Activision Blizzard, the publisher of hit shooter series Call of Duty, appears to have a love-hate relationship with Facebook gaming. But that scale appears to slowly be tipping in the lovey-dovey direction. During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick hinted that the company's next move could be a social one, and in a big, big way.
"The exciting thing about Zynga or Facebook as a platform, is they're bringing new audiences to gaming that have never been gamers before," Kotick told Bloomberg. "When you think about that target of a 50 or 55-year-old woman that has never really experienced a game, or someone who's coming in for the first time to play a game with their friends on Facebook, that is a fantastic new platform."
These comments are far more enthusiastic about social gaming than Activision has ever been. While strides have been made to capitalize on the benefits of social gaming with the Call of Duty Elite service, other execs within the company appear even threatened by the prospects of Facebook games. But recently, CFO Thomas Tippl revealed that the shooter king is "methodically investing in mobile and social gaming projects."
"Now, we're never gonna be first guys into those markets, but we usually are the best," Kotick said, closing the interview with Bloomberg on a high note. We'll just have to see how Zynga and EA respond to that. In the video interview below, skip to about 4:30 to hear Kotick's thoughts on Facebook games.
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn Activision. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn Activision. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Thứ Hai, 9 tháng 1, 2012
Thứ Sáu, 30 tháng 12, 2011
Facebook game profits are big, but MMO gold farming is huge
Gold Farmers
In fact, a report (PDF link) by the Word Bank's infoDev finance program suggests that 75 percent of all virtual goods sales globally are from gold farmers. Gold farmers are folks who make money off of gathering gold in games like World of Warcraft and selling it for real world currency. The types of gold farmers range from those who do it for a wage to those who steal it directly from players' accounts to bots, or automated programs that do the in-game dirty work. Facebook games might be worth $5 billion in four years, but gold farming was worth at least $3 billion in 2009.
Because most gold farmers originate from poorer countries, infoDev recommends that these services be supported whose revenue could help the development of said countries. The only problem is that this practice is largely forbidden within the agreement that players accept when first signing up for their MMO of choice. The report goes so far as to recommend that the US companies behind these games support the largely Chinese gold farmers, which has all but become a business in the past few years.
However, considering companies like Blizzard make absolutely no money from gold farming, it's terribly unlikely that developers would support such a thing unless it involved them. Unfortunately, what's more likely to happen is that developers will cut out the $3 billion middle man and develop currency sales platforms like those in FarmVille and other Facebook games. The Facebook games and gold-farming industries are putting the pressure on subscription-based MMOs to adapt, which increasingly seems to be their only option.
[Via Gamasutra]
[Image Credit: Next Nature]
Have you ever bought gold for an MMO game or currency in a social game? Do you see gold farming lasting much longer as a business model?
In fact, a report (PDF link) by the Word Bank's infoDev finance program suggests that 75 percent of all virtual goods sales globally are from gold farmers. Gold farmers are folks who make money off of gathering gold in games like World of Warcraft and selling it for real world currency. The types of gold farmers range from those who do it for a wage to those who steal it directly from players' accounts to bots, or automated programs that do the in-game dirty work. Facebook games might be worth $5 billion in four years, but gold farming was worth at least $3 billion in 2009.
Because most gold farmers originate from poorer countries, infoDev recommends that these services be supported whose revenue could help the development of said countries. The only problem is that this practice is largely forbidden within the agreement that players accept when first signing up for their MMO of choice. The report goes so far as to recommend that the US companies behind these games support the largely Chinese gold farmers, which has all but become a business in the past few years.
However, considering companies like Blizzard make absolutely no money from gold farming, it's terribly unlikely that developers would support such a thing unless it involved them. Unfortunately, what's more likely to happen is that developers will cut out the $3 billion middle man and develop currency sales platforms like those in FarmVille and other Facebook games. The Facebook games and gold-farming industries are putting the pressure on subscription-based MMOs to adapt, which increasingly seems to be their only option.
[Via Gamasutra]
[Image Credit: Next Nature]
Have you ever bought gold for an MMO game or currency in a social game? Do you see gold farming lasting much longer as a business model?
Đăng ký:
Bài đăng (Atom)