Indie Game developers Dominate iOS and Android!

The video gaming industry has been ruled by big brands and established IP from a few major game publishers and developers such as Electronic Arts, Activision, Ubisoft, THQ and others. High production, marketing and distribution costs created formidable barriers to entry for the long tail companies. High retail price points created risk for consumers to try new titles with which they were not familiar. For these reasons, brands published by larger companies dominated the landscape.

Flurry separated game sessions between indie game developers who started their businesses on iOS and Android versus established gaming companies who extended to iOS and Android from other platforms. Starting from the left, in 2010, we see that about 60% of all mobile game sessions occurred in games built by independent studios. In 2011, this figure declined slightly to 56% primarily due to a wave of consolidation by established game companies who acquired independent studios (e.g., EA acquiring Chillingo, Zynga acquiring Newtoy, DeNA acquiring Ngmoco and Gameview, etc.). However, in 2012, another larger wave independent companies appeared to emerge, overwhelming established companies once again, pushing indie game session share to 68%.

With Apple and Google entering the ecosystem, the rules of competition have changed dramatically, arguably creating the most open, egalitarian market in the history of video games. Flurry first wrote about this phenomenon in 2009 in a series entitled The Rise of the Middle Class. While we would have expected indie game developers to fare better early on in the history of iOS and Android mobile app platforms, it’s remarkable that their dominance has grown over the last several years, with no signs of slowing. Even when traditional, established game companies have attempted to buy a stronger position on iOS and Android through acquisition, the reduced importance of brand power in mobile app gaming allows indie developers to continue to innovate and capture increasing consumer mind share.

In the new smartphone app economy, Apple and Google have truly empowered indies to thrive. And among indies, game developers are thriving the most.

Mobile is for gaming, now it’s a fact!

In the first 2 months of 2012, Flurry measured that more than half of all end user sessions were spent in games. Across January and February, Flurry observed sessions across a sample of more than 64 billion applications sessions across more than 500 million iOS and Android devices.

Shooting birds is probably one of your next hobbies!

We’re excited to announce that Crazy Birdies by Love Handle developers have joined PlayerDuel for iOS.

The Crazy Birdies need some getting together! Time is running out and you need to put the birds back in their place!

* Hit and get same-colored birds together, making them disappear.
* The right panel will show you how many are left.
* The objective is to clear the birds before you run out of time.
* Now, go get those crazy birdies back in their place!

Crazy Birdies now features a new challenge mode that is powered by PlayerDuel. 

Download Crazy Birdies (iPhone) here!

Developers: Love Handle developers have integrated the PlayerDuel mobile SDK, giving players the ability to compete against friends and other players from around the world to beat the scores that you set. You can also share competition results, get statistic info and earn virtual coins by winning competitions!

Integrate the PlayerDuel SDK into your game and you will be a part of the largest social competition network for mobile games and have an opportunity to be featured in the PlayerDuel blog. You can start the integration process here.

Love your friends? Turn them into puzzle game, turn them into Friendzy!

We’re excited to announce that Friendzy by Ricardo Santos has joined PlayerDuel for IOS.

Bringing the famous Tet-style block dropping with a new twist - the blocks are your friends! Stack them quickly and carefully, connect 4 or more to clear them.

Easy to get the hang of, you will need a quick mind and quicker reflexes to become the puzzle master.

Friendzy now features a new Challenge mode which supports the competition platform PlayerDuel. Through PlayerDuel, you can challenge friends and other players from around the world to beat the scores that you set. You can also share competition results, get statistic info and earn virtual coins by winning competitions!

Download Friendzy (iPhone) here!

Developers: Ricardo Santos has integrated the PlayerDuel mobile SDK, giving players the ability to compete against friends and other players from around the world to beat the scores that you set. You can also share competition results, get statistic info and earn virtual coins by winning competitions!

Integrate the PlayerDuel SDK into your game and you will be a part of the largest social competition network for mobile games and have an opportunity to be featured in the PlayerDuel blog. You can start the integration process here.

Leaderboards are so 2010, the future is competitions!

As a player, the first time that I saw my score in a game was ranked 47 in the world I felt like winning a gold medal. I bragged about it in front of all of my friends. It was a good time for my ego.

Why Leaderboards was so important in the past:

For the competitive player, chasing to the top of leaderboards is often a big part of a competitive game. The sense of being able to compare your skill to the best, or even strive to be the best is often a big incentive to race countless laps. The joy of hitting the top 10 or even the first spot, where there are tens or even hundreds of thousands of other players. There is something special in gaining such an achievement.

Today, the leaderboards have results that are impossible to break and this takes the fun out of it. Players liked the leaderboard idea just because they could be on top and could brag. Now the high scores on those leaderboards are unreachable!
It’s not fun anymore!

Why competition will replace the leaderboards:

The urge to compete is a part of human nature. The most important thing, when it comes to competing, is who emerges victorious. Winning is everything. In one game anything can happen, even Manchester united can lose to Newcastle (Wednesday 4 January 2012).

