How social gaming has become a massive, mainstream industry with serious potential for marketers
In 2011, the social gaming market is set to reach a massive $1bn (eMarketer report 'State Of Social Gaming', Jan 2011). Over the last 3-4 years, the market has evolved beyond all recognition. From the initial, simple, text and message-based invitations to buy your Facebook friends, or kill their vampires, social games have grown into something far more sophisticated and complex. Social games are now experiences in which thousands of players participate, compete, collaborate and communicate as part of their everyday online lives.
When Zynga launched in January 2007, its focus on games for this newfangled Facebook platform took the traditional games industry by surprise. Facebook after all was for... civilians. You couldn’t create anything worthwhile on such a limited platform. Plus, most of the people on there were, well, not gamers.
Now, after creating games such as 'Farmville', 'Cityville' and others, which have rewritten the rules for what a game can be and what an actual gamer is, the traditional games industry is, grudgingly, recognising there might be something to this social games idea.
High impact
Alongside this, came a whole new type of technology, which allowed these new gamers to stay in touch with their farms, cities or frontiers; find out what their friends, families and competitors were up to and let them keep some sort of an eye on their social games. Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone and iPad brought simple, touchscreen technology, which allowed gaming on the go and introduced even more people to the idea that gaming could be something enjoyed in fast, five minute bursts - regardless of where they were or what else they were doing.
The impact on the game playing audience has been incredible. Games and gaming, considered to be the sole preserve of the 18-35 year old male audience, are now reaching players the mainstream games industry had all but given up on reaching. Parents have already found that sites like 'Club Penguin', 'Moshi Monsters' and the soon-to-launch 'Horrible Histories' (currently in development for Scholastic) show just how popular social games are becoming with a much younger audience. Older people too are now getting comfortable with the idea of playing games, interacting with others and spending time online having fun.
Simpler controls, more convenient access points, ubiquitous technology, more appealing graphics and well considered gameplay have all contributed to creating the largest global audience for games which has ever existed. However, the single most important aspect of this growing popularity is the ability to integrate social networking within virtual environments, making the games interactive and community-based, rather than a solitary experience.
All of which has created an enormous opportunity for media companies, brand owners, licensors and publishers, who can now use social gaming and entertainment to reach audiences which they’ve never been able to address through the mainstream games sector.
The single greatest barrier to doing this effectively has, until now, been cost. Games developers can create a number of different games or environments using the same platform or technology. This allows them to develop the technology once, then re-use it for several different games. However, brands and brand owners, which have to build a virtual environment from scratch, currently have to invest millions to do it well.
Play power
That’s all changing. HuzuTech was created to provide a platform (HuzuVirtual) that brand owners can license and use to create their own virtual environments - specifically social games. This costs a fraction of what it would take to build a new platform from scratch. Why re-invent the wheel?
While a game in itself can be a useful promotional tool, or part of a marketing campaign, the key to creating an active and ongoing community of happy users, is the social aspect of the game.
Huzutech has also created a social networking capability (HuzuSocial), which enables all of these new virtual environments to be entirely social and integrate flawlessly into each and every user’s online life.
This is the aspect that brand owners, companies and licensors are really excited about, since it makes the game, the community and the whole environment, part of the player’s everyday social activities.
Add in a payment facility, so brands can monetise the environment - by selling game credits or merchandise - and suddenly the simple social game becomes a valuable option for brands.
The early adopters within social gaming, which use virtual worlds, are those companies which already have character-based assets, such as publishers, animators, media companies and movie-makers. This is where the opportunity is arguably the greatest, since characters which players are familiar with can now interact within the ‘world’ they’ve seen on a movie screen, television or discovered in a book. With their friends!
Educational publisher Scholastic is currently developing its incredibly popular (and slightly sinister) 'Horrible Histories' brand into a virtual world and social game using the HuzuVirtual platform. Disney launched its 'World of Cars Online' in 2010, based on the Disney-Pixar film 'Cars'; and Universal is launching 'Universal Monsters' with SEE Virtual Worlds in Entropia at some point in 2011. Amazingly, there’s no word on an official virtual environment for Harry Potter or the equally popular Twilight saga – but they’ll come.
It’s easy to see why. Social channels, platforms and networks have become a significant part of almost every internet user's life. In some cases, the bedrock of their entire online existence. And it’s not confined to the user’s leisure time or a small portion of their day. Users now choose how and when they want to check in, chat, play and participate. Mobile devices, smartphones and tablets are combined with email, instant messaging and texts. There are even dedicated smartphones hitting the market, designed specifically for integrated social network updates.
All of which means that your new, fully-branded, unique online world, complete with mini-games, activities, competitions and total social network integration, becomes part of every users daily lives. They don’t have to decide to visit a separate website. They don’t have to remember to log in and catch up with friends. Everything is right there, pushed to them through their chosen - and trusted - online and mobile channels.
It makes social gaming and community as simple as leaving a comment on a friend’s status update, sending a tweet or posting a photo. Only it’s fun, branded and, more importantly, theirs. It’s not just a game. It’s not just a virtual world. It’s the fun part of their online life.
Graeme Harvey, CEO, Huzutech
http://www.huzutech.com/
http://paperworld.huzutech.com/