characters as you progress.

Chief executive Mark Pincus echoed his company's bold plans: "We want to give you more of a World of Warcraft feeling, but packaged up in something you can understand in three clicks and five or 15 minutes."

Zynga's CastleVille hopes to enter MMO territory originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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John Blakely leaves SOE for Zynga

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 12 May 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

These days fans are hungry for any word from Sony Online Entertainment, which has been mostly quiet following the hacking intrusion that required Sony to take down its MMOs on May 2nd. While we have received some news out of the company, unfortunately today's word is a sad one: John Blakely, SOE's vice president of development, has left the company to join Zynga.

Kotaku reports that Blakely's LinkedIn resumé mentioned that he left SOE in April to become a general manager at Zynga in Austin. SOE has confirmed his departure, thanking Blakely for his "passion and leadership" and stating that he has been replaced by Lorin Jameson. Jameson was the executive director of development at SOE's Austin studio.

In addition to being SOE's VP of development, Blakely filled the role of executive producer for DC Universe Online and senior producer for EverQuest II during his stay at the company.

John Blakely leaves SOE for Zynga originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 May 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zynga passes EA in estimated worth rankings

Jef Reahard — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

Like a horde of unstoppable zombies, social titles are devouring the domestic and worldwide gaming industry at an alarming rate. The latest example of the brain-sucking apocalypse comes courtesy of a Bloomberg report on Farmville-maker Zynga's estimated worth. It clocks in at $5.51 billion, placing it squarely in front of industry titan Electronic Arts ($5.22 billion).

Despite potential hits like BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic waiting in the wings, EA seems to be losing ground in the war for your online entertainment dollar. Since March 1st, EA's shares have declined 6.3 percent, while Zynga's estimated value has more than doubled in the same period. That said, while Zynga has leap-frogged EA, they still have a ways to go to catch Activision ($13.9 billion estimated worth), as well as China's Tencent Holdings ($43 billion).

Zynga passes EA in estimated worth rankings originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zynga sued over Facebook privacy breaches

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Browser, Legal

Zynga and its stable of Facebook games have never exactly won the hearts of MMO fans, but they've managed to avoid a lawsuit up until now. Unfortunately for them, a class-action lawsuit has been filed today seeking monetary relief for the unwarranted and undesirable release of private information. Filed by Nancy Graf of St. Paul, MN, the suit also seeks an injunction to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future, in a direct response to Monday's news that several games and applications have been leaking private information.

Although Zynga was listed among the companies sending out private information, the company is claiming that the lawsuit is wholly without merit and will be fought accordingly. The full details on the suit are available from Gamasutra, with the security breaches still apparently being labeled as unintentional results as they were on Monday. We'll have more on the story as it develops, although it seems to be a definite black eye for one of the largest social gaming companies on the web.

Zynga sued over Facebook privacy breaches originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook games transmitting your info to third parties

Jef Reahard — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

Our friends at Joystiq have turned us on to a Wall Street Journal article that concludes your privacy is at risk if you play Facebook games. The Journal discovered that each of the top 10 Facebook applications transmits user IDs, which may be shared with unauthorized third parties.

We know, it's not exactly new or shocking information, but continued user ignorance -- or apathy -- regarding online habits is a troubling trend that bears examining. WSJ authors Emily Steel and Geoffrey A. Fowler did just that and turned up all manner up interesting findings including a data-mining firm called RapLeaf Inc. that linked Facebook user IDs to its database of internet users. RapLeaf didn't stop there, as it then transmitted the user IDs to a dozen other firms, an express violation of Facebook policy.

Though RapLeaf vice president of business development Joel Jewitt said "we didn't do it on purpose," Facebook is nonetheless trotting out the damage control PR. "We have taken immediate action to disable all applications that violate our terms," said a company spokeman.

Facebook games transmitting your info to third parties originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Do you play on Facebook?

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Facebook is a haven for simple social games these days -- emphasis on simple. The gameplay frequently consists of nothing more than a few clicks and then waiting for the game to do what it wants to, a type of mechanic once memorably referred to as sandwich gameplay. (There's nothing interesting for the player to do, so you may as well get up and make yourself a sandwich.) And yet games of this breed can acquire more subscribers than World of Warcraft, which is one of those concepts that seems baffling at first, but once you think about it, it's still baffling.

The games are certainly massive, multiplayer, and online. About the only thing we could argue they're not is games, since there's little to no skill involved at the best of times. But they certainly don't seem to have problem bringing in money or subscribers, and they're becoming omnipresent. Do you take part? Do you play one or two because your friends do, or several of them? Do you use them to eat up downtime in your game of choice, or do you play them on their own merits? Or do you dislike them precisely because they're barely-disguised treadmills?

The Daily Grind: Do you play on Facebook? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The big business of selling virtual goods

James Egan — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Virtual worlds

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that the entire concept of people spending real money on virtual items and currency was just bizarre. The first mentions of such a thing this writer ever came across were back in 2003, when Julian Dibbell told the story of Black Snow Interactive, rumored to have been operating virtual sweatshops operating in Mexico. Fast forward to 2009 and the notion of shelling out real world cash for the ephemeral has become commonplace. Moreover, these formerly arcane business models centering around virtual trading have ballooned into a huge business, much to the chagrin of many game companies and their players.

However, not all companies attempt to fight this ever-increasing gravity of real money trading (RMT) that now permeates the MMO and virtual worlds industry, and some seek to make it an aspect of their business that they control rather than something they need to curb. Indeed, the profits of many (legitimate) businesses are largely derived from sales of virtual goods, as Rory Maher explains at paidContent.org in his article titled "From Pet Penguins to Flame Throwers: The Biggest Sellers In The Virtual World".

Maher looks at three companies doing well for themselves in the virtual goods game, and what they're selling that's proven so popular. He points out Tencent, a Chinese IM provider that incorporates microtransactions into the service, allowing users to spend their "QQ" currency to enhance and customize their IM interactions, even buying virtual pets that exist on their desktop and run around inside their instant messages.

Continue reading The big business of selling virtual goods

The big business of selling virtual goods originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 08 May 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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