Download PlayerDuel’s SDK, it takes less than 10 minutes to integrate. This will instantly add a competitive layer to your game!

Are you thirsty? Make yourself a tasty smoothie – If you can

We’re excited to announce that Blender Express by happy day games has joined PlayerDuel for iOS.

MIX, MATCH, AND CATCH DELICIOUS FRUIT FOR A TASTY SMOOTHIE AND BE REWARDED WITH A REAL LIFE RECIPE  

Choose from gorgeous retina display themes, where you’ll have to catch falling fruit with your specialized blender to create the perfect smoothie. Watch out for the rotten fruit! Blender express offers hours of addictive gameplay through 100 different levels to keep the whole family fully entertained and satisfied. Catch the right fruit, earn 3 stars and bring the fun into your home kitchen with a real life recipe at your fingertips. 

Blender Express now features a new challenge mode that is powered by PlayerDuel. 

Download Blender Express free version (iPhone)  here!

Download Blender Express HD Full version (iPad) here!

Developers: happy day games has integrated the PlayerDuel mobile SDK, giving players the ability to compete against friends and other players from around the world to beat the scores that you set. You can also share competition results, get statistic info and earn virtual coins by winning competitions!

Integrate the PlayerDuel SDK into your game and you will be a part of the largest social competition network for mobile games and have an opportunity to be featured in the PlayerDuel blog. You can start the integration process here.

Try to live a life in Petri-Dash, It’s not easy. Check out the new challenge mode, now with PlayerDuel

Hey everyone,

We’re excited to announce that Petri-Dash by Distorted Poetry has joined PlayerDuel for iOS.

Life in a petridish is not easy, This goes double when you are the softest bodied thing in the dish. 

Avoid the other creatures or attack them with your dash it’s up to you to decide how you are going to survive, by stealth and guile or upfront attack but beware! some creatures have a stink in their tail and can’t always be harmed by a badly timed dash. 

Petri-Dash now features a new Challenge mode which supports the competition platform - PlayerDuel.

Download Petri-Dash free version here!

Download Petri-Dash Full version here!

Developers: Distorted Poetry has integrated the PlayerDuel mobile SDK, giving players the ability to compete against friends and other players from around the world to beat the scores that you set. You can also share competition results, get statistic info and earn virtual coins by winning competitions!

Integrate the PlayerDuel SDK into your game and you will be a part of the largest social competition network for mobile games and have an opportunity to be featured in the PlayerDuel blog. You can start the integration process here.

How to make games viral?

This post is all about helping game developers with their huge problem.

How do I make my game viral?

The gaming market is on fire and when we say on fire we mean mostly - the big companies. Zynga and Nexon worth 8 billion dollar, Rovio (Angry birds) is reporting income of $100 million. The main problem is that most of us are long tail companies and we don’t have the abilities of big companies. But we believe that if some of the game developers will know the basics, they will have a chance to be the next big thing.

The process of building a game: develop, sell/freemium, marketing & sales. If we ask you at which stage of the process your game becomes viral, most of you (game developers) will answer: on the marketing stage. The game will get lots of PR and players will download the game and start telling their friends about it. In fact, 40% of the players download games because of their friends.

The big companies make their game viral in the DEVELOPMENT stage.

1. Easy to learn – the game must be easy to understand so the players will not waste time learning how to play.
2. Out of the ordinary – it can be design, sound, story or even games that can be deterrent. Like a game to drive a car over cats (just an example J)
3. Love to collect – players love to collect things. It can be gold, points or achievements.
4. Design
5. Gifting – If you give the players a bonus when they come back to play or if they don’t  come back, you take back things from them.
6. Social – there are games that won’t let you play before you invite friends – it works!
7. Involve the players – some of the games allow the players to create levels and share them with the community and their friends.
8. Competitive – players like to compete. This is the most important element.

Next time you develop a game, please think about the golden list. This is your chance to be the next big thing.

What do people pay for in games?

This is the list every game developer should have.

Rarity – Players love to search for very rare items

Fun – Players will pay for fun games

Exclusive features – It’s a freemium model

Vanity – Players will pay in order to get something that otherwise will take them a long time to achieve.

Competition – The most important value for players.

Social value – Helps people, invite people to the game.

Convenience – Less clicks will be better.

Chance – Mystery is a great way

Identity – Facebook connect or avatar to give the players their identity

Progress – people will buy energy or virtual coins in order to progress

Obligation – the willing of players to come back

Game fairness, do games need to be fair?

Some game developers don’t let people buy their way through the game and some do. We were talking to some of Zynga guys and they just said people don’t care about fairness.
You will be amazed that your players are not so angry if they see that someone buys their way through the game.

Some players don’t have the time or will to progress by playing long hours.
Giving them the ability to progress by paying is great for them and great for you as the game developer (cashing…).
It might be hard for you to understand why, but the other players understand it (most of them).

Fairness is just for the hard working players J