Google+ losing key game developers
PopCap and Wooga are shutting down Google+ versions of their games
As Google's Google+ social network continues to struggle, key game developers are leaving what they perceive to be a sinking ship. PopCap will be removing Bejeweled Blitz from the service on Monday, and Wooga has already removed Monster World.
"We decided to remove certain games from Google+ because we have a much larger following on Facebook and they are active users," a Wooga customer care representative told AllThingsD.
"PopCap has decided to suspend Bejeweled Blitz on Google+ to redeploy our resources to other adaptations of Bejeweled. Certainly, Google is a valuable gaming partner for PopCap and EA, and we'll continue to develop for Google platforms," a PopCap spokesperson added.
Wooga is also planning to cut Bubble Island and Diamond Dash on July 1. A number of other large titles still remain, like Rovio's Angry Birds, but it's a large blow for Google's network. The service just doesn't have the users to justify supporting it, especially when many developers are investing in mobile platforms.
Huh.
Imagine that. Google Plus is yet another ghost town, chucked into the social scrap heap. Sad thing is, it could have contended with FB, and maybe even the games portion would have gotten more attention...had Google not behaved like a total butt goblin.
I think it is a tool that goes its space. It is not like FB but then again I don't need a second FB.
As for games, I go to Google+ to talk with others who share my interests. Games felt like too solitary an activity to me; if I wanted to play a game I could fire up Steam rather than playing Bejeweled Blitz. Google+ also doesn't let game spam your stream like Facebook let games spam your wall, so there's not as bit of a "viral" (*cough*) element to it. So, yeah, trying to port your Facebook games to Google+ will result in disappointing numbers. Not surprising to me, really.
The big problem is user generated content. Google haven't found a compelling reason for people to use it to put stuff on.
Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook and Pinterest have all succeeded, by different mechanisms, to get their users to generate lots of content. This is why these services thrive despite lacking the corporate horsepower of Google.
So G+ is still waiting the "killer app" that will give it relevance to a large audience.