7 ms·

Google+ loses key partners as PopCap, Wooga pull games

80 points by uzero 14y ago

uvTwitch 14y ago
No games on Google+? Colour me relieved - and this is coming from a game designer!
bcl 14y ago
G+ has attracted a different audience than FB so I'm not surprised that games aren't catching on.
- jan_g 14y ago
  Couldn't agree more. I go to g+ for comments from people like Torvalds, Crockford, etc. I actually wasn't even aware that there are games on g+.
- jawr 14y ago
  although i'm not a fan of facebook or g+, the idea that games are a key factor to their success is an alien idea to me.
  - dspillett 14y ago
    >* the idea that games are a key factor to their success is an alien idea to me* Games are an extra reason for people to visit the site regularly, perhaps many times per day. That increases the users exposure to your advertising and creates more opportunity for them to add some information to your database (people are more likely to post an arbitrary thought if they are already logged in to check on their farm than if they'd have to open a new browser window specifically to do so) which both helps you target your advertising and (if you are lucky enough to have people who care about what you say) may provide more reason for other people to visit regularly.
brianfryer 14y ago
There are games on Google+?
- petitmiam 14y ago
  They did the right then and kept them hidden in the corner. I guess that did mean no one saw them at all.
w1ntermute 14y ago
Well, that's one bullet dodged. I think the last thing anyone wants to see on G+ is games. I recall the Facebook UX being significantly (negatively) affected by the addition of so-called "apps".
- spullara 14y ago
  It is one of the first things that Google+ launched in August of last year. It may be why they built their network in the first place. Page views, signups and monetization on Facebook are heavily correlated to people playing games on the platform.
  - mtgx 14y ago
    I think Google did it more for the users than for themselves. They thought people like games like Farmville and such, and it's a big reason why they spend so much time on Facebook. This is also why they left full control to the user so he can't get spammed by the games, like you get on Facebook.
  - redwood 14y ago
    Funny how now that the social network games fad is moving on Google looks even more pathetic: they blatantly, blindly went after every success FB had and didn't even get to ride the wave.
crag 14y ago
I'm relieved about games not being on Google + too. But I also know that's not what Google wants. Google wants the herd. They don't want to be 2nd (or 3rd). And if you want the "herd" you cater to the herd.
- wazoox 14y ago
  Yep, so far Google+ hasn't reach its eternal september yet, and that's a darn good thing IMO.
  - Goronmon 14y ago
    Not that good when Google declares it a failure and lets it stagnate like Orkut.
    - wazoox 14y ago
      I'm happy with my Linux desktop, though Linux desktop penetration stagnated for the last decade. I'm not sure I have that much to gain from being mainstream.
zmmmmm 14y ago
Doesn't surprise me a lot. When the games launched I went to try a few and they all demanded to know my personal information - name, birth date, etc. I was pretty offended by that and never bothered going further. I'm generally OK with targeted advertising but there is zero reason for a game to need to know my full name and birth date.
- Evbn 14y ago
  Why would a game ask for your name when G+ is already broadcasting it?
  - duaneb 14y ago
    G+ probably doesn't want to broadcast your personal information to third parties.... shocking, I know.
- HalibetLector 14y ago
  From a legal standpoint, there absolutely is a need to know your full name and birth date. It's called the FTC Coppa rule, where it's illegal to collect and disclosing personal information of children under age 13 without their parents’ prior consent. Acclaim got dinged by that last year and as a result, some games no longer allow underage players at all.
  - tensor 14y ago
    Yet flash games get along just fine despite that law. Worse, G+ also seems to broadcast which games you play. I use Google+ for its privacy features. I too decided not to touch any of the games due to their lack of privacy guards.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - jfoutz 14y ago
    I'm, obviously, not a lawyer, but how could this possibly be a game developer's problem? you have to be 13 to have a google+ account. If they were under 13, google wouldn't vouch for them.
DigitalSea 14y ago
Meh, life goes on. It was only a matter of time, Google+ just hasn't caught on with the masses and I don't think that it ever will. The only people that use Google+ are Robert Scoble and well I'd hardly call that a successful website if Robert Scoble is your only user, hahaha.
dsirijus 14y ago
Given that Zynga was the biggest reason for Facebook growth second to nothing other than the Facebook itself, I can see how this could hurt the numbers. Then again, we all remember Farmville. We can live without that on G+.
