Google, Slide and Zynga vs. Facebook: the Race for Social Mobile Gaming

Now that Google’s acquisition of Slide has been confirmed, it’s obvious that Google is getting more aggressive with its delve into social gaming. Slide has taken advantage of blooming platforms like Facebook’s to carve a social gaming niche — a story not entirely different from Zynga, Google’s other recent social gaming acquisition.

What we find interesting is the missing discussion around the price of the acquisition, though estimates put it under $200 million. Considering the massive amounts that have been poured into Slide (its most recent venture round was valued at $500 million), the Google acquisition looks like quite a bargain.

This acquisition is further befuddled, given the red-hotness of social gaming right now. Perhaps that speaks to Slide’s potential more than its actual success. Social gaming still has a ways to go before its optimally monetized, and Slide is still waiting to stumble across the next big thing. Looking at the official blog post from Google on the Slide acquisition, its social gaming components are only a piece of what Google is really after.

For Google, the web is about people, and we’re working to develop open, transparent and interesting (and fun!) ways to allow our users to take full advantage of how technology can bring them closer to friends and family and provide useful information just for them…

While we don’t have any detailed product plans to share right now, we’re thrilled to welcome Max and his very talented team to Google, and we can’t wait to work together to give people more and better tools to communicate and connect.

More open and social, eh? Perhaps we’ll even see a return of Google’s Open Social project, which initially launched to curb industry takeover by Facebook’s platform. It gained widespread support early on, but faltered as a method of streamlined distribution. Or we may see Slide lose steam as a standalone service, meaning Google’s acquisition was more about the Slide team. John Furrier comments,

Google buying Slide is all about the team or talent acquisition. Google will be a force in the social space and in the new search paradigm around “streams”. Viral is hot and social is about competing with Facebook for Google. Slide is a good deal for Google. I really liked the Slide approach when they were cooking. They were in the viral market before viral marketing was hot. Expect RockYou to be another acquisition by another player. Slide knows social and they know viral. Good for Google to pick up talent that was constantly trying to “pivot” (pivot meaning changing quickly in a dynamic market that require a business model change).

Failure? Yes. Slide failed to build a durable company. Slide has failed to scale with the big funding and big valuation that they had. Clearly, missteps in managing the market forces caught their rock star management team by surprise. Slide had a incredible run when they first started and “looked good off the tee” for their market entrance, but they “shanked” their growth plan. Great example of having too my money and baggage when trying to “pivot.”

And so Google continues padding its other apps for a social avalanche. We’re sure to see other social game acquisitions coming from Google and others over the next few months.

That means Google is finally catching up on the social gaming enthusiasm–it may end up surpassing current trends when it’s all said and done. Facebook and other networks like Hi5 got an early start with social gaming, but Google’s already got its Android platform whenever it’s ready for a mobile push. This is something Apple’s really missed out on as well.

And that mobile push is necessary, especially as virtual markets and their associated currencies grow. Facebook has made its mobile intentions clear, stating its plans around social, mobile gaming. The social network also increased research and development around the Android platform, and has its own virtual Credits. Hi5, on the other hand, has not yet been able to make such a statement regarding its mobile efforts.

Both social gaming platforms, however, still do not have the reach and integration that Google claims, particularly as Google’s Chrome OS, television and other projects broaden access and integration points for brand-consumer relationships. That’s not to say that Google will be the leader when it’s all said and done–the company is notorious for launching a socially-oriented project and having to pull back on it later on. But Google has been relentless in its efforts to make this social thing work. Social games could be a layup.

In the same vein:

• Android’s Google Play Faces Rising Competition from Amazon, Facebook and China
• 500 Startups Gets $50M Round – How You Can Get In on the Fun
• The Cost of Freemium Games: an Economy All Its Own
• Yes, Tagged is Still Around, and They Just Bought Hi5
• Zynga Reschedules Initial Public Offering for Shortly After Thanksgiving
• This Week in Big Data: from Strata Summit to Twitter Storm