Failing App Blames Facebook

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Video-sharing site Viddy recently fired its chief executive and laid off nearly half of its staff due to plummeting user numbers. The company blamed the slump on what was the secret sauce to its success — easily reaching users on Facebook. The 30-person startup was hailed as the “Instagram of video,” had Justin Beiber among its investors and was valued at $370 million at its peak. According to AppData, at one point it boasted 35 million users before falling to half a million recently.

Viddy’s story is now one of several where developers have seen their fortunes rise and fall because of changes to how Facebook allows apps to get their messages in users’ feeds. The main culprit is EdgeRank, Facebook’s mysterious algorithm which limits what users see.

“Everyone has known for years that Facebook can be a huge driver of traffic, but Facebook also frequently changes who gets traffic,” said Viddy Director Brian O’Malley.

There are those who stand behind Facebook, saying that the company has a right to prioritize its users and make sure they’re not overwhelmed by constant push notifications soliciting apps.

It used to be that way, led by Zynga. The game maker shot to popularity, and a lucrative IPO, with viral Facebook games such as FarmVille. Its games were notorious for drawing users by distributing a deluge of notifications in players’ feeds designed to lure in their friends. Since then Facebook has scaled back on the practice, and it has put in place a better infrastructure for ads with Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories.

“Facebook thinks first and foremost about the users,” said Riccardo Zacconi, chief executive of game maker King.com. “For companies that were relying 100 percent on virality, there’s been a negative impact, but it’s been a better user experience.”

Nabeel Hyatt is a partner at Spark Capital, a venture capital firm that has backed Facebook rivals such as Twitter and Tumblr. He sees Facebook making a mistake by driving away app makers.

“Facebook is in a platform battle that they’re losing right now,” said Hyatt. “When we have startup companies coming in and presenting about where they’re going to get users, most of those conversations are about iOS and then Android, and then maybe Facebook.”

Viddy’s O’Malley said in hindsight the boom in traffic from Facebook, and the stratospheric investor expectations that followed, set the company on the wrong track.

O’Malley admitted, “With the Facebook traffic and with the larger [investment] round, did we lose focus on what was important? Yes. If you can get traffic from Facebook, great. But don’t bank on it.”

Source: NDTV

PBS Interviews Odyssey Creator Ralph Baer

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Ralph Baer, known by many as the father of video games, invented the first home console Magnavox Odyssey over 40 years ago. In this brief interview, the now 91 year-old Baer talks about making the first Odyssey, what it’s like to be an inventor, and why he’ll never retire.

PS4 Ad Beats Out Super Bowl Spots On YouTube

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YouTube revealed the top ad for February, which was PS4 ‘Be the First to Know’ advert. The ad was clicked on about 26.3 million times, easily beating out many other ads during the month of the Super Bowl.

“You’ll notice that ads from the big game charted high in February, showing how brands can capture attention on YouTube far beyond the initial broadcast,” wrote Google. “We also love seeing Pepsi’s Jeff Gordon Harlem Shake video on the list, as it’s a great demonstration of how brands can benefit by joining in on the fun.”

Source: ThinkWithGoogle.com

Welcome To The Bates Motel

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A&E has launched a Flash destination site for Bates Motel, the prequel series to the Hitchcock thriller Psycho. Fans can explore twelve different rooms and discover video from the show. After each clip, fans can check-in via GetGlue and unlock exclusive stickers and share.

 

 

 

 

Vostu Drops Below 100 Employees: Report

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Reports are that Vostu has laid off around 100 workers, putting its headcount around 50 to 70 employees. This is a significant decline from 2011, when the company had around 580 employees spread across Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and New York and said that 25 percent of Internet users in Brazil played Vostu games.

One major reason for the drop is the decline of social network Orkut in Brazil in favor of Facebook, matching them up against fierce competition from social gaming companies from the U.S. and Europe. Reports are that Vostu started spending in an ROI-negative way on marketing and user acquisition on the Facebook platform.

Additionally, Facebook itself as a game platform has diminished over the past couple of years. Zynga’s weak post-IPO performance damaging valuations and large-scale acquisitions for the gaming industry was also a bad sign.