rjuyal 14y ago
One big reason I don't like FB is, it is having games. Even though I don't play games on FB, but my friends do. And every day I see lots of notification saying, your friend is playing that awesome game, score of your friend is xxx can you beat that, your friend needs your help for abc game. I wished g+ don't have such craps at all.
jyap 14y ago
It's strange to read the comments here on Hacker News that people are glad and "relieved" that games in Google+ are gone. Put it this way, if Google+ remains a nerdvana, then it has lost. Google wants Google+ to be a household name. Not a niche product. It may well die a slow and painful death if it doesn't gain widespread use and adoption. Either way a nerdvana or equivalent means Google+ will never have reached its potential or what it set out to be. That's a huge failure in the scheme of things. Remember, Google changed EVERYTHING to center around Google+. Google wants to remain one of the biggest and most relevant brands in technology to EVERYONE. Not just people interested in Linus Torvalds post comments. March at GDC 2012, Punit Soni, lead product manager for Google+ games and mobile: "Games are key to the success of Google+" Hacker News comments can be so out of touch with what's at stake, what is reality and what they view as "great" for their own skewed opinions. Hacker News readers are meant to understand intended audiences and project goals. Not feel relieved that games are gone. Link Quote: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168726/Nine_months_later_Google_game_devs_are_reluctant_to_share_success_stories.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168726/Nine_months_later_...
- nightski 14y ago
  It is fine to enjoy something while it lasts. For the rest of it, who cares. That is Google's problem. nerdvana will always be where the nerds are, not tied to some product.
- jellicle 14y ago
  Google has made G+ intentionally unattractive to most people, and has encouraged the 40-50-ish white male technology self-promoters to be the focus of the network. They could have made other choices. This isn't our problem and can't be fixed by us. Games, as currently implemented on social networks, are a terrible and useless waste of human time. (Imagine a true social networking game. We haven't seen it yet, but it's out there somewhere. But trying to figure out how to make people come back to your app every two hours to "harvest crops" is dumb.)
  - Angostura 14y ago
    >Google has made G+ intentionally unattractive to most people, and has encouraged the 40-50-ish white male technology self-promoters to be the focus of the network. Could you explain your reasoning? I'm not sure why you believe this to be the case. Introducing games was just one sign that they wanted to attract a wider demographic.
Niksko 14y ago
I'm disappointed by this, but I have a feeling that Google is going to make a big gaming play. My money is on a 'game center' type app for Android at IO and that this will have some sort of tie in with Google+. On a different note, I think that Google is basically implementing games perfectly on Google+. The reason people hate games on Facebook (and consequently, without thinking, want them gone on Google+) is because Facebook is constantly pestering you to "play Foo Game 2000 with such and such a friend", or "such and such a friend go 10000 points in Foo Game 2000". I've never once seen this on Google+. Gaming on Google+ is completely separate from its other functions (which are in turn just ways to tie Google's multitude of services together). Google+ does social gaming perfectly, and if there's a tie in with Android gaming I think it could really take off. Imagine games that save your progress between the browser and your phone, and allow you to do all the social things that OpenFeint tries to do (but fails at).
mzr90s 14y ago
While I am not a big fan of games, I don't mind G+ putting games on it's network to cater to the current internet generation. Just keep that crap out of my news feed (cough Facebook cough) and all is well. I don't give two craps that you opened a fortune cookie and now you want me to open one. Facebook will be a thing of the past. I logged in after a long time and the UI is still cluttered with game requests, fortune cookie requests, kiss requests all other garbage I am not fond of. Yes I can ignore these apps, but I'd rather not waste my life click ignoring on each of these stupid apps. G+ has a good signal to noise ratio on content I SUBSCRIBE to and that is why I let them use my data.
coryl 14y ago
Not gonna brag, but this was very easy to see coming. Here's a blog post I wrote last year: http://coryliu.com/post/8637665056/google-plus-sucks-for-social-game-developers http://coryliu.com/post/8637665056/google-plus-sucks-for-soc...
r00fus 14y ago
I've heard from multiple sources that online social gaming is tapering off as a market, to be overtaken by mobile gaming apps. Perhaps G+ was skating where the puck was, instead of where the puck should be?
MisterMerkin 14y ago
I can tell you I don't use G+ to play games.

