Giving a speech today in Londons Tower Bridge Hotel as part of the Social Games & Virtual Goods World 2011 conference, Joe Chen, CEO of RenRen, spoke of the difference of approach his company has taken when compared to its American equivalent, Facebook.
Rather than take the 'credits' approach and seek to turn social gaming into a revenue generator for the social network via virtual good purchases, RenRen takes the opposite approach.
"We turn the table," Chen stated. "Facebook looks at [social games] as primarily to make money. We dont do that."
More than credits
Instead the company heavily promotes what it sees as 'high quality social games' such as Popcaps Plants Vs. Zombies Social with traditional and modern advertising techniques such as 'zombie flash mobs' in major pedestrian areas in cities across the country.
This active participation in promoting its service's games is a stark contrast to Facebooks hands-off approach as laid out by the European Head of Gaming Partnerships Julien Codorniou at the Social Gaming Summit last month, in which the company stressed that it was "never going to be in games ourselves" nor "invest in gaming companies".
Instead, RenRen which hosts Happy Farm, the social farming game that inspired FarmVille sees social gaming as "definitely the future", but doesn't see ARPU as important a barometer.
"We make more money with brands than virtual goods," he said.
Advertising channel
Chen revealed that unique conditions present in China more specifically the level of piracy when it comes to big brand names has led to this alternative balancing of revenue generation when compared to its American rival.
He attributed some of RenRen's success in becoming the leading 'real name' social network in China to the company's early adoption of smartphones when the market was still in its early stages, saying that he expected penetration of the device in China to continue growing at a tremendous rate.
News
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).
Related Articles
Top Stories
News
6 hours, 26 minutes ago
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Views E10 - Brawl Stars smashes 2023 revenue, Square Enix’s extraordinary losses, and Haaland signs for Clash of Clans
News
May 3rd, 2024
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
News
May 3rd, 2024
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
News
May 3rd, 2024
Mobile Movers: All the latest appointments and job moves from around the industry
Events
GameDev Atlantic 2024 | May 4th | |
LA Games Conference 2024 | North America | May 6th |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |