14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is currently working on redesigning and improving its Game Dashboard, in an attempt to help members to better find, use and monitor their favorite Facebook games. The new project wants to strike a balance between encouraging game developers and pleasing the gamers, while also striving to prevent game advertising from destroying the fun for everyone.
It is already well-known that Facebook got into serious trouble (and several lawsuits too, for that matter) in the past because of scams conducted via its game ads, so it is no surprise that the social network is working on regaining the reputation and popularity it used to have. Also, the company has already announced that it will no longer place game-related 'push notifications' into the notifications channel, thus trying to clean up the network's communication system.
The pressure is definitely high on Facebook in terms of making this redesign right, because this will mean it can increase the applications usage and help developers grow. However, if the change does not go as expected, the social network will be seriously impaired, not only affecting the evolution of game publishers (like Zynga, for example) but also third-parties. In other words, Game Dashboard will have a considerable impact on the ways Facebook uses to generate income.
It seems that the platform manager for games, Gareth Davis, has declared that the design is in full development therefore nothing is finalized, but that everything will be ready for the January 2010 launch. Of course, until the deadline is reached, game developers have to sit back and wait, not knowing what to expect and how it will affect them. Nonetheless, Facebook representatives have assured them that it will be worth the wait and that on the long term it will turn out to be a good investment.
“We are all in the throes of major changes on Facebook now,” Roy Sehgal, general manager at Zynga, said at our recent DiscoveryBeat conference. “They are all going to be great changes because they focus on the user experience. They are going to be great for discovery of apps. They will happen fast. They will force us all how to rethink our games.”