WGE MAG: 41
compare are console games (from game systems such as XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation) and social games including smaller unit types (Facebook, iPhone, Android and web portal / social market). One can certainly argue that there is a major difference between something like an iPhone game and Facebook. However, I just lump them in the same group. I believe many games will be naturally branch from one to extend existing and emerging game titles.
We mainly work on the social game side. Production on the console game market for us is simple, too cost prohibitive to produce and a harder market to break into successfully.
Producing social games on the other hand is relatively affordable to produce and various relationships allow a way to market games to a wide range of players.
Broken Social Scene?
I
SO Interactive’s Executive Manager speaks to John Armstrong about the changing market of social games.
What are a few project highlights at ISO?
Actually we started off with a more traditional agency background with interactive projects such as website implementation and speciality applications. Then we quickly moved to the social game realm. Many of the web development projects directly influenced some of our major game systems and components we currently have and are in production.
A few examples of projects we worked on with clients include Coca- Cola’s website and custom content management system, a speciality DASANI application, a fan-based Harry
“We mainly work on the social game side. Production on the console game market for us is simple - too cost prohibited to produce and a harder market to break into successfully.”
Potter virtual world and various other client social game projects.
We work directly with other agencies, developers and clients to provide beneficial services and partnerships. In fact most of our work is collaborative, so if there is a group that needs us, we are usually very happy to help.
We now focus on client based projects and our own social game system called “MyMe”.
How do you view the gaming market?
Well gaming means something different depending on the audience. There are many different categories and sub-categories of what we call games. However the main two areas I like to
The social market is really big. Just look at the mega giant console game producer EA Games. They produced really high quality games for years. Well social game producer Zynga took the emerging social game market and easily surpassed EA Games’ revenue.
Many people playing these social games do not even view them as games. It is simply an activity to enjoy. Activities like groom my pet, tend my farm or help customers in the restaurant are actual games believe it or not (and they produce a lot of profit).
The game market as a whole is a moving target. There are many different factors for successful games. Personally, I believe one of those will depend on how well they can blend in different segments of the game market. I call this term “Blending of the Market”.
In other words, how can you take a series of games from one platform and seamlessly merge to another (such as Facebook to a iPhone game or similar) at a fairly low cost. After all, the more channels to these different platforms the more profit avenues you have. We have actually created a system (called the MIMS platform) that not only allows for an easy “Blending of the Market, it makes the users account attributes, to move from game to game and platform to platform. Many people may not understand why that is important. Well once you max out on one game you can then jump to another and you can keep you avatar look and feel as well as some useful achievements you gained on one to help you in the other.
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