Congratulations Jambool – The Future of Virtual Currency at Google with Social Gold

By now, you’ve most likely heard the news, but it is never too late to send congratulations over to our client, Jambool, whose virtual economy platform Social Gold has received plenty of attention over the past year – most recently after Jambool’s acquisition by Google.  As the social gaming and virtual goods industries continue to grow,  we look forward to seeing what our talented friends at Jambool can come up with next at Google.

Future of Media

Some of the most forward-thinking leaders within the entertainment industry attended the Future of Media conference today at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the media industry. The discussion panels covered topics including the future of interactive entertainment, television and film, social media and news, music, and entrepreneurship within the media landscape. It seems that while the future is uncertain, business leaders and innovators within the space see a shift toward more interactive entertainment as the long-standing distinctions between creators of content and distributors of information are expected to break down.

Terry Semel shared his views and predictions for the future of the industry as the keynote speaker. Currently the Chariman and CEO of Windsor Media, Semel was previously the Chairman and CEO of Yahoo! from 2001 through 2007. Before heading Yahoo!, Semel was Chairman and co-CEO of successful entertainment giant, Warner Bros. Semel predicted that the stereotypes of “Hollywood” as the home of content creation and “Silicon Valley” as the strictly high-tech hub will break down and become irrelevant. Semel believes that these two worlds are colliding as technology companies are interacting more with media companies and vice versa. Studios are no longer in complete control since user-generated content is becoming more prevalent online along with the rapid growth of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. At the same time, great technology needs compelling content that people will pay for in order to survive as people begin to  interact with media on portable gadgets. Semel noted that traditionally straight technology companies, such as Sony or Microsoft, will provide other services because they want to expand into the media business.

One question that kept reoccurring throughout the day was how content will be monetized in the future. Semel had a simple solution for this. He declared that companies are foolish to give away quality content for free and believes that ads should definitely be used to monetize media. He pointed out that people aren’t so averse to advertisements that contain humor, exemplified by the tradition of households across the nation tuning into the Super Bowl, in part, to be entertained by amusing ads. Semel explained that social websites such as Facebook don’t have to necessarily charge their audience for access to their platform, but they can easily earn revenue from companies that want to reach those millions of valuable eyeballs. Despite the rapidly evolving media industry, businesses are still operating to turn profits and everyone seemed to agree that content will not continue to be free forever.

Selling the Farm: Virtual Goods Summit 2009

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Unless you have been living under a social media rock for the past few months, you (or if you are not willing to admit it, “someone you know”) have most likely participated in the latest sensation to hit the games industry – social gaming.  Redefining the market and shifting demographics of those traditionally associated with gaming, companies such as Zynga, Playfish, and Playdom have charged into the space by storm, and as made evident at last week’s Virtual Goods Summit 2009, are here to stay.

Uncertainty looms for the future of social gaming hits such as "FarmVille"
Uncertainty looms for the future of social gaming hits such as FarmVille

There are skeptics who believe social gaming could potentially just be a current trend.  With simple gameplay mechanics and questionable depth, maintaining active users beyond a few months could pose a challenge to even the most successful of social gaming companies currently finding success in the casual market. A potentially more dangerous threat to such companies lies within questionable corporate practices, which has led to some recent backlash as exposed last week by TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington:

“In short, these games try to get people to pay cash for in game currency so they can level up faster and have a better overall experience. Which is fine. But for users who won’t pay cash, a wide variety of “offers” are available where they can get in-game currency in exchange for lead gen-type offers. Most of these offers are bad for consumers because it confusingly gets them to pay far more for in-game currency than if they just paid cash (there are notable exceptions, but the scammy stuff tends to crowd out the legitimate offers). And it’s also bad for legitimate advertisers.” Continue reading Selling the Farm: Virtual Goods Summit 2009