Gardens of Time
For all of the Playdom and Disney nay saying lately, the duo seems to be proving everyone wrong with a single game. Gardens of Time has been on a steady climb since its release, and this month it's the fifth largest Facebook game at nearly 16 million monthly players. Just last month alone, the game garnered another 1.7 million players, which is impressive for any game that wasn't made by You Know Who. (Has Zynga reached Voldemort-like proportions yet? We like to think so.)
Of course, Zynga maintains the same top four spots it did last month, even as CityVille lost over 8.5 million monthly players and Empires & Allies lost over half a million. Even FarmVille lost another 3.4 million monthly players, though it'll take a lot more than this for Zynga to lose its reign.
And oddly enough, Monster Galaxy lost a whopping 8.4 million monthly players last month just after gaining over 6 million the month prior. This caused the game to fall back from the mighty top five to now eighth place at 10.6 million players. In fact, loss is somewhat of a trend this month, with 18 of 25 games losing monthly players. This could be attributed to a list of factors, but we're gonna' go with: It's summer, and most folks would rather be outside than in front of the computer.
AppData top 25 Facebook Games August
New additions to the Top 25 are Mall World, which comes in at number 24 with 5.3 million monthly players, and Zoo World 2 in the 20 spot with 6.4 million monthly players and a gain of nearly 3 million. However, publisher RockYou, according to Inside Social Games, uses the same app ID for the sequel to Zoo World as the original, meaning RockYou has not separate the traffic from both games.
Unfortunately, Ravenwood Fair was knocked off the leader boards this month, as was MindJolt Games from the rise of Mall World and It Girl's far leap from 21st place in June to the 14 spot this time around. Gardens of Time has hit the coveted top five because, while there are hidden object games out there, it seems that Playdom hit the previously untapped genre at just the right time. It speaks volumes to Facebook games partnership director Sean Ryan's plea for developers to experiment with new genres (at least to Facebook). At this point, it just might be the only way to reach at least fifth place.
[Source and Image Credit: AppData]
How do you think Playdom reached the top five with Gardens of Time? What new genres would you like to see appear in Facebook games?
Showing posts with label inside social games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inside social games. Show all posts
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Google+ opens its doors to all, but (hopefully) mostly social gamers
The proverbial veil has been lifted, everyone. Google+ is finally open to the public, meaning anyone can join Google's social network regardless of whether they've been invited through a friend. More importantly, this means the service, which soft-launched back in August to a controlled amount of users through invites, is open to even more social gamers than before.
Granted, there are only 16 games so far on Google+ Games. But surely the company hopes, that with an influx of potential players, that developers will become even more interested in Google as a social gaming destination. However, there are several arguably basic social features that aren't yet a part of the Google+ developer API, or application programming interface.
Namely, the posts that players can push through to the Games Stream from a Google+ game are not interactive. This means that the viral nature of social gaming is severely hindered on the network--players cannot directly help one another through the Games Stream like the can through the Facebook News Feed. This essentially thwarts what is popularly believed to give social games their name.
At the moment, players can only post general updates such as, "I scored 5 bajillion points in Bejeweled Blitz!" However, Rovio played somewhat of a smarter game with Angry Birds on Google+ Games, and introduced a friend gate to most of its content, meaning players have to add so many friends to access new levels. Luckily, Google has already stated that it's working to introduce more robust features over time.
Regardless, omissions like this serve as proof that Google+ Games, while impressive in its scope, ambition and support, is still a nascent gaming platform when put up against competitors like Facebook. With this news, perhaps the race Google+ is running has changed track to whether Google+ Games can keep up with the demands and needs of its players, rather than its competitors.
[Via Inside Social Games]
Have you tried out Google+ Games yet? Do you think, after what you experienced, that Google has a chance at competing in the social games world? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Granted, there are only 16 games so far on Google+ Games. But surely the company hopes, that with an influx of potential players, that developers will become even more interested in Google as a social gaming destination. However, there are several arguably basic social features that aren't yet a part of the Google+ developer API, or application programming interface.
Namely, the posts that players can push through to the Games Stream from a Google+ game are not interactive. This means that the viral nature of social gaming is severely hindered on the network--players cannot directly help one another through the Games Stream like the can through the Facebook News Feed. This essentially thwarts what is popularly believed to give social games their name.
At the moment, players can only post general updates such as, "I scored 5 bajillion points in Bejeweled Blitz!" However, Rovio played somewhat of a smarter game with Angry Birds on Google+ Games, and introduced a friend gate to most of its content, meaning players have to add so many friends to access new levels. Luckily, Google has already stated that it's working to introduce more robust features over time.
Regardless, omissions like this serve as proof that Google+ Games, while impressive in its scope, ambition and support, is still a nascent gaming platform when put up against competitors like Facebook. With this news, perhaps the race Google+ is running has changed track to whether Google+ Games can keep up with the demands and needs of its players, rather than its competitors.
[Via Inside Social Games]
Have you tried out Google+ Games yet? Do you think, after what you experienced, that Google has a chance at competing in the social games world? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
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