Social Game Dev Says Designers Are Accepting the Social Medium

The argument of whether or not social games are legitimate gaming experiences or just cheap attempts at earning some quick cash has gone back and forth, but the co-founder of social game developer Loot Drop has stated that big game publishers and developers are starting to come around to the whole social gaming scene. Loot Drop’s Brenda Brathwaite addressed the matter in an interview with GamesIndustry, stating that social games were in no way evil, and that many casual and social games such as Farmville were more than just poorly crafted titles designed to strip players of their time and money. According to Brathwaite, titles such as Loot Drop’s Ravenwood Fair are valid games in the video game industry.

Brathwaite, who previously worked on PC and console games such as Def Jam: Icon and the abysmal Playboy: The Mansion, stated that the audience for social games has grown so much that it’s evident the medium won’t be going away. “People understand that these games are here to stay. It’s not a bubble, it’s not a fad. The 100 million gamers that have been woken up that like a more casual style of play are not going anywhere. That audience is growing, it’s becoming more sophisticated, it’s wanting to move into more deeper gaming experiences.”

Brathwaite then went on to categorize social gaming as a platform of its own, much like the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii are each unique consoles. “People in the industry are seeing Facebook as a platform like we see the PlayStation 3 or PC as a platform. They all have a particular audience and the demographic tends to like a specific type of game more predominantly than others. By looking at it as a platform and noot judging the whole thing just based on a few games or a subset of mechanics that you deem unacceptable for whatever reason, I think traditional developers are coming around to the opportunities of Facebook.”

I appreciate the fact that Brathwaite didn’t claim that consoles games were dying, but I’m not 100 percent sold on the idea that social gaming is a platform. If it is a platform like Brathwaite says, then it’s a platform designed specifically for the casual crowd that doesn’t care to focus on a robust, more diversified gaming experience that console games can provide. Angry Birds creator Peter Vesterbacka may not take too kindly to Brathwaite’s statements that social games are casual experiences for less serious gamers as the same can be said about mobile games, but there’s no denying that games such as Farmville, Ravenwood Fair, and even Angry Birds cater to a specific audience of casual gamers.