On dual-currency systems in monetizing social games
the primary reason to adopt a dual-currency system is to engage and monetize the two distinct sets of users: paying and non-paying. Paying users are willing to fork over a few bucks, cents, or in the...
View ArticleZynga's charity strategy through social games
At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco yesterday, Zynga chief executive Mark Pincus said the company was now raising money for charities through “social virtual goods”. via blogs.ft.com Financial...
View ArticleSucceeding in social games business requires a three-legged stool
I think the traditional publishers are learning painfully now that social games are a completely new distribution method. Legacy methods of advertising and publicity don’t work. It’s a whole new state...
View ArticleLess than 3% of Zynga's players buy virtual goods?
For those actually in the social games space, the data point to note is the stat from Zynga that less than 3% of users buy virtual currency/goods. That is lower than many virtual worlds and MMOs, but...
View ArticleVirtual goods in social games as premium content
it may be helpful to think about virtual goods not just in merchandising terms, but also in terms of premium content. People have always paid for content like movies or concerts because of the...
View ArticleGifting in social games is transforming
Eventually, we think most developers will create a gifts functionality that lies somewhere in between the “spam everybody” and “gift to a single friend” philosophies. One way for games like Café World...
View ArticleWhy Do People Buy Virtual Goods? Ten Attributes That Influence Item...
via slideshare.net Very useful set of slides for inspiring design considerations in social games development. Permalink | Leave a comment »
View ArticleZynga polices Mafia Wars' virtual goods economy
In other words, Zynga screwed up. But it didn’t really cost them anything since it’s all virtual goods. It seems like the smart thing to do would be to simply turn the code off and move on with their...
View ArticleBranding & new business models for virtual goods
New business models will emerge as well. Virtual malls will sell branded virtual goods directly to consumers. Consumer-friendly, eBay-style secondary markets will emerge for virtual goods across...
View ArticleBranded virtual goods in social games creating buzz in the advertising scene
Apps Savvy points out that the virtual goods marketing outperformed InsightExpress' mobile and online norms, as the campaign saw a nearly 3x lift in purchase intent over mobile internet norms, a 5x...
View ArticleProfitable niches vs casual masses in #socialgames
While monetizing 1-2 percent of users is fairly typical for Facebook games, Dawn’s ARPPU is higher than we’ve seen for most other titles. Since the end of its first month when it ran a promotional...
View ArticleGameplay elevates the social value of virtual goods
Much like real products, virtual goods derive their value both from the utility they provide and the social value associated with owning or giving them. Although virtual goods got their start on...
View ArticleOnline game design is business design
A game designer’s job is now at least 25% about building the business model. If you don’t want to do that, you have no place designing online games. (Source) This is a very bold statement, and sounds...
View ArticleI buy virtual goods and I feel fine
And Disney is shelling out at least a half billion (an earn-out provision could bring the price tag closer to three-quarters of a billion) for Playdom, the company behind, among other things, Sorority...
View ArticleResearch findings on virtual goods purchases
For those who want to cash in on microtransactions, our research suggests the following: Provide a lot of virtual goods so that players can customize their game space and avatar. Limit your amount of...
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European market numbers for virtual items sales
via superdataresearch.com Top 10 countries in blue. Permalink | Leave a comment »
View ArticleVirtual Goods in Asia
via slideshare.net Ben Joffe's eye-opening presentation from Virtual Goods Summit West. The ARPU figures mentioned are really something else when compared to, e.g., Facebook numbers. Permalink | Leave...
View ArticleCase Halloween: Themed virtual goods in social games
For those wanting to see more of what Halloween has done to social games (or what social games have done to Halloween), Games.com has compiled a very comprehensive list what other games, beyond this...
View Article7 Success Factors for Social Games
He next discussed the 7 Success Factors for Social Games: Analytics: Dashboards for every designer Iterative Development: Update it every week Design for discovery and distribution Engagement: Why is...
View ArticlePrioritities in social game development
Indiscriminate addition of virtual items also leads to lost monetization opportunities due to the production scheduling. Not all virtual items are created equal. Some monetize better than others due...
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