80 points by uzero 14y ago

uvTwitch 14y ago

No games on Google+? Colour me relieved - and this is coming from a game designer!

bcl 14y ago

G+ has attracted a different audience than FB so I'm not surprised that games aren't catching on.

jan_g 14y ago
Couldn't agree more. I go to g+ for comments from people like Torvalds, Crockford, etc. I actually wasn't even aware that there are games on g+.
jawr 14y ago
although i'm not a fan of facebook or g+, the idea that games are a key factor to their success is an alien idea to me.
- dspillett 14y ago
  >* the idea that games are a key factor to their success is an alien idea to me* Games are an extra reason for people to visit the site regularly, perhaps many times per day. That increases the users exposure to your advertising and creates more opportunity for them to add some information to your database (people are more likely to post an arbitrary thought if they are already logged in to check on their farm than if they'd have to open a new browser window specifically to do so) which both helps you target your advertising and (if you are lucky enough to have people who care about what you say) may provide more reason for other people to visit regularly.

brianfryer 14y ago

There are games on Google+?

petitmiam 14y ago
They did the right then and kept them hidden in the corner. I guess that did mean no one saw them at all.

w1ntermute 14y ago

Well, that's one bullet dodged. I think the last thing anyone wants to see on G+ is games. I recall the Facebook UX being significantly (negatively) affected by the addition of so-called "apps".

spullara 14y ago
It is one of the first things that Google+ launched in August of last year. It may be why they built their network in the first place. Page views, signups and monetization on Facebook are heavily correlated to people playing games on the platform.
- mtgx 14y ago
  I think Google did it more for the users than for themselves. They thought people like games like Farmville and such, and it's a big reason why they spend so much time on Facebook. This is also why they left full control to the user so he can't get spammed by the games, like you get on Facebook.
- redwood 14y ago
  Funny how now that the social network games fad is moving on Google looks even more pathetic: they blatantly, blindly went after every success FB had and didn't even get to ride the wave.

crag 14y ago

I'm relieved about games not being on Google + too. But I also know that's not what Google wants. Google wants the herd. They don't want to be 2nd (or 3rd). And if you want the "herd" you cater to the herd.

wazoox 14y ago
Yep, so far Google+ hasn't reach its eternal september yet, and that's a darn good thing IMO.
- Goronmon 14y ago
  Not that good when Google declares it a failure and lets it stagnate like Orkut.
  - wazoox 14y ago
    I'm happy with my Linux desktop, though Linux desktop penetration stagnated for the last decade. I'm not sure I have that much to gain from being mainstream.

zmmmmm 14y ago

Doesn't surprise me a lot. When the games launched I went to try a few and they all demanded to know my personal information - name, birth date, etc. I was pretty offended by that and never bothered going further. I'm generally OK with targeted advertising but there is zero reason for a game to need to know my full name and birth date.

Evbn 14y ago
Why would a game ask for your name when G+ is already broadcasting it?
- duaneb 14y ago
  G+ probably doesn't want to broadcast your personal information to third parties.... shocking, I know.
HalibetLector 14y ago
From a legal standpoint, there absolutely is a need to know your full name and birth date. It's called the FTC Coppa rule, where it's illegal to collect and disclosing personal information of children under age 13 without their parents’ prior consent. Acclaim got dinged by that last year and as a result, some games no longer allow underage players at all.
- tensor 14y ago
  Yet flash games get along just fine despite that law. Worse, G+ also seems to broadcast which games you play. I use Google+ for its privacy features. I too decided not to touch any of the games due to their lack of privacy guards.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- jfoutz 14y ago
  I'm, obviously, not a lawyer, but how could this possibly be a game developer's problem? you have to be 13 to have a google+ account. If they were under 13, google wouldn't vouch for them.

