I believe that we are in the very nascent stages of social games which is evident by recent news that some old classics like Sid Meier’s Civilization is coming to Facebook.
This is a game that was potentially finished and is now being resurrected to a platform that has become relevant. By bringing social features to the game such as sharing level ups, progress, and of course getting help from others – they are able to refactor the original classic and bring it to a new audience.
The old audience will of course pickup and re-play the game, thus introducing a new fanbase to the franchise. This behavior will continue with other games and on other platforms, but the net result is the same. Games are being syndicated in a new form for the sake of new players and a re invigoration of the original game.
We no longer need patches, updates, lag time problems, or special hardware – instead, great games are being ported to platforms like Facebook, MySpace, and Flash (on mobile devices) where they can be seen as new.
Providing a social layer to these classic games is the first step towards re-launching the franchise. The second step is introducing game play dynamics from the original series with a virtual currency twist. It is no longer a question of if this is possible, but rather when it will happen.
I believe we are seeing the beginnings of what social gaming can be, and a comfortable way to introduce this new dynamic is with solid classics that we all feel comfortable in. Once people recognize the power of these new layers to their favorite OLD games, new games will introduce the next stage of social gaming that will go far beyond the RTS mouse\keyboard\monitor setup that we have come to know today.
As a big gaming fan myself, I am excited for the next level in gaming.
October 26, 2009
Marketing.fm