Facebook is setting up a dedicated office in Europe to work with the region's social game developers.
The company already has a similar operation in the US, but told the Guardian it was setting up in Europe because it is "the most interesting region in terms of innovation" in the social space.
Christian Hernandez, EMEA director of business development and partnerships, said the move was in response to the success enjoyed by European studios including Wooga, King.com, Supercell and Nordeus, who he praised for building audiences on Facebook by creating markedly different experiences to those made by Zynga, by some distance the most popular developer of Facebook games.
"In the US, we have a team of engineers, product managers and partnerships folks who only do gaming, from Zynga down to two-person shops," Hernandez said. "Now we're creating that same unit in Europe too."
Facebook games, he said, are now entering their third generation. The first was "a mad scramble for what the heck this platform was, with not very high-quality games"; Zynga defined the second generation with the likes of FarmVille.
"Now we're in the third evolution of the platform, as the world-building and social/casual space has begun to consolidate," he explained. "Newer players are coming into untapped areas and satisfying new types of users, who don't want to play FarmVille but might want to play strategy or shooter games, or free games around jackpot, slots or blackjack. This is the fastest-growing and most interesting area."
Mobile will be a big focus for Facebook in general this year, and for its European team as well. In March the company will embark on a tour of the EMEA region, with engineers attending events in London, Stockholm and Tel-Aviv to impart advice on mobile app development.
The overarching message, though, is that there is still scope for success on Facebook; that Zynga doesn't make the only game in town. "As a gaming platform, we're just getting started," Hernandez said. "Companies that came onto the platform fairly recently have become very popular very quickly, because they focused on the users and distribution channels. I still think there's a big opportunity for others to come in."
Source: The Guardian