Zynga has had a rocky road when it comes to player feedback across its mighty catalog of Facebook games. Sure, the vast majority of players enjoy games like FarmVille and Pioneer Trail, but what about those vocal users that have legitimate concerns about games and are more than willing to offer their feedback? Does Zynga actually listen to them? Perhaps. According to the Economic Times, Zynga's Bill Jackson (creative director behind CastleVille) says that this particular game has undergone changes due to feedback from players.
"These are not games that we just play. These are games that we make with our players," Jackson says, and he explained that the reduced rate of Beastie appearance has been made due to players stating that they appeared too often. Jackson goes on to say that "Once we [Zynga] launch the game, we are asking players the same thing: 'how can we make it more fun for you?"
While changes in CastleVille are one thing, it does leave a few remaining questions in other games in the Zynga network, as users routinely complain of too many goals or catering orders in Cafe World or of loading and rollback issues in Pioneer Trail. Is this an issue of the company not listening to users, or are there simply not enough staff members on-hand to deal with these technical problems? Whatever the case, Jackson says that managing all of the feedback and information from players is a "challenge," but that the company is preparing for a better 2012 by "creating a platform" (says the Economic Times) where players can play whenever they want. Could this be the Zynga Direct program revealed in October? If not, does this signal more games coming to more platforms (mobile, for instance)? And what does all of this have to do with actually changing games based on user responses?
It's an interesting time to be a social gamer in the Zynga network, as games like Pioneer Trail are bleeding players (that one has lost half a million players in a month, according to AppData) and even the former staples like Mafia Wars seem to be struggling. Whether feedback is really focused on or not, 2012 will be an interesting year for Zynga, and for players as well.
Thứ Bảy, 18 tháng 2, 2012
Here's why (real) casino Facebook games might explode in 2012
A recent Department of Justice opinion has effectively allowed states to individually allow online gambling and lottery services, with Washington D.C. to be first in line, The Washington Times reports. In other words, a lot of Americans are going to find themselves strapped for cash this year, if enough states follow suit. And seriously, what state is going to refuse free tax money?
The new opinion is an interpretation of The Wire Act of 1961 that was essentially revisited to address whether Illinois and New York could allow out-of-state organizations to sell lottery tickets to residents online, according to The Times. (For a primer on the history of online gambling in the U.S., check out this page.) However, it appears that a few states have taken this interpretation as a green light for online, non-sports gambling.
"We always knew it was legal. It didn't come as a shock to us," independent D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown told The Times. "But other states might beat us to the punch, and that would be a tragedy. I'm hopeful we still will be the first to the marketplace. Frankly [other states] have said, 'We're just going to take D.C.'s legislation and copy it.'"
Those other states include Nevada and New Jersey, both of which reportedly begun to lay the groundwork for online gambling within their borders. This all sounds like quite the coincidence to the arguably already-explosive growth of casino games on Facebook, like DoubleDown Casino and Slotomania. Just look at Facebook's take on the top 10 social games of 2011.
More importantly, however, is that the big time social game players are keen on the genre, too. Both Zynga and PopCap plan to hit it big with casino games on Facebook. (Though, the latter is just a rumor.) Not to mention that Caesars now has its own Facebook game company. Of course, this all depends on whether Facebook gives the green light. But again, what social network is going to refuse free tax money?
The new opinion is an interpretation of The Wire Act of 1961 that was essentially revisited to address whether Illinois and New York could allow out-of-state organizations to sell lottery tickets to residents online, according to The Times. (For a primer on the history of online gambling in the U.S., check out this page.) However, it appears that a few states have taken this interpretation as a green light for online, non-sports gambling.
"We always knew it was legal. It didn't come as a shock to us," independent D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown told The Times. "But other states might beat us to the punch, and that would be a tragedy. I'm hopeful we still will be the first to the marketplace. Frankly [other states] have said, 'We're just going to take D.C.'s legislation and copy it.'"
Those other states include Nevada and New Jersey, both of which reportedly begun to lay the groundwork for online gambling within their borders. This all sounds like quite the coincidence to the arguably already-explosive growth of casino games on Facebook, like DoubleDown Casino and Slotomania. Just look at Facebook's take on the top 10 social games of 2011.
More importantly, however, is that the big time social game players are keen on the genre, too. Both Zynga and PopCap plan to hit it big with casino games on Facebook. (Though, the latter is just a rumor.) Not to mention that Caesars now has its own Facebook game company. Of course, this all depends on whether Facebook gives the green light. But again, what social network is going to refuse free tax money?
