Google+ is About to Change the Social Gaming Industry

Below is my Quora answer to, How will Google+ change social gaming?

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For years Facebook has dominated the social gaming industry despite game developer and publishers’ love or hate. Facebook has taken advantage of this by requiring Facebook Credit adoption and designing a platform where only the rich can advertise their way to success (read: Zynga). Yes, there are always outliers but in general this is true.

Here are a few of Google’s key advantages:

1. More Developer Friendly
   It’s rumored that Google only take a 20% cut from partners that choose to integrate their payment platform compared to Facebook’s mandatory 30% tax. It’s also likely that Google will be more developer friendly, similar to their approach with Android vs. Apple’s iOS.
   
   At the end of the day, Google is a search and advertising company. They doesn't need to make money with social so it can afford to cut revenue in favor of adoption and engagement.
   
   Side note: Jeff Jarvis talks about Google’s “moat strategy” in episode 101 of This Week in Google.
   
2. Google has an OS
   Unlike Facebook, Google has an OS. Android is growing in adoption more than ever, already overtaking iOS’ market share in the U.S. and (imho) will be the market leader soon enough with their mass distribution and affordable pricing. This will become an even greater advantage as mobile continues to replace PC engagement.
   
   OS-level integration allows Google to innovate beyond what Facebook is capable of in certain respects. Their recently released Instant Upload feature is one example of this.
   
3. Circles for Gaming Buddies
   It’s very common for Facebook social gamers to friend random strangers or seek fellow game players on various community sites to help manage each other’s crops. Unfortunately, this pollutes the user’s social graph, devaluing Facebook’s primary utility - social interaction. Although Facebook has lists to help manage this, no one uses them (as Zuckerberg himself admits).
   
   Google+ puts lists (in the form of “Circles”) at the core of the user experience and on-boarding flow. This allows users to define explicit social groups to create a better gaming and social experience.

There’s no doubt social gaming is a huge part of their social strategy. Facebook should dedicate much of its success to gaming (did you know Zynga alone drives over 52 million daily active users!). Similarly, Google+ will use social gaming to grow its network and adoption.

All in all, this is great for game creators and users. Where there’s competition, there’s innovation and advancement.