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iPhone Could Transform Social Gaming

Posted by Nick O'Neill on July 2nd, 2008 10:06 AM

This morning I was watching samples of a couple upcoming iPhone games, one of which I’ve included below. While the examples I watched were not multi-player games, I think the social aspect of many of these games are one step away. It its current form, many of the “social games” on Facebook are different versions of the games found on sites such as Miniclip.com and similar sites.

Ultimately the “social” aspect of the games is really being able to see your friends high scores. Occasionally there are even turn based games but the social games so far are just the tip of the iceberg. It appears that there are much more serious developers invested in the iPhone platform which is sure to be a big hit.

The games that have appeared so far for the new iPhone appear to be mostly single player but I could imagine turn based games and the addition of other social aspects built right into the platform. The social aspect of the Nintendo DS was one of the key selling points. After seeing how robust the games on the iPhone can be, I think we are only one step away from many of these games transforming social gaming. Do you agree?

Rolando<

Crash Bandicoot

Posted in Social Gaming
  

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 am and is filed under Social Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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    OK, Rolando is definitely a very cool game. I'd honestly love to see it on a large touch screen like the HP Touchsmart.

    However, I think you may be working in an "echo chamber" with this statement. I think we are only one step away from many of these games transforming social gaming.
    Useful numbers: Since its launch in 2004, the DS has sold more than 35 million units worldwide, compared to the PSP's 25 million. In the US alone, total DS sales stand at over 15 million.

    Apple has crossed the 6M units marker and they'll probably sell more than 10 M the end of the year. But that doesn't even match the DS for market penetration. And the price point on the DS is several hundreds more.

    If you want to "transform social gaming", you need way more than 10 or even 20 million units. All of your friends may be using iPhones, but this is not the case for most people. 6 M US units means that 1.8% of the population own iPhones. Right now, 30% of Canadians have Facebook accounts, that's enough penetration to be transformative. But 1.8%, isn't going to cut it.

    At best we're looking at tools like the smart phones in general being able to "extend the reach of existing social gaming". If Social Gaming is going to make big changes, it will be across devices. RIM sold 5.8 M Blackberry devices in the first quarter of 2008. That's as many Blackberries in 3 months as iPhones all time. Recent news has the Blackberry winning the US market.

    Thanks for the great videos though!

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