Playfish: Established brands will invade Facebook

The wide open social games space will soon be invaded by traditional IP and brands, according to a studio director at social game giant Playfish.

Jeferson Valadares, studio director at the EA-owned Pet Society developer, told attendees at today’s State of Independence conference in York that over the next few years the big IPs will begin to emerge on platforms such as Facebook.

His comments come several months after Playfish was acquired by Electronic Arts in a deal that could reach $400 million.

The buyout immediately sparked rumours that key EA IP, currently dominant in the retail space, could now thrive as social network games.

And yet, however Playfish is going to leverage established EA IP, the studio believes that many other big brands will inevitably try and make an impact on the thriving market.

“Brands will come into the Facebook space,” said Valadares during his lecture at the event.

“They won’t dominate like they do at retail, but they will be a big factor,” he added.

Elsewhere in his speaker session, the Playfish studio manager explored the intricate evolution of social gaming.

He also shared many of the lessons Playfish has learned during its rapid journey to the summit of the social game space, and said that biggest pitfall for developers entering the space is trying to retroactively make a game social. He said that a successful social game needs to be built from the ground-up.

He added that one of Playfish’s ambitions is to try to explore “different ranges of emotion” within its games.

“Social games were competitive, but we believe that in the future they will be collaborative,” he said.