New York Jets, Sanrio和the Golden Nugget Casino等多家公司有什么共同之处？近期，这几家公司正都致力于将公司品牌引进到Facebook等社交网站的在线游戏中，希望以此来扩大公司市场份额，开拓新的收入渠道。

虚拟商品公司Viximo产品副董事Ravi Mehta认为，品牌社交游戏在创收潜能方面高于起非品牌社交游戏。Mehta预估，通过虚拟商品交易和广告等渠道，非品牌的社交游戏中平均每位玩家仅可以创收5至20美分，然而在品牌社交游戏中这一数值则可以上升到10至35美分。

此外，许多品牌公司还希望可以通过开发社交游戏激发自己的发展潜力。最近，New York Jets发布了一款名为“Ultimate Fan”的Facebook游戏。在这款游戏中，足球迷们可以“为所欲为”：猜测比赛得分，支持或不支持某支球队，举办球迷虚拟场外野餐会等。除了吸引球迷外，该游戏的开发团队希望通过游戏赞助或虚拟道具交易等方式实现盈利。

该公司的执行副董事长Matt Higgins表示，创新是该公司的一向宗旨，因此他们极其注重在社交游戏领域的发展。

Branded Social Games

与New York Jets一样，Sanrio公司也打出了其招牌Hello Kitty，希望凭此在社交游戏领域有一番作为。今年8月，这家日本公司发售了“Hello Kitty Online”，这是一款以建造安全娱乐的网络社区为主旨的多人在线游戏，游戏玩家们可以一同完成各种任务，玩迷你游戏和聊天。这款游戏以后也会出售一些游戏道具，Sanrio公司将把部分收入捐给慈善机构。
对此，该公司的开发开发兼发行副董事Robert Ferrari表示，关心时事也是社交游戏的优势之一，社交游戏可以凭一己之力组织各种捐款活动，前一段时间，“Hello Kitty Online”就为支援海地，在游戏中开展了一场捐款活动。

此外，Golden Nugget Casino也发布了Facebook首款Casino品牌游戏“ “Golden Nugget Las Vegas Casino.”这款游戏类似于Facebook的老牌扑克游戏，Golden Nugget Casino公司希望以自己的名气打响这款社交游戏。游戏中，玩家将扮演一位赌场经理，购买赌博机，扑克桌等等。与其他两家公司一样，Golden Nugget公司希望以此来开拓用户群：该款游戏以30岁以上的妇女为目标用户群，这是社交游戏最重要的玩家人群。

Viximo公司产品副董事Mehta表示，社交游戏正逐步成为网络市场的重要组成部分，通过各种品牌社交游戏，玩家可以更好地了解特定品牌，这种联系是无法通过浏览Twitter或Facebook品牌页面获得的。

众所周知，受欢迎的Facebook页面一般拥有500万只1000万不等的粉丝，而“FarmVille”等社交游戏却拥有8000多万月活跃用户。

然而，社交游戏虽然可以在某种程度上提升母公司的品牌影响力和销量，开发一款成功的社交游戏却并非易事。制作一款受欢迎的社交游戏比研发一场广告宣传站更为复杂精细。首先，游戏开发耗时久，需要游戏开发人员的专业知识，还要配合社交网络的发布渠道。

其次，游戏开发公司还要遵守Facebook不断变化的规则，时刻更新游戏内容满足玩家不断攀升的期望。

最后，品牌社交游戏不能仅停留于模仿。因此开发品牌社交游戏要拥有相对稳健的玩家基础，如此一来，品牌社交游戏才能真正地开创崭新的市场蓝图和实现销售佳绩。

What do the New York Jets, Sanrio and the Golden Nugget Casino all have in common? They have turned their brands into online games on social networks like Facebook in hopes of expanding their audience and creating new revenue streams.

Branded social games have the potential to generate higher average revenue per user than non-branded games, saysRavi Mehta, vice president of product at Viximo, a virtual goods company. Mehta estimates that non-branded social games generate 5 to 20 cents per users through sales of virtual goods or from players completing advertiser offers and surveys. He expects branded social games to earn 10 to 35 cents per user because these games reach an established community for the brand.

A number of companies are hoping branded social games will give them a boost. The New York Jets recently launched a Facebook game called “Ultimate Fan” that lets football fans and armchair quarterbacks do what they do best: predict game scores, “boost” or “jinx” a team, and hold virtual tailgate parties with other fans. In addition to engaging the fans, the team expects the game to make money through product placement sponsorships and fans purchasing virtual tailgate items.

“We don’t want to just repurpose old content, but do something different, so social games are an important area for us,” says Matt Higgins, the Jets’ executive vice president of business operations.

Sanrio is hoping to do the same for its popular Hello Kitty brand. In August, the Japanese company launched “Hello Kitty Online,” a mass multiplayer online game focused on creating community within a safe and entertaining environment. Just as players in “World of Warcraft” get together to go on quests and socialize, players in “Hello Kitty Online” can come together on their own missions, play mini-games, or just chat. The game can also introduce new in-game products and sell them, and raise money for charities.

“The beauty of a game like this is that it’s ongoing, so we’re always putting new content into the game,” says Robert Ferrari, vice president of publishing and business development at Sanrio Digital. “We’re also always running events. To help out Haiti, we ran a special in-game event where what players did drove charitable gift donations to Doctors Without Borders.”

The Golden Nugget Casino launched Facebook’s first casino-branded game “Golden Nugget Las Vegas Casino.” Casino games like poker have long been popular staples of Facebook. Golden Nugget wants to capitalize on that popularity with its own branded game that lets you play a casino manager who can purchase virtual slot machines and card tables. Golden Nugget also wants to expand its consumer audience and add new players: The game targets women over 30, one of the biggest segments of social gamers.

“Social games are quickly becoming another component of online marketing,” says Ravi Mehta, vice president of product at Viximo, a virtual goods company. “You can build a really engaging experience around the brand in social games. It’s a lot deeper than just following the brand on Twitter and Facebook pages.”

The proof is in the numbers: The top Facebook fan pages have 5 million to 10 million fans, while a game like “FarmVille” at its height had about 80 million monthly active users, Mehta says.

While social games have the potential to help companies drive brand awareness and sales in new ways, there are challenges to creating such games. Making an effective social game is a more complicated than creating ad campaigns. Social games “take a few months to develop and they require knowledge of game mechanics and style of distribution on social networks,” Mehta says.

In addition, game developers must play within Facebook’s rules and guidelines, which are notorious for constantly changing. The game also needs to meet built-in expectations from the community.

“You want to create a game that meets the expectations of the brand and the quality,” Ferrari says. “You want that quality to be at a level the community will want to invest time in.”

Finally, branded social games aren’t likely to become the next “FarmVille,” which dominates with its massive number of players. But brands’ built-in communities should provide a solid foundation for social games. And if done right, branded social games can create new marketing and sales opportunities, as well as enjoyable experiences for consumers. （Source：Forbes）