Social gaming, and Facebook in particular, were hot topics at Game Developers Conference last week. As Ashley Davis said after attending a social gaming presentation, there were a lot of people getting involved in Facebook gaming that you wouldn't expect to see in that arena.
Given Nintendo's own admittance that they make "great content for more casual players", you'd think that they WOULD be a company considering expanding to Facebook. In an interview with Industry Gamers, Reggie does, in fact, admit that he's intrigued by the social gaming space, and that he finds micro-transactions to be 'very interesting', but he says Nintendo has no interest in putting their franchises on Facebook. The problem Nintendo has with putting games on Facebook is that Nintendo doesn't own Facebook.
It's an interesting problem for a first party developer -- Nintendo would almost assuredly do extremely well on Facebook, but as the maker of both a console and a handheld device, they also have to give people incentives to buy their hardware. If people can access their games on another 'platform', they might not bother to buy the next Wii or DS.
What do you think? Would it be more profitable overall for Nintendo to expand out to Facebook, or are they doing the right thing (businesswise, at least) by sticking with their own hardware. What about the concept of Facebook as a gaming platform? I have to admit I'd never thought of it that way before, but given how popular casual gaming has become there, I may have to rethink my definition of platform.
Nintendo Has 'Absolutely No Interest' in Facebook Gaming [Industry Gamers via The Escapist]
Contest:
1:00 PM on 03.19.2010
| 
But for people who think the Internet is a joint venture of Google/Myspace/Twitter/Facebook and Youtube...
How much money has farmville, widely considered to be the most successful facebook game, made?
How much has New Super Mario Bros. Wii made?
Even if they weren't canabalizing their hardware sales with facebook games, I fail to see any profit margin that would motivate nintendo to put its best franchise on facebook. Not when relatively speaking, there is so much more money in making games console releases, and especially not when they are trying to sell so much hardware with their software. Wii Fit and the balance board, Wii Play with the Wiimote, Sports Resort with the motion plus, even Mario Kart wii do not work on facebook.
Right?
And NO, previous purchases can't transfer, you silly human.
I mean, they make plenty already on their own systems. Why would they want to expand into another lucrative market when they already own two?
They just fill a different niche. You would NEVER play them any other time you specifically sat down to play a game, they're there to (at best) amuse you and make work and/or your daily web browsing routine less boring. They work because they're addictive but do not interfere with anything else you're doing or supposed to be doing at that moment. This is not exactly where you'd want Mario & Co. to be.
:O!!! Jonathan Ross never told me he was a journalist, I feel cheated :(.
That said. I think it'd be fine. I don't think there is any indication that social games are decreasing the sales on mainstream games. People don't go to facebook to play games... they go to facebook to facebook, and while they are there they are looking for things to do. I don't think anyone is going to go "Man, fuck Mario Galaxy. I'm gonna play facebook Mario!" Facebook numbers aren't gamer numbers, they are FACEBOOK numbers. People on facebook, doing facebook things. In terms of market demographics, I'd consider the two to be wholly separate with little to no relevant bleedover.
iphone life iPhone Websites