The Japan-based mobile social games company wants all of it. That's essentially what the company's founder and CEO, Yoshikazu Tanaka, told TechCrunch during its Disrupt event in Tokyo recently. The GREE chief told TechCrunch that most of the company's revenue comes from its Japanese audience, but that it hopes to follow Nintendo's example in creating a massive global audience.
But Tanaka isn't happy with just following Nintendo, he looks to displace the veteran games maker. He told the news outlet that he wouldn't surprised to see GREE's revenue in the West jump to four to five times of what it is in Asian within the next five years. "We definitely feel positive, and our goal is to make sure our brand is just as successful, if not better than Nintendo."
Nintendo is infamous for its unwillingness to enter the mobile games market through iOS or Android. While the company does plan to release an iOS version of its eShop (the downloadable games store on the 3DS), it simply refuses to create games for mobile phones. This is despite numerous studies suggesting otherwise and even investors clamoring for Nintendo games on iPhone.
Nintendo did, however, manage to sell more 3DS consoles in its first eight months on the market than the original DS system sold in one year. Perhaps there's still interest in a handheld device dedicated to gaming, but you could also chalk these immense sales up to the devices' price cut over the summer and a terribly strong Black Friday. Regardless, the mobile gaming world is after Nintendo, which leaves us wondering whether its stern strategy can withstand the onslaught.
Could GREE eventually overtake Nintendo through its mobile social games network? Can Nintendo continue to dominate the mobile gaming space with its current strategy?
Showing posts with label mobile gaming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mobile gaming. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Dream Zoo on iOS: Ever wanted a polka dotted zebra? Make your own
Remember that scene from Adam Sandler's Billy Madison? We can't help but believe that Dream Zoo, Zynga's next big game for iPhone and iPad, was inspired by just that. Following Hanging With Friends, it looks like Dream Zoo is the second mobile game from the developer based on an original property (and the second game from the developer this week alone).
The game stays true to many of social gaming's tropes--managing a property, visiting friends to help out and taking on goals to advance--but throws in a few twists along the way that capitalize on the advantages of mobile. But for starters, your job in Dream Zoo is to turn a lowly zoo into the animal observatory of, well, your dreams. You do this mainly through breeding. It sounds weird, but this isn't National Geographic stuff we're talkin' here. (It's meant to be cute, which is certainly accomplished.)
Based on a preview courtesy of Zynga Mobile GM Sean Kelly, you're initially given a single, common gazelle. You can feed and wash this majestic creature, but more on that later. For now, you must breed it with another gazelle to move on. Doing so sends a stork your way (we did say it was cute) and, after a predetermined time that likely grows with new animal species, a more rare and valuable offspring appears. Repeatedly breeding the same species will eventually lead players to Champion Animals, the ones with all the pretty colors and patterns.
Gallery: Dream Zoo on iPhone
While there's plenty more to see in Dream Zoo, this is essentially the meat and potatoes of the game: the ability to make animals that you'd never see anywhere in the world. And, according to Kelly, Zynga Mobile spent a lot of time and effort to make sure that each and every animal in the game has its own animations and personality. The animals look and act like they want to be interacted with.
"There are lots of really cool interactions that the animals have. We did a lot to really make the animals interact with the environment, Kelly gushes to us. "The way that you interact with them on the device--touching them, by swiping to wash them or feed them is really a compelling experience for mobile users. Each animal will have a really distinct look and actually interact with each other. They'll explore the environment and sort of hang out together to provide a much deeper relationship that you have with your animals than in a lot of the other zoo games. You can see that [the animals] are really very expressive."
Dream Zoo on iPhone
As you master animals and follow the game's goals, you'll earn access to new species. But you'll also need to keep the animals you have already in tip top shape. Players can feed and wash their (and their friends') animals with two separate mini games. The former has players pressing a button in time for a feeding bonus, which gets progressively more difficult the better players do. The latter simply allows players to scrub their animals with their finger for a cleanly bonus. Kelly tells us that more skill-based mini games are in the works to mix things up.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Zynga game without help from friends, but Dream Zoo handles this a bit differently. While you can add friends and post News Feeds via Facebook Connect, every player is assigned a Zoo Code. Players can enlist any Dream Zoo player to be their friend through this feature without any contact information. This feature alone makes the game plenty more kid-friendly than most social games, which should make parents happy. But Dream Zoo also brings something new to Zynga games: location-based gameplay.
Dream Zoo Feeding
This game touts a check-in feature that allows players, based on their location, to gain access to new items and exclusive animals. However, it's a luck-based affair, a slot machine representative of a safari that teases players with the ultimate dare: "You won't do it." Every spin of the wheel has the chance to produce a flat tire, forfeiting your winnings if you're unwilling to pay up the coins to fix it. Sometimes, it's actually worth it to pay up and move on, but that's for you to decide.
All things considered (and based on an early look), Dream Zoo looks like more of the same from Zynga in that it's another property management game. However, it's clear that Zynga Mobile did much to make that experience a tad more compelling with cutely animated and interactive animals and features like the safari. Like all Zynga games, Dream Zoo is free to play on both iPhone and iPad, and an Android version is in the works.
