Social Gaming Trends

// January 30th, 2010 // News

A funny thing happened to the video game industry in 2009. While most of us were focused on the console war and the rise of the iPhone as a gaming platform, Facebook quietly became a big player in the space. Games like Mafia Wars and FarmVille began to consume people’s time – and distract them from more traditional styles of play.

PlayFish and Zynga dominate the world of social gaming right now, but 2010 will bring some new players to the market. Among the companies looking to expand into the space are:

Take Two Interactive Software
The publisher last year announced plans to enter the social gaming space with Sid Meier’s Civilization Network, a new take on one of gaming’s most loved (and most addictive) franchises, expected to roll out later this year.

“Civilization Network will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization,” said Meier in a note announcing the game. “The game will offer everything you enjoy in Civ in a fully persistent environment - you can play as much as you like, whenever you like, and it’ll be free to play.”

PlayFirst
Best known as the developer of casual PC games, PlayFirst is looking to expand into the social media space this year.

The company has one title out now, but look for its hit Diner Dash to make the move later this year.

While the game’s not officially announced yet, it’s a move that makes sense. The Diner Dash series, which has been dominating sales charts for 5 years, is already on all of the existing gaming systems (and the iPhone). To date, its various iterations have been downloaded more than 550 million times worldwide. A Facebook fan page for the game boasts just shy of 18,000 fans.

Break Media
The parent of Break.com and other men’s entertainment Websites has built a 30-person Shanghai-based studio to develop social games for its network of sites.

The first, MMAFight Picker, will launch Feb. 1 on its MMA-themed CagePotato.com site. Throughout the year, Break plans to roll out another five games to its other holdings.

Heatwave Interactive
The developer of the iSamJackson iPhone app is moving into the social gaming arena with Platinum Life, a hip-hop lifestyle game due in Feb.

Players will create and customize avatars, build an entourage, then interact with real-life celebrity hip hop stars, such as T.I.

Booyah
Best known as an iPhone app developer, Booyah is looking to expand its reach into social gaming this year. The company plans to roll its hit MyTown app onto Facebook as a way to expand its reach. Other upcoming projects may include Facebook versions as well.

Booyah may not be alone, either. ngmoco, creator of Rolando and Topple for the iPhone, hasn’t formally unveiled plans to expand beyond Apple’s products, but chief publishing officer Simon Jeffery notes that “mobile and social network gaming is merging now – it’s a completely new territory and the opportunities are still being defined.”