Comments on: Zynga gets money, buys Yoville http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/07/23/zynga-gets-money-buys-yoville/ Raph Koster's personal website: MMOs, gaming, writing, art, music, books Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:02:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Allen Sligarhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2008/07/23/zynga-gets-money-buys-yoville/comment-page-1/#comment-140094 Allen Sligar Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:25:06 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/?p=1856#comment-140094 Yeah I've been watching zynga and kongregate from an armchair (while on a web hiatus as it were) for awhile now. Lots of players in the horizontal market for web based games now, and its curious to see these valuations in down rounds. I think its definitely based on an increase in the user base. I did a little empirical survey as a guest speaker at a school career day about 3 months ago (I was the tech speaker). 4 sets of kids rotated through, each set was about 35-45 students. (all were middle school age). Asked them to raise their hands if they played the following: PC Based Online Games (10%) (example given: WOW) Console Games 70% (example given: XBOX, PS) Web/Browser Based Games 80% (examples given: Club Penguin/Runescape/Mapplestory) Given internet penetration reaching 90%+/US households (higher elsewhere eg. Korea) and adoption I'd say demographics (and prior usage as an indicator of preference moving forward) support development of web/browser based casual games over traditional MMO's (especially because the cost of acquisition is almost non-existent compared to MMO's and Consoles. Brad Feld goes into some deatils about Zynga's new round on his blog as well Yeah I’ve been watching zynga and kongregate from an armchair (while on a web hiatus as it were) for awhile now. Lots of players in the horizontal market for web based games now, and its curious to see these valuations in down rounds. I think its definitely based on an increase in the user base.

I did a little empirical survey as a guest speaker at a school career day about 3 months ago (I was the tech speaker). 4 sets of kids rotated through, each set was about 35-45 students. (all were middle school age).

Asked them to raise their hands if they played the following:
PC Based Online Games (10%) (example given: WOW)
Console Games 70% (example given: XBOX, PS)
Web/Browser Based Games 80% (examples given: Club Penguin/Runescape/Mapplestory)

Given internet penetration reaching 90%+/US households (higher elsewhere eg. Korea) and adoption I’d say demographics (and prior usage as an indicator of preference moving forward) support development of web/browser based casual games over traditional MMO’s (especially because the cost of acquisition is almost non-existent compared to MMO’s and Consoles.

Brad Feld goes into some deatils about Zynga’s new round on his blog as well

]]> By: Zynga Raises $29 Million B Round (Led By Kleiner Perkins) and Buys Virtual-World Facebook App YoVillehttp://www.raphkoster.com/2008/07/23/zynga-gets-money-buys-yoville/comment-page-1/#comment-139891 Zynga Raises $29 Million B Round (Led By Kleiner Perkins) and Buys Virtual-World Facebook App YoVille Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:43:46 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/?p=1856#comment-139891 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm Max Niederhofer | Venture CapitalJuly 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 am Raph's Website » Zynga gets money, buys YovilleJuly 23rd, 2008 at 9:47 am e-driven.deJuly 24th, 2008 at 1:02 am Social gaming gets hot | The Equity [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%-->

[...] 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm Max Niederhofer | Venture CapitalJuly 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 am Raph's Website » Zynga gets money, buys YovilleJuly 23rd, 2008 at 9:47 am e-driven.deJuly 24th, 2008 at 1:02 am Social gaming gets hot | The Equity [...]

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