Ok, so the rumour mill has a mega social games platform launch coming soon Google Games with a Zynga inspired.
It’s hard to see where Google will be able to add value over Facebook but I suspect they will have a few new tricks up their sleeve.
What can we expect to see:
- Google Buzz for game status updates (Toby is now a Senior Executive on Powerbrands)
- Google Waves within gameplay - integrating with Wave might spawn new types of Mafia Wars style collaborative social games, i.e. planning a mob raid using a Wave
- Google Chat / Voice / Gmail for friend to friend notifications (”You’ve been sent a chicken on Farmville”)
- Using your Google ID to log in - time to dust off that old gmail account!
Well the future is as ever uncertain. But one thing is for sure, this is big competition for Facebook itself, in a very hot vertical.
Contact me direct if you’d like to work with us to get on the launch list.
I myself am looking forward to seeing what Google is going to bring to the table with regards to social gaming.
However, I can’t seen Google Wave integration becoming a feature of these types of games as in general social games in my opinion are more off the cuff/once in a while style.
Additionally, I think they might have trouble trying to knock the likes of Facebook off their perch but I can’t wait to see how they go about it.
I’m watching this space closely …
-Steve