Google has said that it's going to roll out a Google+ API when it's ready, meaning both the API and when the time is right. But the time hasn't been right so far and the API is most likely not coming very soon. Which seems for the better, as the few developers that have managed to get apps on Google+, via direct partnerships with Google, are not satisfied.
In fact, two of the biggest are packing up and leaving, both Wooga and EA, two of the most popular app makers on Facebook and the fourth and third largest game makers.
Wooga has shut down Monster World and other titles will follow. PopCap, which EA bought a while back, is also taking Bejeweled Blitz down starting next week.
Both companies have confirmed their waning interest in Google+, though they may not be giving up entirely. Wooga says only some games are getting shut down, those that are not seeing traction.
The company (more or less) says it'd much rather focus on Facebook where its games are actually played rather than spend resources on Google+. But Wooga's all three games it has on Google+ have been confirmed to shut down.
There are still plenty of games in there, well, plenty by Google+ standards, certainly more than there were at launch and more are being added.
Still, empirically, it doesn't seem like social gaming is going to have much success on Google+, at least not on the level it has on Facebook if only because the audience is different.
Google+ may or may not be a ghost town, depending on who you ask, but the ones that are there are generally more tech savvy and perhaps less likely to play casual or social games, not as much as the average Facebook user, and even less likely to pay for in-game items or click on ads.
That doesn't mean there's no money to be made on Google+, but it may be harder than on Facebook, or at least it's going to take a different strategy and a different sort of game. The size of the audience may be the biggest problem though.
Wooga has shut down Monster World and other titles will follow. PopCap, which EA bought a while back, is also taking Bejeweled Blitz down starting next week.
Both companies have confirmed their waning interest in Google+, though they may not be giving up entirely. Wooga says only some games are getting shut down, those that are not seeing traction.
The company (more or less) says it'd much rather focus on Facebook where its games are actually played rather than spend resources on Google+. But Wooga's all three games it has on Google+ have been confirmed to shut down.
There are still plenty of games in there, well, plenty by Google+ standards, certainly more than there were at launch and more are being added.
Still, empirically, it doesn't seem like social gaming is going to have much success on Google+, at least not on the level it has on Facebook if only because the audience is different.
Google+ may or may not be a ghost town, depending on who you ask, but the ones that are there are generally more tech savvy and perhaps less likely to play casual or social games, not as much as the average Facebook user, and even less likely to pay for in-game items or click on ads.
That doesn't mean there's no money to be made on Google+, but it may be harder than on Facebook, or at least it's going to take a different strategy and a different sort of game. The size of the audience may be the biggest problem though.
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