Games for Social Networks

And what should you do if you’re not a Zynga, Playdom or Playfish? Well, aside from referring to the advice I gave in my previous article, I’ll add this: unlike so many other games platforms, Facebook is actually large, open, and accessible enough to support many games that target niche audiences — and Zynga is less likely to clone your game if you’ve targeted a niche. (They’re probably looking for games that have the potential to attract 100m players, not 1m or 5m players.) I’m not suggesting that indie developers abandon the mass market — not at all — but niche strategies are worth considering as competition on Facebook continues to intensify.

David Edery writes about the 'early glory' and 'inevitable misery' of the social games business. He identifies three factors that might cause a developer to fail: ignoring the rising quality of games, only relying on virality, and dismissing Facebook's platform policies.