Facebook games.
These two words are enough to send many gamers into a frenzy of rage - but the truth of the matter is 70 per cent of these people play at least one Facebook game on the sly. And you can bet the other 30 per cent at least entertained the idea of seeing what all the fuss was about. Be it through City-ville, Pet Society or Mafia wars, social gaming is reaching out to millions of people all over the world.
This global audience was not created by people having to buy a system, a £40/$60 game and then needing a television set to play them on. It was created by realising that a sort of loss leader approach would allow the barrier of entry to be made pretty much obsolete for gaming. OK - I doubt Mark Zuckerberg thought that he would one day see games on this thing, well not in the way he imagined. But I'm sure that he knew that the potential was there. Facebook is an iterative process and it is one that is always LIVE. This allowed him to create something that was entirely free - but build a base of people that would form the ecosystem that is Facebook. Once he had an audience of many - only then did he decide to turn on the money printing switch. This made so much sense that I'm surprised people haven't cottoned on to this fact and tried it in different markets...But the more I though about it the more I realised one guy has already taken this approach and is applying it to his own creation. That creation is Minecraft and his name is Notch.
Minecraft is game that is still in its beta stage, however it enjoys an audience of over a million users. I am not entirely sure whether it was a conscious decision to maximize a fanbase first and then monetize later - but its clear that Minecraft is a game that has massive potential and could change the way online games are being made forever. To be honest this strategy is not a new one. It has been used in free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) RPGS long before the words face and book were uttered by our lips here in the West. The idea is to provide your game for free and then allow users to buy extra game items or content to help them progress through the game. It is not yet known yet if Notch will take this path - but anything is possible with user created content. Minecraft was just the first time the pay nothing and just play method had been used to take an indie game from apartment room computer to server farm and eventually game industry fame. Barrier to entry non existent. Sounds a lot like the way Zuckerberg created his social empire and could in future give hope to indie devs the world over.
Piracy has been a problem that has plagued media for years, now more so than ever. People are putting modchips in their Xbox 360s, Wiis and PS3s in order to play the latest releases. Many are even jail-breaking their iphones and rooting their mobile device in order to download $1/59p apps for free....In an uncertain digital world where profiting from your creation seems to be less a common occurrence - Minecraft is a shining example of a sure fire way how to ensure that you make money from your talent. If Notch doesn't make enough money from this one then I'm pretty sure that the fame he has earned through the Minecraft experience will ensure that his name is one that will be on the credits of many a software product in the future. At GDC he was the talk of the show, reaching almost celebrity status in the space of a year. The way browser gaming is going at the moment - its not hard to see it all come full circle and one day you might just see the words Mine and Craft pop-up on your news feed more than the words Farm and Ville.
Yes its THAT addictive! For those who can't wait till then - You can play Minecraft here. (I purposely did not describe the game here as it's a lot better when it's a surprise)
Happy Crafting!
http://www.minecraft.net
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