: barbily, Facebook games, facebook strategy games, mmo,
Now that the lot of social and casual games makers are bound to hop on the imminent online gambling bandwagon in the U.S., it was safe to assume that Zynga would be in on the action. Apparently, that's not so, according to what nameless sources close to the multi-billion-dollar game maker told Business Insider. One source told the website that Zynga hasn't even tried to make online gambling games in countries where laws are less strict.
A source told Business Insider that Zynga doesn't want to "screw up that community," likely referring to the existing online gambling circles of foreign countries. "You might not want to take money from your friends or your mother on Facebook," the anonymous source said. "But at the same time, the people you play with don't have to be your Facebook friends."
Of course, another nameless source agreed that games in which players wager real money would be a huge opportunity for the company. That's especially considering Zynga already has Zynga Poker and plans to release a Zynga Casino suite of games including Zynga Bingo. In short, the company already has the infrastructure to create such a game or multiple games to support online gambling.
According to an anonymous source talking to Business Insider, there have been talks of making such a game within Zynga HQ, but none are planned for the foreseeable future. And, if you ask us, a number of companies already in that space are likely more than willing to partake, like Caesars, DoubleDown Interactive and more. If Zynga comes around to changing its mind, it better do it quick, before the goldmine it's sitting on gets stripped.
A source told Business Insider that Zynga doesn't want to "screw up that community," likely referring to the existing online gambling circles of foreign countries. "You might not want to take money from your friends or your mother on Facebook," the anonymous source said. "But at the same time, the people you play with don't have to be your Facebook friends."
Of course, another nameless source agreed that games in which players wager real money would be a huge opportunity for the company. That's especially considering Zynga already has Zynga Poker and plans to release a Zynga Casino suite of games including Zynga Bingo. In short, the company already has the infrastructure to create such a game or multiple games to support online gambling.
According to an anonymous source talking to Business Insider, there have been talks of making such a game within Zynga HQ, but none are planned for the foreseeable future. And, if you ask us, a number of companies already in that space are likely more than willing to partake, like Caesars, DoubleDown Interactive and more. If Zynga comes around to changing its mind, it better do it quick, before the goldmine it's sitting on gets stripped.
In Star Supremacy on Facebook, go to war with the game's creators
Want to differentiate your strategy social game from the rest of them? Then get involved. Chinese developer Barbily plans to do just that with its Facebook version of browser-based, sci-fi strategy MMO (massively multiplayer online game), Star Supremacy. The game launches today on Facebook, and already the Barbily team plans to engage its players by bringing the fight to them.
For starters, three Barbily GMs (game masters) will actively play Star Supremacy, controlling two advanced colonies each. Of course, all of these territories will be home to massive reserves of resources, which players can attack for major gains. Barbily will publish the coordinates of these developer-controlled colonies on the Star Supremacy Facebook fan page. However, Barbily warns that there will be consequences if players decide to set up trade routes through these colonies or organize large assaults.
In other words, just try and take it to the developers--they're waiting for a good fight. Like most Facebook game developers with new games, Barbily will give its players free in-game gifts when the fan page reaches 500 and 1,000 "Likes". But the Suzhou-based developer thinks it's far different from Zynga's lot of games.
Star Supremacy in action
"What makes us different from CityVille, FarmVille, CastleVille, or even Empires & Allies is that we are a sci-fi RTS game. " Barbily PR manager Thomas Watson said. "We've read a lot of feedback from players both inside and outside our forums. Players expect a lot from a browser-based RTS. I am proud to say that our developers are working very fast and very hard to bring out new features and big fixes on a weekly basis."
While that's certainly true, we've yet to see what differentiates Star Supremacy from the growing lot of sci-fi strategy games on Facebook like Edgeworld and Galaxy Life. We certainly haven't heard of a Facebook game's developers taunting its players to battle immediately upon release before.
For starters, three Barbily GMs (game masters) will actively play Star Supremacy, controlling two advanced colonies each. Of course, all of these territories will be home to massive reserves of resources, which players can attack for major gains. Barbily will publish the coordinates of these developer-controlled colonies on the Star Supremacy Facebook fan page. However, Barbily warns that there will be consequences if players decide to set up trade routes through these colonies or organize large assaults.
In other words, just try and take it to the developers--they're waiting for a good fight. Like most Facebook game developers with new games, Barbily will give its players free in-game gifts when the fan page reaches 500 and 1,000 "Likes". But the Suzhou-based developer thinks it's far different from Zynga's lot of games.
Star Supremacy in action
"What makes us different from CityVille, FarmVille, CastleVille, or even Empires & Allies is that we are a sci-fi RTS game. " Barbily PR manager Thomas Watson said. "We've read a lot of feedback from players both inside and outside our forums. Players expect a lot from a browser-based RTS. I am proud to say that our developers are working very fast and very hard to bring out new features and big fixes on a weekly basis."
