Virtual Goods Summit panel says indie Facebook games still have a chance

Panelists as Virtual Goods Summit
There is hope yet for you indie enthusiasts out there (no, not the music). During a panel at the Virtual Goods Summit in San Francisco, five small social game studios took stage to dispel some myths and confirm some claims about the industry. Most important of those confirmations was that yes, "It's still possible for an indie developer to launch a successful Facebook title," the panelists unanimously agreed upon.

According to the panelists, innovation is still the primary factor in a successful game and it will propel good games to the forefront (try telling that to Zynga). Frederic Descamps from A Bit Lucky gave mention to the recent game sensation powered by social media, Minecraft. With the help of a plethora of "Look what I made" style YouTube videos, Minecraft has made $5 million in preorders in just three weeks. The game hasn't even reached beta status.

But with Facebook cracking down on game discovery and Groups potentially fragmenting potential fans even further, is this really all independent developers have to bank on? Regardless of how innovative and fresh your new game is, it's going to take some serious marketing savvy--or maybe what viral channels Facebook has left--but more importantly dollars to get the buzz going.

Well, these developers are out there every day making and selling games, so they should know first hand of what's possible. For our enjoyment's sake, let's just hope they're right.

Lunchtime poll: Facebook punishes Ravenwood Fair maker for privacy gaffe - did they go too far?

Just as we were really starting to fall for the Facebook game Ravenwood Fair from LOLApps, we got a rude awakening when we learned we could no longer share items from the game on our Facebook Wall or send gifts to friends. Turns out, Facebook is punishing the social game developer for leaking user information to ad network and other data mining companies.

For six months, you will not be able to post anything from any LOL Apps game on Facebook, essentially turning off all of the things that make these games 'social,' and in some cases, fun to play.

While privacy on the Internet is no joking matter, do you think that Facebook's punishment is too harsh? Or should they have taken the punishment a step further? Sound off in today's lunchtime poll.

Facebook punishes LOLApps for privacy gaffe. Is it fair?
Yes, it's a fair punishmentNot sureNo, they should ban LOL Apps from Facebook foreverNo, it's really affecting my game experience!
VoteView ResultsShare ThisPolldaddy.com

Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says

Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.

Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.

Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.

Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.

Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.

It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.

New study finds Facebook games might do the economy good

The Facebook Economy
The success of Facebook gaming goes beyond Facebook. Based on an economic impact study released today (courtesy of the University of Maryland), Facebook games, applications, and social plugins (e.g. "Like" buttons, fan pages, Facebook Connect, etc.) are responsible for adding somewhere from 182,744 to 235,644 full-time jobs, and $12.19 billion to $15.71 billion into the US economy.

Seeing that the Facebook platform has only been around since May 2007, the growth has been tremendous. The study cites Zynga as an example as the most successful venture on the Facebook platform, primarily thanks to hits like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Words With Friends. Zynga itself has 2,000 employees with the company valued at $15 to $20 billion. Whereas, Playfish was bought by EA for $300 million, and Playdom was bought by Disney for $763.2 million.

The study, created by professors of the Center for Digital Innovation, Technology, and Strategy at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, moves on from counting the numbers of direct employment to uncovering jobs indirectly created by Facebook apps. It then estimates the economic value of all those jobs, which means analyzing salaries and benefits. Still skeptical? They're calling it the "Facebook App Economy" and you can read all about it here.

[Image Credit: Visual Economics]

[Via SFGate]

Do you still think that Facebook games are a waste of money? Do you know anyone who's been able to make a living thanks to Facebook games? Add Comment