‘Social isn’t about games, it’s about services’

Oscar Clarke, evangelist for Chinese mobile games firm Papaya Mobile, has said that social games companies need to start seeing themselves as service providers, rather than games developers.

Speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton today, Clarke singled out Rovio title Angry Birds and its expansions as an example of the way in which mobile studios need to continue building their games after initial release.

“Rule number one: we are making services,” he said.

“We don’t make games anymore. Products need to be thought about as on-going concerns.”

And when discussing fears about the potential difficulties to creativity that such a business model may present, Clarke was at ease.

“For developers there is this worry that more social means less game. I don’t think that’s an issue,” he said.