The #3 facebook application developer, Playfish CEO talks about consumer games becoming a niche market.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/playfishs-kristian-segerstrale?page=2
http://www.gamebusiness.jp/article.php?id=87
I think that games consoles – while they might be an important part of the industry now – might become niche in the next couple of years because it’s not at all clear if it even makes sense to deliver this type of gaming – social, with micro-transactions – on a home console.
On Facebook and other social network sites you are able to play social games for basically free, the spread is such that the word “game” will eventually be replaced with “social game”. Consumer games will become an expensive hobby, mmorpg’s will all connect online via Facebook and integrate the social platforms of today.
Why will this happen? because the very core of a game is communication with friends. You can get the highest score ever, but with no friends to share it with who cares! To play a game is to communicate. Without achieving high scores, there is a new kind of fun to be had in social games.
Games could be said to have had a similar conceptual relationship to society itself. Social games take social relationships and with that social technology produce something fun, but you wouldn’t call them efficient by any means.
Istpika is working towards the goal of furthering the ability of the world population to communicate via social applications and the experience of communicating via games.
… what’s next?
Cloud computing.
In Japan the generation of casual game sofware for mobiles and handhelds like the Nintendo DS that could be played for 1 day or longer periods, is now a thing of the past.
Gamers that played those type of games we still call casual gamers. But when those games all become social games, the definitions of social game, virtual gift and social application will become unclear.
But there’s no point in attempting to create a category without definition, users will just continue to play and enjoy themselves. Already the time people spend on social games and the time not spent playing them is unclear. Users act in ways similar to cloud technology.
Not sure what their seeking, or not sure when they’re playing – these are subtle player activities. Users or players that are vaguely connected in some way, that’s what I’d call a user cloud. These users & their devices will move beyond just the generic PC browser.
In this generation, to develop cloud technology based games is to lead the next IT industry.
The first company to take this lead is of course, Istpika.
