14 DAY TRIAL // One of the big stories of 2009, which is sure to also develop this year, is the rise of so-called social games, mostly played through Facebook. The biggest developer of such titles, Zynga, is currently saying that there are 235 million people playing its games at the moment, while the second placed player in the market, Playfish, was picked up by Electronic Arts for the sum of 300 million dollars and is working on a big franchise on behalf of its new owner.
Brian Reynolds, the chief videogame designer working for Zynga, told the audience at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas that the success of titles like FarmVille and Mafia Wars is linked to the way they manage to draw inspiration from the real world and translate that into virtual space.
Reynolds said that “We make the link between virtual goods and real world social relationships, and if you don't understand that, you're not going to succeed in social games,” adding that “We built FarmVille in five weeks with 15-20 people – the catch is you have to keep it alive... you've got to keep people interested. People want the new stuff, and they want it now, and it better be there.”
Zynga's strategy is built around the concept of “Reach, Retention, and Revenue.” The studio’s releases initially aim to attract as many players as possible and get them to recruit their friends and social platform buddies. Then the teams focus on keeping them interested with new content and with mechanics. The last step is actually monetizing the games and getting a section of the players to pay for a premium aspect of the title they are engaged in.
Reynolds, currently the main creative mind at Zynga, is best known for working at Firaxis and Microprose and providing the design for Civilization IV and Alpha Centauri, some of the best turn-based strategy experiences ever released.