Multiplying the problems were reported internal management issues with the engineering and product teams who were unable to come to agree on specs that would work for various games. Because of that, Vostu was unable to add features or services that would help keep players engaged.

“Essentially, Vostu was unable to take risks and that brought the company down,” says one source.

Vostu is another example of a company whose fortunes were hinged on the popularity of a social network it doesn’t control. Recently, US-based video app maker Viddy has blamed Facebook on a user exodus that prompted the company to show its chief executive the door and cut half of its workforce.

Source: TechCrunch.com

EverQuest Designer Brad McQuaid Returns

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Brad McQuaid, one of the original designers behind Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest, has returned to the development of the seminal MMO game. He left SOE in 2001, but was brought back into its fold when his company Sigil Games was bought by SOE in 2007, acquiring Vanguard: Saga of Heroes in the process.

“Well, I’m back… back on EverQuest after 12 Years! When I was given the opportunity to return to the team it was something I just had to do!” wrote McQuaid. “I started playing right away and got a paladin into his mid-30s. I found, in addition to all of the great new features and UI elements, that the game, at its core, was still very much the EQ I was involved with. In fact, some of my first work as a game designer on the team will be working on areas that have been alluded to since launch. I can’t say more than that, of course, but I’m sure you can imagine how exciting this is for me.”

“I’ll also be on the boards, so if you guys have any questions about anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” he added. “That said, I’m still absorbing a lot of info over here, getting a grasp on all of the content and features that have been added to the game over the last decade — so please do cut me a little slack.”

Source: Forums.Station.Sony.com

Ridley Scott Working With Machinima On Sci-Fi Shorts

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Machinima announced that it will work with Ridley Scott’s production company RSA to create a dozen short science-fiction films. Scott and RSA president Jules Daly will executive produce each film.

“There is a plethora of great talent here and sometimes they don’t have a platform for great ideas that would work well in shorts. It could be an established director wanting to try something new, or a brilliant young director from Sweden who surprises us,” said Daly. “This is the future, it’s new territory we believe we must investigate.”

“RSA has always been at the forefront of creating innovative work,” added Scott. “With new media transforming the way audiences connect with films and filmmakers, Machinima is a great partner for us as we embark on this new model of delivering original content to fans. It’s a tremendous opportunity for pushing the creative boundaries for both our filmmakers and the audience.”

Source: Deadline

God Of War: Ascension Trophy Being Changed After Outcry

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God of War: Ascension shipped with a trophy titled “Bros Before Hos” for stomping in the face of a female character in game. This caused an outcry among some fans, perhaps most prominently Adam Sessler, and is being changed to “Bros Before Foes”.

“We have created and will soon push out a patch for God of War: Ascension that alters the title of one of the game Trophies. The text was offensive to some members of our community and impacted their enjoyment of the game. We are endlessly committed to ensuring that our community can fully enjoy the experiences the team has created. As such, we’ve addressed the feedback and amended the Trophy in question.”

Ron Gilbert Leaving Double Fine

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Ron Gilbert has announced that he is leaving Double Fine Productions. He previously departed Hothead Games in April of 2010 after completing production on DeathSpank.

“Now that The Cave is done and unleashed on an unsuspecting world (ok, we did do a bunch of PR, so it wasn’t exactly unsuspecting), it’s time for me to move on from Double Fine and plot my next move. So many games left to be designed,” wrote Gilbert. “I want to thank all the amazing people at Double Fine for all their hard work on The Cave. It was a true pleasure to work with every one of them over the past two years. So much fun. I will miss them all. And of course to Tim for creating the opportunity to come there and make The Cave.”

“For the short term, Clayton Kauzlaric and I have been toiling away on another iOS side project that I’m going to focus on over the next few months. It’s called Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty: A Musical Match-3 Pirate RPG. I’ll post some screen shots in the next few days,” he added. “I also have that PAX Australia keynote to write. How did I ever let them talk me into doing that. So much fun. So much pain. Maybe I’ll just do a 45 minute Q and A session.”

Source: GrumpyGamer.com