Click here to download Dream Zoo on iPhone or iPad for free on the App Store Now >
Are you a fan of Zynga's mobile games so far? Where do you play your social games more often: on your phone/tablet or on Facebook?
The game stays true to many of social gaming's tropes--managing a property, visiting friends to help out and taking on goals to advance--but throws in a few twists along the way that capitalize on the advantages of mobile. But for starters, your job in Dream Zoo is to turn a lowly zoo into the animal observatory of, well, your dreams. You do this mainly through breeding. It sounds weird, but this isn't National Geographic stuff we're talkin' here. (It's meant to be cute, which is certainly accomplished.)
Based on a preview courtesy of Zynga Mobile GM Sean Kelly, you're initially given a single, common gazelle. You can feed and wash this majestic creature, but more on that later. For now, you must breed it with another gazelle to move on. Doing so sends a stork your way (we did say it was cute) and, after a predetermined time that likely grows with new animal species, a more rare and valuable offspring appears. Repeatedly breeding the same species will eventually lead players to Champion Animals, the ones with all the pretty colors and patterns.
Gallery: Dream Zoo on iPhone
While there's plenty more to see in Dream Zoo, this is essentially the meat and potatoes of the game: the ability to make animals that you'd never see anywhere in the world. And, according to Kelly, Zynga Mobile spent a lot of time and effort to make sure that each and every animal in the game has its own animations and personality. The animals look and act like they want to be interacted with.
"There are lots of really cool interactions that the animals have. We did a lot to really make the animals interact with the environment, Kelly gushes to us. "The way that you interact with them on the device--touching them, by swiping to wash them or feed them is really a compelling experience for mobile users. Each animal will have a really distinct look and actually interact with each other. They'll explore the environment and sort of hang out together to provide a much deeper relationship that you have with your animals than in a lot of the other zoo games. You can see that [the animals] are really very expressive."
Dream Zoo on iPhone
As you master animals and follow the game's goals, you'll earn access to new species. But you'll also need to keep the animals you have already in tip top shape. Players can feed and wash their (and their friends') animals with two separate mini games. The former has players pressing a button in time for a feeding bonus, which gets progressively more difficult the better players do. The latter simply allows players to scrub their animals with their finger for a cleanly bonus. Kelly tells us that more skill-based mini games are in the works to mix things up.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Zynga game without help from friends, but Dream Zoo handles this a bit differently. While you can add friends and post News Feeds via Facebook Connect, every player is assigned a Zoo Code. Players can enlist any Dream Zoo player to be their friend through this feature without any contact information. This feature alone makes the game plenty more kid-friendly than most social games, which should make parents happy. But Dream Zoo also brings something new to Zynga games: location-based gameplay.
Dream Zoo Feeding
This game touts a check-in feature that allows players, based on their location, to gain access to new items and exclusive animals. However, it's a luck-based affair, a slot machine representative of a safari that teases players with the ultimate dare: "You won't do it." Every spin of the wheel has the chance to produce a flat tire, forfeiting your winnings if you're unwilling to pay up the coins to fix it. Sometimes, it's actually worth it to pay up and move on, but that's for you to decide.
All things considered (and based on an early look), Dream Zoo looks like more of the same from Zynga in that it's another property management game. However, it's clear that Zynga Mobile did much to make that experience a tad more compelling with cutely animated and interactive animals and features like the safari. Like all Zynga games, Dream Zoo is free to play on both iPhone and iPad, and an Android version is in the works.
Click here to download Dream Zoo on iPhone or iPad for free on the App Store Now >
Are you a fan of Zynga's mobile games so far? Where do you play your social games more often: on your phone/tablet or on Facebook?
With 11.1 million daily players, it's clear why Zynga is down with mobile
Zynga Mobile David Ko
CityVille creator Zynga has released 10 games across iOS and Android devices this year alone. (And that includes two varieties of CityVille and Words With Friends.) We all know that mobile is the future of gaming--and blah, blah, blah--but we still wondered why exactly Zynga has pushed mobile so hard. Well, how about the fact that it's drawn 11.1 million daily players?
That figure was revealed in the company's recently-amended filing with the US Security and Exchanges Commission, according to Inside Mobile Apps. This new number, which includes all Zynga games on mobile devices, marks pretty significant growth considering the developer had 9.9 million daily players last quarter ending September. According to IMA, Zynga's most lucrative games are still Zynga Poker and Words With Friends, but we'll chalk this growth up to the three HTML5 games the company released last month.
And while this number is certainly impressive, it's still a distant second to Rovio's Angry Birds, which is said to tout 30 million daily players across all mobile devices. It's no wonder rumors are spreading that Zynga has taken a liking to the Finnish game developer entertainment company. Just this week alone, Zynga has released CityVille Holidaytown and Dream Zoo, so you can likely expect the same crazy pace going into 2012.
