Tim Chang, a principal at Norwest Venture Partners, is one of the top venture capitalists following the social game market. At the Casual Connect casual game conference in Seattle this week, he identified the big social gaming trends that are developing this year. In the first video below, he recaps the trends of 2009. In the second video, he talks about what’s hot in 2010.
Among the trends this year: Facebook’s changes to its viral messaging rules have ended the fast spread of social games; now it’s a lot harder to get a new game off the ground. The in-app purchases and cross-promotion on the iPhone have allowed iPhone developers to prosper. He notes that just about every company in social gaming is being pursued by merger and acquisition suitors, with Zynga and Playdom acquiring developers, big console game companies hunting social game companies, and brands and big media looking to jump in.
Check out the videos of Chang in action on stage. Our videos are just excerpts of an hour-long talk. Here’s a link to Chang’s talk last year.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2NFQJ8toOc&w=640&h=385]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4GuagKkLPw&w=425&h=344]