Facebook: publishers pushing boundaries

_{As social games become more and more accepted, and the base continues to grow and grow, I decided it was time to start asking some Facebook developers about the platform. This is the first article in a weeklong series that examines multiple angles: the division between social and hardcore, big publisher invasion, the necessity of notifications, and social games’ future.}

A studio or a publisher, much like a writer, needs to ask an important question when starting work on an empty slate: who is the intended audience?

Another chin-scratcher to consider is platform. Does this pedestal, console, or blog seem like a good place to deliver to the intended audience?

Publishers are eager to jump into the Facebook pool, which might or might not have its fair share of turds floating around. But one thing is certain: its water is green with cash and it’s filled with users.

Earlier last year Electronic Arts made big waves by acquiring Playfish, a dedicated Facebook developer, for 300 million dollars. It signaled that the publisher was serious about the platform and perhaps not so concerned with shovelware of the Dante’s Inferno social Web game variety.

In 2009 we also saw Ubisoft release its first Facebook game, a traditional social Web game called TickTock. Hallow like the “o” in boring, it didn’t dazzle. But it showed that the publisher was serious about the platform in some regard.

Earlier this week I discussed the divide between social Web games and “core” games like Heavy Rain. There’s another, much smaller gap present. It’s between developers who are familiar with the social games versus those who aren’t — EA vs. Zynga, Ubisoft vs. 3G Studios.

Here’s a fundamental question I had when thinking about this topic: is big publisher targeting of the platform a good thing?

“Absolutely,” Zynga’s FarmVille VP and GM Bill Mooney tells me, “the more traditional publishers enter the market of social gaming, the more the segment will grow. More companies and games, means more choices there will be to suit the varied tastes of consumers worldwide. 

“That said, we feel very good about companies already in the social games space — our talent, some of which comes from traditional games, compares favorably.”

Nintendo must feel the same way about their position with the Wii. The publisher’s games are perfectly suited for the platform. It’s odd to consider that Nintendo competes against third-party studios on its platform, but it does. And it often wins.

“With a nascent market sector, participation of the industry’s biggest companies is generally a good thing in terms of legitimizing the space and pushing its boundaries,” PopCap duo, John Vechey and Jon ‘JD’ David, two co-creators of Facebook App Bejeweled Blitz tell me via e-mail.

“Look at casual games; the arrival of Nintendo’s Wii and the efforts by EA and other big publishers increased awareness of the casual sector tremendously, without wiping out the smaller firms that make up the majority of the casual games market.

“But just as with the casual sector, large traditional publishers need to understand the space and conform their offerings accordingly, rather than trying to make the space conform to their offerings. So while you’ll probably never play Madden directly on Facebook the way you might play a head-to-head match on PC or console, a ‘general manager’-level mode or Madden-based fantasy league might do very well on social networks and in fact introduce a large new audience to what has traditionally been a very ‘core’ sports sim.”

An understanding of the audience and platform is as critical as developing a good game. Bigger, traditional publishers just breaking in to Facebook might not get it all down pat immediately. Growing pains.

 “Like I said,” 3G Studio’s CEO Kosta says to me, “the general public gets it so all you should have to do it dumb down your franchises a bit and you’re good to go, right? Wrong!”

“The catch is that the general public is used to not paying for entertainment. If you’re a product person and don’t understand service-based business models you’re sunk in this market. There are Web and Media companies that will eat your lunch because, again, the game is the easy part.”

“EA made an interesting move buying Playfish and I’m eager to see if the box-product and service-oriented cultures can be merged. Most publishers will just integrate Facebook feeds into their products and move on while companies like Zynga and Playdom that can monetize ‘free’ services will thrive. Wal-mart gets a lot of foot traffic and they spend millions analyzing it and driving shoppers through the store like cattle. If you’re a developer ready to jump in and you don’t understand traffic monetization, then ‘Here be monsters.’ “

It’s a give and take mentality, coupled with a deep knowledge of the platform and its audience that has allowed some companies to thrive via Facebook.

One could argue that its games are simple because of the tech. Turns out it’s the people who are keeping the tech in line.

“The social web is still in its infancy and will continue to develop and evolve over the next several years. Zynga is and always will be focused on developing fun, engaging games,” Zynga’s Mooney told me.”

“While Zynga games offer a very social experience already, social gaming needs to be more about real user interaction and communication inside the game. One of the challenges in FarmVille is in-game communication — but people talk about it at bars, in dorms, on Facebook, and everywhere else.  We will be implementing new features that encourage more in-game communication this year.

“Ultimately, the most exciting and challenging thing that social games are a new kind of game – we know that the social experience fundamentally changes how gamers behave and everyone is still figuring out what provides the best experience for our audience.”

“Developing for the general public is just a different beast altogether,” 3G’s Kosta said in our e-mail interview. “It takes a Web 2.0 mentality and your whole dev-team has to be onboard. Mark Pinkus, the founder of Zynga has said it best: Plan to one hundred percent, execute to forty percent. Deploy, measure, adjust, repeat. Zynga analyzes metrics, adjusts their games and redeploys in hours, not years.”

But some developers haven’t hit a wall. In fact, the platform has provided an outlet to do something new and unique for PopCap.

“The one thing that’s historically been lacking from our games is multiplayer, and Facebook gives us a fantastic environment in which to add multiplayer elements — some social, some competitive, some a combination of both — to games that we believe people have always wanted to play with others but just haven’t been able to in the past,” the PopCap duo told me.

Facebook isn’t going anywhere, and more users are playing FarmVille right now than there are members of Twitter. We’re not eager to see the stumbles, but we are excited to see the results of the successes.