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I am really excited that we just finished localizing and porting our Crazies game into Russian for the vKontakte service.  For some reason it just looks really, really cool to see a game like The Crazies in Russian.  I also want to take this opportunity to give a little shout out to Dimitri, without his hard work this localization (and hundreds others) would not have been possible.  Thanks.

Lloyd Melnick
Chief Customer Officer

Now that our first Facebook title, The Crazies, has been out a few weeks, I thought it would be useful to analyze what it has shown.  From my perspective, the success of The Crazies has definitely proven the value and convergence of traditional media properties and social gaming. 

First, given that the game had a two month development cycle and it was Merscom’s first real Facebook title, the numbers are great.  With less than $10,000 in marketing, it already has about 250,000 monthly users (MAU).  It is also monetizing at a rate consistent with industry norms.

It’s not the monetization or quick growth, however, that I see as an indication of the value of brands.  It’s the way both Merscom and Starz were able to work together to get value that other social game companies are not able to achieve.  On Starz’s side, let’s not underestimate the value of the movie’s marketing campaign.  With over $30 mm spent on marketing, there was incredible awareness of the IP, which made it much easier for us to get people to try the game.  Additionally, that marketing spurred a lot of interest in the movie that Starz could then leverage for the game.  For example, the following post to Fans of the movie reached over 150,000 people:
 

From Merscom’s side, we were able to generate a lot of interest in the film.  An email to player’s of the game suggesting they go see the movie the weekend it premiered had a phenomenal 40 percent click-through rate to the Fandango link.  A link within the game driving traffic to the movie fansite generated over 25,000 clicks.  And we have just put the following pop up at various levels of the game to drive additional traffic to theaters:

It’s still early, but to say I am pleased at the way we were able to use a major media property in a social game is a great understatement.  I am now more confident than ever that we can replicate our success in the casual space that largely came from working with media companies in the social space. 

Lloyd Melnick
Chief Customer Officer

I was at a speech yesterday by Hugh MacLeod, author of Ignore Everybody (gapingvoid.com), at the Purina Digital Marketing Summit.  The topic was social objects, primarily that the true value of most objects/things is the ability to share it with people.  These objects include everything from iPhones to sea shells.  I found it particularly interesting because of its relevance to the social gaming world.  A lot of arguments have been made for the success of these games but Hugh’s argument suggests that the reason people play this games is to share their experiences with their friends.  Thus, the gifting and wall posts are the central element of the game, not the actual gameplay experience.  The ability to share what is inside the game, the virtual items, the photo galleries, etc., all build on the social experience. 

What it also suggests is that the vocal proponents of the I Don’t Care About Your Farm, Fish, Mafia, etc., groups really don’t get why their friends are playing and posting.  It’s not about the farm or the cafe or the mafia, it’s an object for your friend to interact.  What these people are saying is either I don’t understand social media/Facebook or I don’t care to interact with you: how rude.

Lloyd Melnick
Chief Customer Officer

Just a quick note that our first true Facebook release, The Crazies, has surpassed 125,000 players (MAU) with over 16,000 playing a day (DAU).  We’ve achieved this success with less than $2,000 in marketing as we are still adding most of the virility and monetization features. 

Although I’d like to take all the credit for this success, what it really shows is the value of properties in social games.  The Crazies is based on the upcoming Overture movie and our game is co-produced with Starz, which provides the star power (get the pun, I’m funny) to overcome the limited marketing spend.  Definitely bodes well for our next few Facebook releases.

Lloyd Melnick

Chief Customer Officer

I had a realization today that the explosion of people playing social media games is probably largely due to the economy.  It’s not that people are cutting back on other media or that “Freemium” is the new business model, it’s that many people can’t afford to go shopping anymore; however, they still need to feed their addiction. 

With millions of people forced to cut back on their shopping habit, they need to get their fix somewhere.  Enter the virtual stores on Farmville, Happy Island, Mafia Wars, Cafe World, and such.  There they can spend 30 minutes or more a day buying items without worrying about getting a call from Chase or Citibank the next day.  I really think that people’s desire to shop and the economic shackling of that desire is one of the key reasons behind the popularity of social games.

Lloyd Melnick

Chief Customer Officer