Last Week to Pre-Order Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011

Games on social networks became a billion dollar business in 2010, enabling the market’s big developers to secure significant investments and pursue sizable exits. Now that Zynga has clearly established itself as the 800 pound gorilla, EA/Playfish are bringing more IP to market, and Playdom is being integrated across Disney, what opportunities remain for other small and medium sized social game developers in 2011?

Inside Network is proud to announce a new original research report by Justin Smith and Charles Hudson profiling social gaming developers outside the largest, most established companies, entitled Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011. This report presents direct interview results from today’s most influential small and mid-sized developers aside from larger players Zynga, Playfish, Playdom, CrowdStar, and Kabam.

Get the Annual Membership

Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495 $1,995 USD*

OR Buy Single Report: $995 $795 USD*

* Pre-order discount ends March 28, 2011. All pre-ordered reports will be delivered on March 29, 2011.

Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011 is available for discount pre-order now, and will be released to the public on March 29.

What are top mid-sized developers’ expectations for the social gaming space in 2011? How will existing players fare as Facebook shifts the social gaming landscape through the rollout of Facebook Credits and continued changes to the platform? Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011 shares insights directly from the front lines on social game monetization, development, and customer acquisition and growth.

About the Report

Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011 shares insights from over two-dozen developers into key questions facing social gaming in 2011.

As with previous editions of Inside Virtual Goods, researchers Justin Smith and Charles Hudson have conducted several months of original research comprising interviews with developers and entrepreneurs in social gaming. This edition of Inside Virtual Goods will present exclusive interview results from the developers themselves, preceded by original profiles of all companies included in the survey. Social gaming is among today’s most competitive areas in technology; specific responses have been anonymized to encourage authentic, critical response.

What We Cover

Overview of the competitive landscape – Over the past year, the social gaming industry has been shaped and reshaped by enormous growth, market consolidation, and changes to payments and monetization brought on by the spread of Facebook Credits. What kind of competitive landscape and new opportunities should today’s developers anticipate in the year ahead?Profiles of key players – Companies like Zynga, EA / Playfish, and Disney / Playdom are regular topics in business news, but social gaming is an industry with dozens more key players whose rivalry and innovation are determining what the industry will look like in six and nine months. This section presents detailed, original profiles of the middle market companies to watch in 2011.Developer perspectives on the key issues – The responses in this section have been curated to reflect the diversity of viewpoints in today’s vibrant social gaming industry, and cover the following areas: DistributionMonetization and creditsGame design and developmentFundraising

See the full table of contents below:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Company Profiles

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III. Developer Perspectives

Distribution Viral ChannelsPaid AcquisitionOff-Facebook ChannelsMonetization Credits IntegrationResults with CreditsCredits IssuesGame Design & Development Projected Budgets and TimelinesTarget AudienceGenre InnovationFinancing Landscape Fundraising PlansPerspective on M&A

IV. Conclusion

New Insights on the Competitive Landscape

In 2010, social games began to show what kind of value can be created on top of social networks. 2011 will be an even more important year.

The social gaming market is evolving rapidly against a backdrop of shifting challenges, and still-emerging opportunities — social gaming will be this year’s industry to watch. If you’re involved, or are considering jumping in, Inside Virtual Goods will be one of your most important tools.

One year of original data and exclusive in-depth reports delivered on a quarterly basis is $2,495 and contains:

A detailed overview of the current state of the industrySpecific estimates on market size by segmentDiagnosis of key opportunities and issues by segment

About the Authors

Justin Smith

Founder, Inside Network

Justin Smith is the founder of Inside Network, the first company dedicated to providing news and market research to the Facebook platform and social gaming ecosystem. Justin leads Inside Network’s Inside Virtual Goods and AppData research and data services, and serves as co-editor of Inside Facebook and Inside Social Games.

Prior to Inside Network, he was formerly Head of Product at Watercooler, one of the leading application and game developers on the Facebook Platform. Prior to Watercooler, Justin was an early employee at Xfire, the largest social utility for gamers, which was sold to Viacom in 2006. Justin holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University.

Charles Hudson

Former VP Business Development, Serious Business

Charles Hudson is the former VP of Business Development for Serious Business, a leading social games developer on the Facebook platform.

Prior to Serious Business, he was formerly the Sr. Director for Business Development at Gaia Interactive, a leading online hangout for teens. Prior to Gaia, Charles worked in New Business Development at Google and focused on new partnership opportunities for early-stage products in the advertising, mobile, and e-commerce markets. Prior to joining Google, he was a Product Manager for IronPort Systems, a leading provider of anti-spam hardware appliances that was acquired by Cisco Systems for $830 million in 2007. Charles holds an MBA and BA from Stanford University.

Get The Annual Membership

Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495 $1,995 USD*

OR Buy Single Report: $995 $795 USD*

* Pre-order discount ends March 28, 2011. All pre-ordered reports will be delivered on March 29, 2011.

Although the report will not be released until Tuesday, March 29, we are offering a special pre-order discount for those who purchase now. A one year subscription is $1,995 until March 28, at which point the price will go to US $2,495. The one year subscription includes three quarterly updates on key developments in the space.

Or, you can download just this report. The pre-order price is $795 until March 28, at which point the price will go to US $995.

View the original article here