A little over one year ago Google decided to invest nearly $100 million into Zynga, a company who, up until that point, had exclusively made games on Facebook, their competitor. Obviously Google knows Zynga is going places, and in the year since, it’s held true. Just a couple weeks ago Zynga filed their IPO, and it’s showing a much higher valuation that most had predicted. Estimates say the company could be looking at a $15-20 billion valuation. After spending 4 years conquering Facebook, it looks as though they’re being set up to dominate Google’s new social platform, Google+.
A few weeks ago Engadget uncovered code in Google+’s platform that made calls to an unannounced service called Google Games. Google isn’t going to release this platform without any games on it, and who better to get to lead off a social games platform than the largest social game developer? Google’s $100 million investment into the company almost seems like an introduction rather than an investment, and an opportunity for Zynga to have access to this platform for a year before any other developer knew of its existence.
But then why does this mean Zynga will beat their competitors on a brand new network? Because being first is what matters in the social game sphere. Zynga was the first company to fully utilize all of Facebook’s features to create virality within games by mastering Metcalfe’s Law. This, combined with sound game design, led to an explosion of users in the early days of the Facebook App platform. In the 3-4 years since then Zynga’s userbase has exploded to ~240 million users.
With Google standing behind them, Zynga is looking to do a repeat of their Facebook performance. They have the inside access to, and likely say, in what Google’s platform can do in regards to social interaction. By being with them every step of the way, they open themselves up to the opportunity to utilize the platforms full potential immediately at launch, whereas other developers will only get access to near launch, and will need to scramble to make up lost time. This leaves Zynga nearly unopposed in its launch on Google’s platform, allowing them to grab as many users as possible and has left little room for other games to make a stand.
Unfortunately for Google+’s userbase, it means that they won’t be avoiding the spam from Zynga for much longer. However the more unfortunate part is that users won’t have the opportunity to explore new games because Zynga’s will have the opportunity to take up the most valuable resource first, users. As usual though, there is always chances that another developer may take this opportunity to make a stand against Zynga, and I sincerely hope someone does. The question then becomes, how do you catch Google’s attention with such a giant looming over you?