‘Facebook to become biggest multiplayer platform’

Facebook will become the biggest multiplayer gaming platform in the world, says Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen.

The browser game developer boss believes the industry has only just scratched the surface of what is capable on the social network platform, and said it has never been easier to play games with friends.

“The beautiful thing about Facebook as a gaming platform is that it makes playing with your friends easier than it has ever been in the history of the gaming industry,” said Paananen.

“For this reason, we think Facebook is going to be the biggest gaming platform in the world. As an industry, we have just scratched the surface on the kind of rich social gaming experiences that this platform enables.”

Supercell has just released free-to-play ‘real-time’ multiplayer RPG Gunshine.net on Facebook, which Paanenen said has been developed to target hardcore gamers rather than the typical casual user-base.

He added that during beta testing, the social aspect and real-time interaction between users lead to a higher level of engagement and monetisation, with a conversion rate of paying users of more than ten per cent.

Valve boss Gabe Newell also recently said how he believed core gamers spent more on the free-to-play model than casual users.

He claimed that Team Fortress 2 had seen a 20 to 30 per cent conversion rate of paying customers, rather than the typical two to three per cent most developers reported.