Zynga Calls Xbox LIVE “Small” – Dismisses Service
When it comes to multiplayer experiences and social gaming, my favorite platform is easily Xbox LIVE. It looks gorgeous, it runs well and for a premium service I have no complaints. That however isn’t enough to impress Facebook developing mogul “Zynga”.
During a recent interview with Industry Gamers Zynga’s Chief Designer Brian Reynolds told them that “Xbox Live’s too small a demographic”. However before all the Xbox 360 fanboys (I’m partially one) get on their steeds of hate and chase Reynolds down, hear his reasons;
“I’m a game developer and I even come from a triple-A space so we might even be in the double digits. 20 or maybe even 30 per cent of my friends might have an Xbox 360, but effectively 100 per cent of them have Facebook and effectively 100 per cent of them have a mobile phone. Of them, probably 90 per cent have a smartphone.”
Reynolds is right, and his statement isn’t so outrageous when put into context.
I read a newspaper article today that revealed a whopping 30% of Australia’s population uses Facebook – a staggering six million people. So when that sort of penetration is studied in larger countries like America and Japan, you can see why Xbox LIVE not that viable a development platform for social gaming companies like Zynga.
I however can’t imagine Microsoft being too happy about the comments made seeing as Facebook is an official application you can in fact use on the console.
What are your thoughts? Would you like to see Zynga games on the Xbox LIVE service? Let me know in the comments below or via Twitter – @DrjftGaming.
Source: [Develop Online] via [Industry Gamers]
