When it comes to the distribution of social games, there’s been a limited number of options for developers looking to monetize their efforts. Facebook’s been one of the biggest social game hubs in recent years, but as the social web extends beyond Facebook’s walls, social game developers need options that can keep pace. Adknowledge is extending past Facebook in tandem with current trends, now launching Social2Web for game developers looking to broaden their reach.
What Social2Web does is brings the social experience to games outside of Facebook, bringing all of Adknowledge’s other monetization and marketing perks along with it. Social2Web is a complete, integrated solution with direct payment options and access to Adknowledge’s range of monetization solutions. What really helps Adknowledge drive activity around this new method is its viral elements and incentives, which have faced controversy over the years, but have since settled into a comfortable niche amongst social and mobile game monetization methods.
“Our focus was to bring the important aspects of social games, like the viral components,” says Adknowledge’s Bobby McFarland. “We wanted to bring that back, and we’ve expanded on it. I think that’s what makes it unique. Viral games are viral because they’re social.”
As consumers continue to wander beyond the insulated Facebook environment, so too must social games. Social2Web puts control back into the developers’ hands, letting them leverage Facebook, as well as other social networks, game portals and stand-alone sites. It’s a trend that really began to take shape with the rise of social mobile games, which struggled to bridge the gap between the mobile experience and their established presence on Facebook. “Socializing” the broader web means game developers are no longer dependant on Facebook as a platform, allowing them to grow in a few different directions. Ironic, then, that Adknowledge’s new product was announced at the AllFacebook expo this week.
The trend is going the way of third party marketplaces, where communities can flourish around culture, interests and other points of commonality. With this, you’re able to focus on an audience there, and gain a certain quality of traffic. It’s a cross-platform approach, whether on mobile devices or the web, or a social network, or a gaming portal. The universality of Social2Web, then, becomes the Adknowledge platform itself.
“Publishers are really going to be looking at their own games and how they can grow their business,” McFarland continues. “Publishers really want control over their own destiny, and be able to access users where they can. Social games grew on Facebook, but that shift is happening.”
For Adknowledge, this is also a matter of growing its own business. As a game developer tool, Adknowledge started out with a focus on Facebook games, but always had a sly alternative for working around some of the limitations placed by the social network. An entrant to the mobile realm extended Adknowledge’s capabilities, and with the launch of Social2Web, the underlying platform the company is building out really comes into focus. “We’re in the same spot as the publisher,” McFarland explains. “When you’re focused on Facebook as a source of revenue and users, you’re dependent on Facebook. We’re putting the power back in game publishers.”
[...] So if these small companies are focused on specific groups of gamers, what have those big gaming companies been up to? For one, Zynga is still focused on bringing casual, addictive games, but they are moving more into making their games available in smartphones or tablets first, then releasing on Facebook later. This move suggests that launching mobile apps first rather than a social networking portal is a way for the company to break from their dependence on Facebook, a trend we’re seeing with ad platforms as well. [...]