While that's certainly true, we've yet to see what differentiates Star Supremacy from the growing lot of sci-fi strategy games on Facebook like Edgeworld and Galaxy Life. We certainly haven't heard of a Facebook game's developers taunting its players to battle immediately upon release before.
Facebook gets called out, redefines its top games of 2011 list
Were you as surprised as we were when Facebook dubbed Playdom's Gardens of Time the "most popular Facebook game of 2011?" As it turns out, we certainly weren't the only ones, as TechCrunch plainly called the social network out on its methodology (which we, too, questioned). Facebook almost immediately added a disclaimer describing how it arrived at the list in detail.
"This list was compiled by looking at the top games on Facebook with more than 100,000 monthly active users and giving priority to those games with the highest user satisfaction scores," the addendum reads on the Facebook blog. "The result is a list of the games that received the most user recommendations in 2011."
But EDGE reports that Facebook has recently renamed its list entirely from the "Most Popular Games in 2011" to the "Top Recommended Games of 2011." While this reflects Facebook's methodology much more accurately, it's interesting to see the company backtrack after such a heated response. For one, it speaks volumes to how seriously end-of-year lists are taken.
However, it also speaks to Facebook's motivations for creating its end-of-year list this way. Rather than simply highlight the games with the most monthly or daily players, the company took this chance to highlight its own recommendation features as a tool for viral game growth and discovery. More importantly, this was a golden opportunity for Facebook to deter popular opinions of Zynga domination on the platform, and to promote diversity among developers. If only it were upfront about that from the start.
"This list was compiled by looking at the top games on Facebook with more than 100,000 monthly active users and giving priority to those games with the highest user satisfaction scores," the addendum reads on the Facebook blog. "The result is a list of the games that received the most user recommendations in 2011."
But EDGE reports that Facebook has recently renamed its list entirely from the "Most Popular Games in 2011" to the "Top Recommended Games of 2011." While this reflects Facebook's methodology much more accurately, it's interesting to see the company backtrack after such a heated response. For one, it speaks volumes to how seriously end-of-year lists are taken.
However, it also speaks to Facebook's motivations for creating its end-of-year list this way. Rather than simply highlight the games with the most monthly or daily players, the company took this chance to highlight its own recommendation features as a tool for viral game growth and discovery. More importantly, this was a golden opportunity for Facebook to deter popular opinions of Zynga domination on the platform, and to promote diversity among developers. If only it were upfront about that from the start.
Battlefield maker EA DICE loses three to ngmoco's Sweden studio
A new year can often be a bittersweet experience, especially in the world of career moves. In this case, it's been sweet for DeNA-owned mobile game maker ngmoco and rather bitter for EA. DICE, the Swedish division of the veteran games publisher responsible for hit shooter franchise Battlefield and critically-acclaimed Mirror's Edge, has lost three staffers to ngmoco Sweden.
This is the second, third and fourth loss for EA to ngmoco in six months, the first being former EA-ran Easy Studios general manager Ben Cousins, who left in June 2011 to start the Stockholm-based studio. Cousins announced the new hires through his Twitter account, name-dropping senior programmer Torbjørn Lædre, senior artist Wille Wintertidh and senior programmer Malte Hildigsson.
Collectively, the trio have experience with successful hardcore EA games ranging from the brand new Battlefield 3 to Mirror's Edge and Far Cry 2. Ngmoco Sweden has been keen on recruiting talent from traditional game developers, having snagged members of Crytek, German creator of the visually-stunning Crysis series, last year.
Ngmoco, largely responsible for bringing Japanese social game giant DeNA's mobile social games network, Mobage, to the Western world, is likely staffing up its Sweden studio to fill the network up with original games. Whether those games will skew toward shooter fans or folks who dig FarmVille is uncertain, but the lot it's hiring suggests the former.
This is the second, third and fourth loss for EA to ngmoco in six months, the first being former EA-ran Easy Studios general manager Ben Cousins, who left in June 2011 to start the Stockholm-based studio. Cousins announced the new hires through his Twitter account, name-dropping senior programmer Torbjørn Lædre, senior artist Wille Wintertidh and senior programmer Malte Hildigsson.
Collectively, the trio have experience with successful hardcore EA games ranging from the brand new Battlefield 3 to Mirror's Edge and Far Cry 2. Ngmoco Sweden has been keen on recruiting talent from traditional game developers, having snagged members of Crytek, German creator of the visually-stunning Crysis series, last year.
Ngmoco, largely responsible for bringing Japanese social game giant DeNA's mobile social games network, Mobage, to the Western world, is likely staffing up its Sweden studio to fill the network up with original games. Whether those games will skew toward shooter fans or folks who dig FarmVille is uncertain, but the lot it's hiring suggests the former.
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