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> exact same as Zynga buying OMGPOP I realize analogies aren't meant to be perfect but when you stress the 'exact same'-ness I'll confess I find Activision is

by Steko 11y ago

> exact same as Zynga buying OMGPOP I realize analogies aren't meant to be perfect but when you stress the 'exact same'-ness I'll confess I find Activision is nothing like Zynga here. Zynga was already focused on social/mobile games like OMGPOP and bought them defensively (Words WF was hemorrhaging daily users to Draw Something at time of the purchase). Meanwhile Activision and King are focused in completely different niches and Activision isn't in danger of disappearing or cannibalized to bits by copycats overnight. Second, King appears to be remarkably safer investment than one hit wonder OMGPOP. They've kept multiple titles in the top 20 for several years running and their annual gaming revenue is on scale with Nintendo[1]. Given that Supercell is not on the market is there an aquisition target remotely as good as King which is demonstrably great at the one thing Activision is terrible at? (granted Blizzard is doing well in mobile with Hearthstone). [1] http://www.newzoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Small_Newzoo_Top10_Public_Companies_Game_Revenues_FY2014_v2.png http://www.newzoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Small_Newzo...

minimaxir 11y ago
Fair differentiation. I may be too addicted to hyperbole. :P The F2P environment has been shifting to be more user friendly, and consequently less revenue-generating. I'm still uncertain that King's brand of F2P is sustainable in the long term.
- Steko 11y ago
  I think revenue is up right alongside user friendliness. Exploitative f2p games fall by the wayside and the most successful formula seems to be: (1) make a game that's great even for people who spend nothing, (2) take advantage of network effects to get a large sticky playerbase and (3) profit off a fraction of the players. Boom Beach is my favorite mobile game by a large margin, I've spent a whopping $5 (on account of relying on the wiki for costs) and there are players in global top 50 who have spent nothing. I feel zero compulsion to spend anything except perhaps to reward the company for hundreds of hours of ad-free gaming.
rplnt 11y ago
Slightly off-topic, but OMGPOP had the best version of Tetris I've ever played. It was multiplayer, had lots of powerups, it was really well done. But then the fucking Tetris Company came (as expected). Can't understand how they can get away with it.
- Steko 11y ago
  > Can't understand how they can get away with it. The fact that you call the OMGPOP game 'Tetris' explains how they got away with it I think =)
  - rplnt 11y ago
    That should be a claim for stripping them of the trademark if anything. edit: is there any other example like tetris in the games industry?
    - emj 11y ago
      Risk, Scrabble games have been taken down, but I don't think it was because of trademark. Civilization is the opposit with lots of clones, no take downs nor trademark suits, even for http://freeciv.org http://freeciv.org which uses "Civ".
- danielsamuels 11y ago
  The entirety of OMGPOP was incredible, it was one of the best online gaming platforms I've ever seen.

by Steko 11y ago

minimaxir 11y ago

Fair differentiation. I may be too addicted to hyperbole. :P The F2P environment has been shifting to be more user friendly, and consequently less revenue-generating. I'm still uncertain that King's brand of F2P is sustainable in the long term.

Steko 11y ago
I think revenue is up right alongside user friendliness. Exploitative f2p games fall by the wayside and the most successful formula seems to be: (1) make a game that's great even for people who spend nothing, (2) take advantage of network effects to get a large sticky playerbase and (3) profit off a fraction of the players. Boom Beach is my favorite mobile game by a large margin, I've spent a whopping $5 (on account of relying on the wiki for costs) and there are players in global top 50 who have spent nothing. I feel zero compulsion to spend anything except perhaps to reward the company for hundreds of hours of ad-free gaming.

rplnt 11y ago

Slightly off-topic, but OMGPOP had the best version of Tetris I've ever played. It was multiplayer, had lots of powerups, it was really well done. But then the fucking Tetris Company came (as expected). Can't understand how they can get away with it.

Steko 11y ago
> Can't understand how they can get away with it. The fact that you call the OMGPOP game 'Tetris' explains how they got away with it I think =)
- rplnt 11y ago
  That should be a claim for stripping them of the trademark if anything. edit: is there any other example like tetris in the games industry?
  - emj 11y ago
    Risk, Scrabble games have been taken down, but I don't think it was because of trademark. Civilization is the opposit with lots of clones, no take downs nor trademark suits, even for http://freeciv.org http://freeciv.org which uses "Civ".
danielsamuels 11y ago
The entirety of OMGPOP was incredible, it was one of the best online gaming platforms I've ever seen.