And there goes another. Inside Social Games reports that Jonathan Knight (pictured), former SVP of Games at RockYou, has left the company for Zynga. The company's--best known for Zoo World--CEO Lisa Marino confirmed the move. Before his departure, Knight oversaw the acquisitions of studios like 3 Blokes, which just launched Galactic Allies, and Playdemic of Gourmet Ranch fame.
"We hired [Knight] to help us build out a portfolio of great products and he's done the job," Marino told ISG. "We have built a strong team of talent through a careful hiring process, our Studio Partners program, and acquisitions over the past year. The departure of Jonathan will not impact our game development pipeline or our plans to continue to launch quality titles."
Knight has a deep history in the games business, coming to RockYou from veteran publisher EA as VP and executive VP for nine years. During that time, Knight oversaw major releases like entries in The Sims series and The Simpsons Game. In fact, ISG recalls that Knight was brought in to help RockYou transform from a social app developer into a social game creator.
The move happens just as RockYou prepares to launch Cloudforest Expedition on Facebook with designer John Romero's Loot Drop. Knight joins a number of major video game execs that have flocked to Zynga in the past year, many of which coming from EA. The company's CCO Jeff Schappert recently left for Zynga, who was then followed by NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell and EA Play exec Jeff Karp. We've contacted Zynga for comment as to what Knight might be up to with the company.
Great Site to Earn From Home
Showing posts with label rockyou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rockyou. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Half of all U.S. social gamers own a game console, RockYou study says
As if we already didn't know: Some social gamers are more "hardcore" than we thought. But the next study released that attempts to drive this point home is courtesy of Zoo World creator RockYou and conducted by Interpret, a media research firm. Titled the "Social Gamer Thought Leadership Research Study," it finds that 50 percent of U.S. social gamers own a traditional gaming console.
The study, which polled over 2,00 social game fans living in the U.S. aged 18 and older with a 60-40 women to men split, also found that social gamers are more "sophisticated." To back up the claim, the study reports a quarter of social gamers prefer games with quests, and that 22 percent admit that score-sharing drives their urge to play more. Oh, and these players also spend quite a bit of time with the games.
Of the over 2,000 people polled, RockYou and Interpret found that the average social gamer spends an average of 9.5 hours playing out of the 13 average hours they spend on networks like Facebook. The average social game player, according to the study, has just over 16 real-life frieds playing these games with them and has made 20 new friends through social games. Of course, the study doesn't get into how deep said friendships are, but how could you?
The study also reports that 42 percent of social gamers would play a social game more, if offered real world rewards like coupons or gift cards. (But isn't the idea to get them to pay up?) It was just recently that Raptr discovered that a number of Zynga fans may be Halo and Grand Theft Auto fans, too. And before that, Kabam found in its own study that the hardcore crowd on Facebook is growing.
What should you take away from this influx of studies and reports? Regardless of whether you still dig tending to virtual crops or running a shanty town, many developers--even the "casual" ones--seem all but done with your farms and cities of yore.
What do you think of the numerous reports on the growing hardcore crowd in social games? How do you think this will change the industry in the long run? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
The study, which polled over 2,00 social game fans living in the U.S. aged 18 and older with a 60-40 women to men split, also found that social gamers are more "sophisticated." To back up the claim, the study reports a quarter of social gamers prefer games with quests, and that 22 percent admit that score-sharing drives their urge to play more. Oh, and these players also spend quite a bit of time with the games.
Of the over 2,000 people polled, RockYou and Interpret found that the average social gamer spends an average of 9.5 hours playing out of the 13 average hours they spend on networks like Facebook. The average social game player, according to the study, has just over 16 real-life frieds playing these games with them and has made 20 new friends through social games. Of course, the study doesn't get into how deep said friendships are, but how could you?
The study also reports that 42 percent of social gamers would play a social game more, if offered real world rewards like coupons or gift cards. (But isn't the idea to get them to pay up?) It was just recently that Raptr discovered that a number of Zynga fans may be Halo and Grand Theft Auto fans, too. And before that, Kabam found in its own study that the hardcore crowd on Facebook is growing.
What should you take away from this influx of studies and reports? Regardless of whether you still dig tending to virtual crops or running a shanty town, many developers--even the "casual" ones--seem all but done with your farms and cities of yore.
What do you think of the numerous reports on the growing hardcore crowd in social games? How do you think this will change the industry in the long run? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)