Punit Sony, Google responsible for Google+games and mobile business (Tencent Technology pictures)
Tencent Technology News (Xiaobei) On February 3, Beijing time, according to foreign media reports, Punit Soni, Google's executive in charge of Google+games and mobile business, recently disclosed in an interview that Google is not just playing in social games, but will challenge Facebook through differentiated competition, cross platform development and exclusive games.
According to the IPO prospectus submitted by social networking giant Facebook on Wednesday, games have made great contributions to the development of the company. As Punit Sony was interviewed before Facebook submitted its IPO application, it did not directly respond to Facebook's data.
However, Sony said that Google intends to challenge the dominance of Facebook in the field of social games, and Google's opportunity lies in doing something different. Sony said: "If we follow the same path, there will be no significance in this game field. We should be different."
According to Facebook's prospectus, almost all of Facebook's payment revenue last year came from the sales of virtual goods in social games, of which Zynga, the social game developer, contributed 12% to Facebook's revenue.
According to these data, we can understand why Google emphasizes games and attracts developers to its own platform. Google first launched the game in August, and Punit Sony told the media that Google would share 95% of the revenue from the sales of virtual goods in the game with game developers, and only 5% of the revenue would be retained. This is much more generous than the 30% revenue share Facebook provides to game developers.
Cross platform development
At present, there are only 36 games on Google+social network, and the number of users is insufficient. Sony also admits that it has a long way to go. However, Sony was very optimistic in the interview. He said that, first and foremost, Google will strive to promote Google+online games, and second, it will focus on cross platform development, so that social games can be seamlessly run on the network and mobile devices.
Promotion on social networks is the most common way for users to understand a certain game, but it is also highly controversial. More than a year ago, Facebook was forced to give up this promotion method because users complained about receiving too many useless messages. Sony said: "We will be very cautious and will slowly provide more options."
Sony said that Google will adopt a cross platform approach to differentiated competition, allowing developers to develop games that can simultaneously support Google+, Google Chrome App Store and mobile devices. Of course, Google also has an inherent advantage in this area. The Android operating system has been used by hundreds of millions of users, while Facebook has almost nothing in this area.
Now there have been some cross platform games in social games. For example, the Angry Birds and Bubble Witch Saga launched by Rovio appear in Google+and Chrome app stores at the same time, and users can synchronize their game progress between the two platforms. Sony stressed: "This is not Google+games, but Google games. There will be more mobile games in the future."
Exclusive Games
Google has always focused on the exclusiveness of games, and some games will log in to Google+several weeks earlier than Facebook. So far, Google has obtained at least three such exclusive games, including Kabam's game masterpiece Godfather, and there will be more exclusive games in the future.
As for why game developers are willing to provide games exclusively for Google+, Sony said that Google is willing to take some marketing measures, but the main reason is that "they are optimistic about us".
He said that the main attraction for game developers is the platform potential, and he is willing to listen to the feedback of developers, which helps Google accurately understand their needs. Developers also acknowledge that supporting more platforms will help their games gain more users and share the risks they face.
Sony said, "If they say this is the best platform ever, they are lying. But with our plan and our attention to users and developers, we will succeed soon, which is why you see many exclusive games."
Sony would not disclose Google's specific plans for social games, but he said Google was about to launch more games. He said, "We are a newly established platform. We are modest and can recognize our own problems. With our development, you will see some new things. My work has just begun."
