What attracted Riccardo Zacconi to video games was the sheer excitement it could bring, much like it felt playing his first C64 games. He elevated this excitement in the creation of King.com and continues as CEO.
Casual games have exploded in the market in recent years, helped by many different developers and publishers. King.com tops the board as a worldwide leader in casual social games. With more than 50 million monthly active users, being the number two Facebook games developer, and having over 11 million DAU, it’s no wonder how. It is clearly following its mission by making the best casual and puzzle games in the world.
Along with the rise of casual games came the creation of multiple platforms. Deciding a platform can feel like life or death. One solution to this choice is to not stick to one platform. However, creating a multiplatform game is its own dragon’s lair, with concerns such as quality control. Zacconi finds the process of delivering a seamless experience to be a formidable opponent, but with Bubble Witch Saga, they succeeded. The game appears to effortlessly flow between mobile and Facebook. “Players’ progress, virtual goods, leaderboards and more are fully synchronized,” said Zacconi. “This means that if you are at level 72 and are using the ‘Charm of Precision,’ that will be the same across both devices, allowing users to play whenever and wherever they want, picking up the experience where they left off.”
Once you face down those dragons, there is a treasure trove of benefits with multiplatform games. Zacconi has witness better game reception through the use of multiple platforms.
Online consumers expect to be able to do what they want, when they want to and on the device of their choice. Why stand in their way?
With multiplatform games, he sees a broader market, assisting the discovery of your hidden gem.
Technology has blended into our daily lives. There is at least one person you know of who is constantly on Facebook or Pinterest, or is constantly on edge if they forget their cell phone. One piece of technology that Zacconi notices greatly impacted the game market is tablets. He praised the graphics, built-in connectivity, game-capability, and mobility. “Then you also have the App Stores, which make finding and buying games a simple one-click action,” said Zacconi. “No need to visit a store or go through complex download processes.”
Tablet sales have been rapidly growing and are predicted by many to continue into the future. It will continue to be a factor in the game market, but at what cost? Zacconi believes the cost is the PC and console.
King.com continues to push forward, adding to their 150+ original high-quality game formats. Each month, they are launching new games and pushing those games across multiple platforms. “We are also constantly testing technologies like HTML5 in order to provide the most innovative gameplay experience for our players so you will have to stay tuned for what’s to come.”
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