Technology analyst Scott Steinberg answers a viewer’s question about Google+’s foray into social games: Is it really going to give Facebook a run for its money?
In the short term, the answer is no. There are about 25 million users on Google+ versus roughly 750 million on Facebook, so when it comes to making money, there’s really no contest between the two.
However, for game developers, it’s crucial to be noticed. Right now, there are thousands of casual games on Facebook, with new ones appearing every day. It’s pretty hard to get discovered there without spending big marketing bucks.
Being among the early entrants on Google+ makes getting noticed easy — and that could pay off big time when Google+’s membership numbers grow.
I agree that the Google+ is going to have to do some serious features integration in addition to MAJOR development in order to draw numbers. I think small games can do well on Facebook, because there’s simply enough users. Take the example of Facebook Video Chat Rounds for example (http://apps.facebook.com/chatrounds/ ) — games integrated with video chat — and that has over a million regular users…