Greenspace has had a few months now in the beta phase and I’m quite anxious to see it come out of that phase and into its major rollout. With other “green” social games quickly grabbing traction, it will be interesting to see how today’s Zynga announcement about their own gaming platform will be a “game changer” (pun fully intended).
The social gaming arena is getting more and more crowded, yet there exists no question that Zynga leads the way. The move off the “Facebook-only” platform is simply confirmation that companies are balking at sharing over 30% of their revenues simply for a platform that is nowhere near as viral as it used to be, in large part due to Facebook’s own mistakes in permitting information sharing without the knowledge of users.
Now my eldest son quite properly stated that if we sign up to a “free” service, we have to expect a “price”, with which I completely agree. However, I believe that Facebook set this event in motion by asking for so high a percentage, rather than working together with Zynga, for the betterment of all.
And so perhaps we shall see how Google+, and its discounted sharing rate, will attract more gameplay developers to move over to its platform, as it gains traction in users. Frankly speaking, I think it will take longer than they think. As a Facebook user, I have joined Google+, yet not many of my “friends” have done so as yet. In time, Google will incent us to move over somehow….or they will be a distant second for a long time to come…
Yet no matter what happens, today’s events at Zynga are game changers.
Sass