[Via Columbus Examiner]
[Image Credit: Zynga]
Which of Zynga's mobile games are your favorite? Do you play more social games on your mobile device or on your computer?
CityVille creator Zynga has released 10 games across iOS and Android devices this year alone. (And that includes two varieties of CityVille and Words With Friends.) We all know that mobile is the future of gaming--and blah, blah, blah--but we still wondered why exactly Zynga has pushed mobile so hard. Well, how about the fact that it's drawn 11.1 million daily players?
That figure was revealed in the company's recently-amended filing with the US Security and Exchanges Commission, according to Inside Mobile Apps. This new number, which includes all Zynga games on mobile devices, marks pretty significant growth considering the developer had 9.9 million daily players last quarter ending September. According to IMA, Zynga's most lucrative games are still Zynga Poker and Words With Friends, but we'll chalk this growth up to the three HTML5 games the company released last month.
And while this number is certainly impressive, it's still a distant second to Rovio's Angry Birds, which is said to tout 30 million daily players across all mobile devices. It's no wonder rumors are spreading that Zynga has taken a liking to the Finnish game developer entertainment company. Just this week alone, Zynga has released CityVille Holidaytown and Dream Zoo, so you can likely expect the same crazy pace going into 2012.
[Via Columbus Examiner]
[Image Credit: Zynga]
Which of Zynga's mobile games are your favorite? Do you play more social games on your mobile device or on your computer?
Monday, September 26, 2011
CrowdStar, others dock in Sibblingz Spaceport for mobile social games
If we haven't driven home yet that mobile will be massive in the future of social games, we clearly haven't done our job. Luckily, news like the fact that Sibblingz has signed on It Girl creator CrowdStar and a number of other developers to use its Spaceport service helps us make good on that.
TechCrunch reports that--in addition to CrowdStar--BitRhymes, IKIGames, LuckyLabs, Fortune Planet and DeezGames have signed on to use Spaceport to create mobile versions of their Facebook games. Spaceport is Sibblingz's cloud-based game development platform that allows developers like CrowdStar to create mobile games that work on both iOS and Android devices.
Essentially, it allows developers to create a mobile game once and have it run on multiple mobile devices. The platform makes use of coding languages like Javascript and HTML5, but neither of which are known for making robust or fully-featured games on iPhones or Android phones. However, Sibblingz claims that games built on Spaceport feature an app-like experience.
What Sibblingz means is that, while these games are built using simpler code languages, they will perform like, say CityVille Hometown by Zynga. That game was built using tools specifically for iOS devices and is thus more visually impressive and feature-rich than mobile browser games. However, according to TechCrunch, developers can even create games specifically for iPhones and iPads through Spaceport.
Sibblingz also says that developers can make games for Facebook's worst-kept secret, Project Spartan--an initiative to bring Facebook to mobile devices through browsers using HTML5 complete with full-featured apps and games--through Spaceport. Jeez, on paper it sounds like Spaceport can do anything but make the cash flow.
Regardless, what's important to take away here is that social game developers realize that mobile is where it's at. Frankly, it's one area where clear winners have yet to be defined, much unlike Facebook (ahem, Zynga and EA). At this point, anyone could come out a winner on mobile, and perhaps the companies that embrace cross-platform game creation like CrowdStar will have the upper hand.
Do you think these developers have a chance at winning the mobile race these social game creators are running with Spaceport? Who do you think will ultimately win the mobile social gaming war? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
TechCrunch reports that--in addition to CrowdStar--BitRhymes, IKIGames, LuckyLabs, Fortune Planet and DeezGames have signed on to use Spaceport to create mobile versions of their Facebook games. Spaceport is Sibblingz's cloud-based game development platform that allows developers like CrowdStar to create mobile games that work on both iOS and Android devices.
Essentially, it allows developers to create a mobile game once and have it run on multiple mobile devices. The platform makes use of coding languages like Javascript and HTML5, but neither of which are known for making robust or fully-featured games on iPhones or Android phones. However, Sibblingz claims that games built on Spaceport feature an app-like experience.
What Sibblingz means is that, while these games are built using simpler code languages, they will perform like, say CityVille Hometown by Zynga. That game was built using tools specifically for iOS devices and is thus more visually impressive and feature-rich than mobile browser games. However, according to TechCrunch, developers can even create games specifically for iPhones and iPads through Spaceport.
Sibblingz also says that developers can make games for Facebook's worst-kept secret, Project Spartan--an initiative to bring Facebook to mobile devices through browsers using HTML5 complete with full-featured apps and games--through Spaceport. Jeez, on paper it sounds like Spaceport can do anything but make the cash flow.
Regardless, what's important to take away here is that social game developers realize that mobile is where it's at. Frankly, it's one area where clear winners have yet to be defined, much unlike Facebook (ahem, Zynga and EA). At this point, anyone could come out a winner on mobile, and perhaps the companies that embrace cross-platform game creation like CrowdStar will have the upper hand.
Do you think these developers have a chance at winning the mobile race these social game creators are running with Spaceport? Who do you think will ultimately win the mobile social gaming war? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
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