Comments on: How are the casual game portals doing? http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/ Phil Steinmeyer's rumblings on the game biz, programming, and life Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:16:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Donavon Keithley http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-52 Donavon Keithley Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:49:59 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-52 Alexa's data is not a random sampling but it's hardly "completely meaningless". Random noise would be meaningless. We're talking about the casual games market here. In the absence of better data I'll take measurements of unsophisticated computer users any day. Alexa’s data is not a random sampling but it’s hardly “completely meaningless”. Random noise would be meaningless.

We’re talking about the casual games market here. In the absence of better data I’ll take measurements of unsophisticated computer users any day.

]]> By: g. http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-51 g. Thu, 22 Dec 2005 02:36:13 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-51 More on topic. One thing I realized, all of the sites I visited promise you free play *after* you sign up. with the advent of canvas and javascript based games (plus the more widespread use of Firefox) I dare to suggest that there will be a lot more sites that let you play one game immediately in your browser and then lure the user in to the paid content more gradually and seamless. I believe there is a bunch of people that are just too reluctant to give up their email adress just for a free game to a company they haven't had the possibility to build a trust relationship with (even if the company has an established brand name). So casual web games can become a lot more casual (I for example don't want to give up my email for 5 minutes of amusement), so I definitely see growth and even break-into the market opportunities there. There may be business opportunities that can be explored, but from the graphs you are posting it sure looks like the market for the big players is solidifying - attention-wise, not money-wise. Also I think portals like yahoo discourage people from going to other sites since they have it all there - that also may help to create the "solidifying" impression. (search for games with yahoo and first thing that pops up is yahoo-games) Seeking money from investors right now looks like a wise idea to me since it may enable you to expand that market beyond the current scope and attract more eyeballs. not that I know anything about business, it just seems logical. More on topic.
One thing I realized, all of the sites I visited promise you free play *after* you sign up. with the advent of canvas and javascript based games (plus the more widespread use of Firefox) I dare to suggest that there will be a lot more sites that let you play one game immediately in your browser and then lure the user in to the paid content more gradually and seamless.
I believe there is a bunch of people that are just too reluctant to give up their email adress just for a free game to a company they haven’t had the possibility to build a trust relationship with (even if the company has an established brand name).
So casual web games can become a lot more casual (I for example don’t want to give up my email for 5 minutes of amusement), so I definitely see growth and even break-into the market opportunities there.
There may be business opportunities that can be explored, but from the graphs you are posting it sure looks like the market for the big players is solidifying - attention-wise, not money-wise.
Also I think portals like yahoo discourage people from going to other sites since they have it all there - that also may help to create the “solidifying” impression. (search for games with yahoo and first thing that pops up is yahoo-games)
Seeking money from investors right now looks like a wise idea to me since it may enable you to expand that market beyond the current scope and attract more eyeballs. not that I know anything about business, it just seems logical.

]]> By: Jason Maskell http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-50 Jason Maskell Thu, 22 Dec 2005 02:25:44 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-50 The average profile of Alexa users is people too foolish to not install the toolbar. Or too foolish to remove it after some site installed it without their knowledge through an ancient browser hole. In short, it's pretty much completely meaningless data. The average profile of Alexa users is people too foolish to not install the toolbar. Or too foolish to remove it after some site installed it without their knowledge through an ancient browser hole.

In short, it’s pretty much completely meaningless data.

]]> By: Phil Steinmeyer http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-49 Phil Steinmeyer Thu, 22 Dec 2005 01:51:42 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-49 To the extent that people with the Alexa toolbar don't match the 'net population as a whole, then comparing a site particularly favored by the types of users who also use the toolbar (Beginners?) against another site may be misleading. But, assuming that the 'average profile' of Alexa toolbar users doesn't change much over time, then Alexa is a great resource for watching a site's change in popularity over time. To the extent that people with the Alexa toolbar don’t match the ‘net population as a whole, then comparing a site particularly favored by the types of users who also use the toolbar (Beginners?) against another site may be misleading.

But, assuming that the ‘average profile’ of Alexa toolbar users doesn’t change much over time, then Alexa is a great resource for watching a site’s change in popularity over time.

]]> By: Jason Maskell http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-48 Jason Maskell Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:46:15 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-48 Just so ya know Phil, Alexa is basically completely worthless for measuring traffic or site popularity. They get their numbers from their toolbar. Do you know anyone with Alexa's toolbar installed? I sure as hell don't. Just so ya know Phil, Alexa is basically completely worthless for measuring traffic or site popularity. They get their numbers from their toolbar. Do you know anyone with Alexa’s toolbar installed? I sure as hell don’t.

]]> By: Phil Steinmeyer http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-47 Phil Steinmeyer Wed, 21 Dec 2005 21:04:06 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-47 Fixed - thanks. Fixed - thanks.

]]> By: g. http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-46 g. Wed, 21 Dec 2005 20:58:39 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/27/how-are-the-casual-game-portals-doing/#comment-46 you might want to change the image-directory url from wp-images/ to /wp-images/ ;-) you might want to change the image-directory url from wp-images/ to /wp-images/
;-)

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