For a community that revolves around gaming, it's a bit surprising we've never really discussed mobile or social gaming. Given the market's increasing presence, I think some attention is well overdue.
VentureBeat referred to the shift we're experiencing of gaming companies' investment into the mobile sphere as the "Crossover Era" in a June 2012 article, specifically referencing companies such as Zynga, Electronic Arts, and Activision. Other big names in mobile include Rovio, Gree, Kabam, and Supercell, although the list is rapidly growing (hell, even Warner Bros. is getting in on the action). In fact, mobile and tablet ventures accounted for over 80% of value of game industry investments in Q1 of this year according to the appropriately titled VentureBeat article Mobile Dominates New Game Sector Investments in Q1.
So my fellow game enthusiasts, what social and mobile games have you played? What are you playing now?
Here's the list of Facebook's Top 25 Best-Rated Games of 2012. I'd like to call out two of the titles on that list, which happen to be the two mobile games produced by a company called Supercell. If you haven't already heard about them elsewhere, you will soon.
With that, I'd like to present to you Clash of Clans and Hay Day, my two newest mobile obsessions.
Did I mention these two games alone have been generating Supercell over $1M a day since early January? If you ever questioned the market opportunity of mobile gaming, I think that speaks pretty clearly to what's inspiring so many companies and investors to dump so much money into mobile over the last year or two.
Hay Day is a farm simulator with a semi-open economy. Clash of Clans is a community PvP-style game. From a game design perspective, both are brilliant. I'll keep myself from diving too deeply into them outside a dedicated thread, but check out the launch video for Clash of Clans below.
VentureBeat referred to the shift we're experiencing of gaming companies' investment into the mobile sphere as the "Crossover Era" in a June 2012 article, specifically referencing companies such as Zynga, Electronic Arts, and Activision. Other big names in mobile include Rovio, Gree, Kabam, and Supercell, although the list is rapidly growing (hell, even Warner Bros. is getting in on the action). In fact, mobile and tablet ventures accounted for over 80% of value of game industry investments in Q1 of this year according to the appropriately titled VentureBeat article Mobile Dominates New Game Sector Investments in Q1.
So my fellow game enthusiasts, what social and mobile games have you played? What are you playing now?
Here's the list of Facebook's Top 25 Best-Rated Games of 2012. I'd like to call out two of the titles on that list, which happen to be the two mobile games produced by a company called Supercell. If you haven't already heard about them elsewhere, you will soon.
With that, I'd like to present to you Clash of Clans and Hay Day, my two newest mobile obsessions.
Did I mention these two games alone have been generating Supercell over $1M a day since early January? If you ever questioned the market opportunity of mobile gaming, I think that speaks pretty clearly to what's inspiring so many companies and investors to dump so much money into mobile over the last year or two.
Hay Day is a farm simulator with a semi-open economy. Clash of Clans is a community PvP-style game. From a game design perspective, both are brilliant. I'll keep myself from diving too deeply into them outside a dedicated thread, but check out the launch video for Clash of Clans below.
I always go to the free ones.