Freemium
HappyKat78
Member, BASIC Posts: 173
If any of you have played Farmville, The Sims Social/Freeplay, Mafia Wars, Tap Zoo etc. you'll know what I mean by "freemium" games. Basically games that are free but monetize heavily through in game items etc. known as microtransactions (MTX).
I'm wondering if GS is looking to explore this business model? It dominated 90% of the conversations at GDC (Game Developer's Conference) in San Francisco this week, and it's dominating the top grossing charts in the app store.
Of course, freemium is also very much about playing with your friends, so facebook connect would be a must. But how would GS manage the server-side world of freemium? I think there are two obvious options:
1. Go the route that Smurfs did and use the device's internal clock to track time spent grinding on growing your crops etc. BTW - You can cheat this by changing your clock...yes, this cheat worked with Smurfs, I guess they've since fixed it though. I don't know how you manage facebook connect though without a server. I guess this would limit it to wall posts as opposed to asyncronous play?
2. Use servers to track progression / play multiplayer etc. This is expensive and a lot harder, but GS could potentially take a rev share of MTX revenue?
It's a tough business model for GS to support (properly), but it's where mobile and social gaming is heading (and has arguably already arrived), so I think it would be good to think about.
PS - Yes I know you can do IAP/MTX already in GS, but I'm referring to the nature of the business model as a whole. :-)
Cheers!
I'm wondering if GS is looking to explore this business model? It dominated 90% of the conversations at GDC (Game Developer's Conference) in San Francisco this week, and it's dominating the top grossing charts in the app store.
Of course, freemium is also very much about playing with your friends, so facebook connect would be a must. But how would GS manage the server-side world of freemium? I think there are two obvious options:
1. Go the route that Smurfs did and use the device's internal clock to track time spent grinding on growing your crops etc. BTW - You can cheat this by changing your clock...yes, this cheat worked with Smurfs, I guess they've since fixed it though. I don't know how you manage facebook connect though without a server. I guess this would limit it to wall posts as opposed to asyncronous play?
2. Use servers to track progression / play multiplayer etc. This is expensive and a lot harder, but GS could potentially take a rev share of MTX revenue?
It's a tough business model for GS to support (properly), but it's where mobile and social gaming is heading (and has arguably already arrived), so I think it would be good to think about.
PS - Yes I know you can do IAP/MTX already in GS, but I'm referring to the nature of the business model as a whole. :-)
Cheers!
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