In-Game Ads Changed Gaming Perceptions, Says IGA’s Former VP

BY

Video gaming has had a long, hard road in convincing mainstream press and non-gamers of its own maturity, and while it is still an ongoing process, the industry has made great strides. According to Ed Bartlett, the former European VP of IGA Worldwide, it’s in-game advertising companies that are largely responsible for this.

“Aside from the tens of millions of dollars of new revenue it’s brought into the industry, I think that collectively the in-game advertising companies have done a huge amount, possibly more than anyone else in fact, to challenge media misconceptions about gamers and the games industry,” said Bartlett. “That assertion might cause a few raised eyebrows, but the fact is that the success of the entire in-game advertising industry hinged upon convincing the world’s leading consumer brands that the gaming demographic was no longer made up of 12 year-old boys in their bedrooms.”

“Part of the strategy for that was also educating the press across multiple categories, and getting them to write positively about the industry. Between IGA, Massive and Double Fusion we pretty much turned that perception on its head in a remarkably short space of time, which has ultimately led to much broader and more even-handed coverage of the industry as a whole, he added. Probably my biggest single frustration is how few industry people even know or recognize that.

With the scope of gaming now covering free-to-play, social, and casual games, along with the still viable traditional retail publishing market, Bartlett thinks there’s still a place for in-game ads. “I think there is scope for some interesting stuff around transactions, particularly as game’s transition to a more service-based model. Brands could help subsidize costs and services, which would be received very positively by gamers, said Bartlett. “The industry is much more stable now. There is a standardized common currency for advertisers and agencies, a good understanding from developers and publishers on what is required regarding inventory generation in their games, and the market continues to make headlines and break records which gives brands confidence that they are involved with something which has longevity and reflects positively on their products.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Zynga CEO Wants To ‘Verb’ Company

BY

Zynga has about 1,300 employees globally and is believed to be worth somewhere in the range of $5.5 billion. However, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus indicates that the Facebook gaming company is more likely to go public than be bought out.

“Zynga is not for sale. That is not my goal. I want to build an international treasure; an entity which lasts in people’s live for a long time,” said Pincus. “I cannot say Zynga will never be up for sale but we are more likely to IPO [go public] rather than be sold. Being sold is not my ambition. Going public makes it easier for investors to monetize your product.”

With over 60 million players worldwide, Pincus has big ambitions. “I want Zynga to be become to a verb, like to Google has,” said Pincus. “I want people to Zynga each other and for the word to become completely aligned with gaming.”

Source: The Telegraph

Oddworld Inhabitants Get Focused On Digital Download, F2P, Social

BY

Oddworld Inhabitants founder Lorne Lanning recently talked about how he felt toyed around with by Microsoft, EA, and then Majesco. This caused The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot to be canceled in mid development in 2005.

“We found that if the publishers don’t own your IP, they don t have any incentive to push your game”, Lanning explained. “Publishers use your own company against you because they know that you have a burn rate. They know that this is your family of kids that you need to feed every month. So if they make a deal with you, then they realize, ‘Oh, you know what? We should have done this thing in that deal, too,’ They might start playing games with you. And then you find that your check is not showing up because they want to renegotiate.”

However, their experience on Steam has been wholly positive, and digital distribution seems to be where Oddworld Inhabitants will focus their attention from now on. “We have a lot of interest in seeing how the digital distribution mechanism really works,” said Lanning. “I’ve got to tell you, we were blown away. For the first time, we re able to tell where our sales were coming from, how many dollars we were making per day. We never got to know who our customer was before.”

“We’re looking more at where social gaming and networking is colliding. We’re looking more at free-to-play item sales rather than $60 of product”, Lanning added. “I believe the future of gaming is going to be based more on usage it s more like our electrical bill. If I give gamers something that’s free to play, they can get engaged that’s like the free demo, right? But if they want to get more engaged, then they start micro-paying, so they might find after $10 into the experience, they’ve gotten plenty, and that was enough and that was fine.”

“Our focus is not to build big, long story games. So the idea of building another Stranger, for us personally, is not even on our radar. It’s a whole different chemistry coming. And that’s what we’re interested in,” concluded Lanning.

Source: GameInformer.com

Pocket God Gets Idol On Facebook

BY

Frima Studio has confirmed that they will port Pocket God to Facebook. They will work with developer Bolt Creative to bring the three million selling iPhone game to the social network, with episodic updates planned.

There were very few partners who could truly understand the essence of what Pocket God has become to its legion of devoted fans, said Dave Castelnuovo, CEO of Bolt Creative. Frima knew exactly what needed to be done in order to take Pocket God from being an application for millions of individuals, to a shared experience for hundreds of millions more.

Working in the Facebook space, we simply could not have asked for a more exciting and irreverent franchise so perfectly suited for the world of social gaming, said Steve Couture, CEO of Frima Studio. What Bolt has created has become more than just a game or an application; Pocket God is a true pop culture phenomenon with millions of fans across the globe. Everything fans have grown to love about this game and its characters has been happily fed to the sharks and tossed into the volcano, only to be resurrected onto Facebook in a way that fans are truly going to love.

[a]list Summit Video: Who Is Sharing Your Content?

BY

Social networking is an important part of any advertising campaign, but who is sharing your content is almost as important as what the content is. In this session from the summer’s [a]list summit, Greg Short, President & CEO of Eedar, and Tae Kim Manager of Brand Strategy & Planning for Meteor Solutions, talk about social trends.

Oprah: IPad Is ‘Number One Favorite Thing Ever’

BY

Oprah announces her annual Favorite Things for the holiday season, giving a boost to whatever she mentions. Apple is the big winner this year, and the talk show host named the iPad the number one favorite thing ever.

After gifting everyone in her audience an iPad, Oprah said that Scrabble is her favorite app. She absolutely gushed for the device and said words cannot describe how I feel for this device.

Other Favorite Things include Netflix, a Sony 3-D television, a Sony Blu-Ray Player and a Kiva-Groupon partnership. Microsoft s Bing also came up, with the audience getting gift cards to donate money with.

Source: TechCrunch.com

D2D Giveaways For Holiday 2010

BY

IGN today announced their new downloadable promotion called “D2D Gives Back 2010. From now until the end of the year, one-in-five credit card customers will receive their download order free via Direct2Drive.

“We know better than anyone that gamers are already looking far and wide for the best deals on games this holiday season,” said Julie Uhrman, GM/VP, Digital Distribution, IGN Entertainment, Inc. “To meet that demand, we’re excited to announce two new cost-saving programs: ‘Lowest Price Match Guarantee’ and our ‘D2D Gives Back’ initiative, which marks a first-of-its-kind event, not only for D2D, but for the entire digital game download industry.”

Also, starting on Monday, November 29, Direct2Drive is launching Weekly Publisher Promotions, featuring a new exclusive partner sale each week and over 50 games every week until January. To find out more, please visit http://www.direct2drive.com/d2d-gives-back-2010/.

Zynga Settles With Playdom

BY

Zynga today settled their long running litigation with Playdom, stemming from the former accusing the latter of theft of trade secrets and false advertising. The suit is settled and no terms of the agreement were disclosed.

“Zynga is extremely pleased with the final resolution of its trade secret suit against Playdom and various individuals, said Zynga general counsel Reggie Davis. The settlement reflects the very serious nature of the conduct involved, as reflected by the preliminary injunction, restraining orders, and contempt order issued by the Santa Clara Superior Court. We have great respect for Disney and are thankful that following its acquisition of Playdom, Disney resolved the matter to our satisfaction.