Think virality doesn't exist for mobile games? Think again, says PapayaMobile CMO Paul Chen, in this guest column.
It used to be the case that when something was said to be viral, it was nothing but bad news. Today however, the word ‘viral’ has taken on a whole new and positive meaning. Yes it still means contagious, but it’s not just bad things that are contagious – for a historic case, see ‘Beatle-Mania’.
Viral is now a buzz-word of the times, especially when it comes to digital media and mobile gaming through applications. It’s now come to the point where developers, publishers, marketers and the like are trying to engineer virality, in order to provide them with a quick route to success.
Perhaps one of the biggest effects virality can have is on the mobile social gaming scene. If a game spreads through a social circle, suddenly becomes popular and the right distribution and communication channels are in place, it has the potential to explode in to the mass market and become house-hold names, as in the case of Angry Birds, which has now flown the digital nest and has landed in the physical world in the shape of soft toys and board games.
What’s the state of ‘viral’ in mobile gaming right now?
Many in the industry believe that virality in mobile gaming doesn’t exist just yet and who can blame them when there have been few examples of successful platforms that effectively distribute games through the recommendations of friends. Although this is true for most networks, there are mobile social gaming platforms out there that do provide viral opportunities.
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For true virality to exist, clear channels of communication must be commonplace between users. Without them, users cannot effectively discuss and share games they are playing, effectively killing any chance of viral distribution before it’s even had a chance to begin.
For any social network to provide true added value to the mobile developer community, channels must naturally be developed to encourage viral behaviour. The ultimate goal of social gaming is to help increase user base for a particular game. If a platform cannot achieve this, then added value diminishes in the eyes of the developer and the platform will be abandoned.
How to select a social gaming community with virality?
There are a number of things that developers should be looking for in a social network if they’re looking for their game to be taken viral. Look for various ways in the community for developers to communicate with each other – internal email systems, newsfeeds, friend invites, chat rooms, social forums etc. If at least some of these are not in place then there’s very little chance of achieving your goals.
It’s important to analyse the activity of users in the community. If they’re able to share their gaming behaviour with friends, then that’s a good sign that the foundations are in place to build something truly viral.
What’s the importance of virality in the Android and iOS ecosystem anyway?
Viral marketing allows developers to increase user base, which ultimately allows developers to increase their revenues, regardless of which monetisation models they decide to use. It’s not rocket science but inevitably, developers will gravitate towards the platform that generates the most revenue for them. Viral marketing ensures that the best games and developer talent continue to grow on Android and iOS, which in turn feed and strengthen these ecosystems.
What does the future hold for viral mobile gaming?
Over the next two years we’ll see a rush of players in to the market, wishing to build their own social gaming community. Everyone from manufacturers and operators (carriers), to game developers and publishers. The fact remains, there is no dominate social network for mobile gaming yet so everyone thinks that they can grab a piece of the pie.
This is especially true for top tier game developers and publishers who don’t want to repeat their reliance on Facebook in the online space. Each believes they can effectively create their own social network, and hold much more control over the platform.
Ultimately, the market can only sustain a certain number of networks before overcrowding becomes a factor. Just look at the evolution of online social networks. Over time, the players with weak social graphs will fail and those with strong social graphs will consolidate.
Paul Chen is CMO of PapayaMobile.
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