DigitalSea 14y ago

Meh, life goes on. It was only a matter of time, Google+ just hasn't caught on with the masses and I don't think that it ever will. The only people that use Google+ are Robert Scoble and well I'd hardly call that a successful website if Robert Scoble is your only user, hahaha.

dsirijus 14y ago

Given that Zynga was the biggest reason for Facebook growth second to nothing other than the Facebook itself, I can see how this could hurt the numbers. Then again, we all remember Farmville. We can live without that on G+.

rjuyal 14y ago

One big reason I don't like FB is, it is having games. Even though I don't play games on FB, but my friends do. And every day I see lots of notification saying, your friend is playing that awesome game, score of your friend is xxx can you beat that, your friend needs your help for abc game. I wished g+ don't have such craps at all.

jyap 14y ago

It's strange to read the comments here on Hacker News that people are glad and "relieved" that games in Google+ are gone. Put it this way, if Google+ remains a nerdvana, then it has lost. Google wants Google+ to be a household name. Not a niche product. It may well die a slow and painful death if it doesn't gain widespread use and adoption. Either way a nerdvana or equivalent means Google+ will never have reached its potential or what it set out to be. That's a huge failure in the scheme of things. Remember, Google changed EVERYTHING to center around Google+. Google wants to remain one of the biggest and most relevant brands in technology to EVERYONE. Not just people interested in Linus Torvalds post comments. March at GDC 2012, Punit Soni, lead product manager for Google+ games and mobile: "Games are key to the success of Google+" Hacker News comments can be so out of touch with what's at stake, what is reality and what they view as "great" for their own skewed opinions. Hacker News readers are meant to understand intended audiences and project goals. Not feel relieved that games are gone. Link Quote: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168726/Nine_months_later_Google_game_devs_are_reluctant_to_share_success_stories.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168726/Nine_months_later_...

nightski 14y ago
It is fine to enjoy something while it lasts. For the rest of it, who cares. That is Google's problem. nerdvana will always be where the nerds are, not tied to some product.
jellicle 14y ago
Google has made G+ intentionally unattractive to most people, and has encouraged the 40-50-ish white male technology self-promoters to be the focus of the network. They could have made other choices. This isn't our problem and can't be fixed by us. Games, as currently implemented on social networks, are a terrible and useless waste of human time. (Imagine a true social networking game. We haven't seen it yet, but it's out there somewhere. But trying to figure out how to make people come back to your app every two hours to "harvest crops" is dumb.)
- Angostura 14y ago
  >Google has made G+ intentionally unattractive to most people, and has encouraged the 40-50-ish white male technology self-promoters to be the focus of the network. Could you explain your reasoning? I'm not sure why you believe this to be the case. Introducing games was just one sign that they wanted to attract a wider demographic.

Niksko 14y ago

I'm disappointed by this, but I have a feeling that Google is going to make a big gaming play. My money is on a 'game center' type app for Android at IO and that this will have some sort of tie in with Google+. On a different note, I think that Google is basically implementing games perfectly on Google+. The reason people hate games on Facebook (and consequently, without thinking, want them gone on Google+) is because Facebook is constantly pestering you to "play Foo Game 2000 with such and such a friend", or "such and such a friend go 10000 points in Foo Game 2000". I've never once seen this on Google+. Gaming on Google+ is completely separate from its other functions (which are in turn just ways to tie Google's multitude of services together). Google+ does social gaming perfectly, and if there's a tie in with Android gaming I think it could really take off. Imagine games that save your progress between the browser and your phone, and allow you to do all the social things that OpenFeint tries to do (but fails at).

mzr90s 14y ago

While I am not a big fan of games, I don't mind G+ putting games on it's network to cater to the current internet generation. Just keep that crap out of my news feed (cough Facebook cough) and all is well. I don't give two craps that you opened a fortune cookie and now you want me to open one. Facebook will be a thing of the past. I logged in after a long time and the UI is still cluttered with game requests, fortune cookie requests, kiss requests all other garbage I am not fond of. Yes I can ignore these apps, but I'd rather not waste my life click ignoring on each of these stupid apps. G+ has a good signal to noise ratio on content I SUBSCRIBE to and that is why I let them use my data.

coryl 14y ago

Not gonna brag, but this was very easy to see coming. Here's a blog post I wrote last year: http://coryliu.com/post/8637665056/google-plus-sucks-for-social-game-developers http://coryliu.com/post/8637665056/google-plus-sucks-for-soc...

r00fus 14y ago

I've heard from multiple sources that online social gaming is tapering off as a market, to be overtaken by mobile gaming apps. Perhaps G+ was skating where the puck was, instead of where the puck should be?

MisterMerkin 14y ago

I can tell you I don't use G+ to play games.