Google to battle Facebook on Social Gaming ground
Tomorrow Google will announce the acquisition of Slide, a social gaming apps and virtual communities developer, that marks another cornerstone in Google’s strategy to build a social gaming network that could challenge Facebook’s domination.
After the $100-200 million investment in Zynga, the biggest online social gaming company, that as reported by TechCrunch, multiple sources link to the launch of Google Games later this year, Google is preparing to enter a crowded market. Facebook in fact is not the only competitor: Yahoo and Microsoft have already signed partnerships with Zynga, and Disney acquired Playdom for $563.2 million.
Small flash games websites that rely on Google traffic will be the ones suffering the most from Google’s presence in the casual games market, but the battle is also about establishing a standard for micropayments for virtual goods. Google Checkout has struggled to overtake PayPal, and Facebook Credits (one of the reasons for Zynga to look for greener pastures) can count on Facebook’s large user base to become the #1 virtual currency for social gaming.
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