Vancouver-based social games developer Eruptive Games recently announced a partnership with Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) to bring its Citizen Grim game to Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). And while the title hasn’t yet been pushed or promoteds on a large-scale, the advanced graphics and zombie shooting action promise that this title should do well. I spoke to the company’s CEO Julian Ing this morning about his thoughts on the recent Zynga partnership, as well as his plans to bring Citizen Grim over to Asia.
Eruptive recently announced $1.1 million in funding, and the new Facebook game (which you can find here) is its primary focus right now. I should point out that Citizen Grim is still in beta, but Julian notes that the new partnership with Zynga will be a huge boost for them as they prepare for the full launch.
What Zynga brings to the table is a lot of traffic, just masses of traffic. It’s a cost effective way to get players on our game. […] We’re still in the production roadmap, still tweaking and tuning the game mechanics, working with Zynga to help optimize the game with their feedback.
Julian also noted that he’s excited they they will be able to bring the game to Zynga.com as well. He notes that while Zynga is not really known for having a strong mobile foothold yet, if things go well, there may be an opportunity to work with Zynga on mobile. “We want to walk before we run,” says Julian.
Making adjustments for Asia
Citizen Grim on Facebook
So is Eruptive eyeing the Asian market right now, as so many other western developers are? Julian says Eruptive is very excited about Asia, and is considering coming into China by working with internet giant Tencent (HKG:0700):
It’s very early stage right now, I think we’ve just had a couple of discussions with Tencent. I understand the complexity of the Asian market and the industry though. We’re very much aware of that.
But as far as Citizen Grim is concerned, with its 1940s American theme, there may have to consider some adjustments in order to figure out what would work best. And Julian explains that in order to succeed on that front, they still have a little more homework to do in order to understand the best approach:
If were going to port over to Tencent and have them publish us, it wouldn’t just be a simple port, we have to start changing our copy as well, changing the graphics to be more suitable for the [local] market. We want to make sure that for whatever market we’re in, it’s really suitable, and that we do it right first time. We would be stoked to go over to China at some point and to work with Tencent, we just want to make sure that our team is aligned to work on that project, That when we go in there we do it with our guns blazing.
For Russia, With Love
Citizen Grim on VK
I asked Julian if there were other markets in the region that Eruptive was looking at, and he pointed out that Citizen Grim has actually already launched in Russia on VK.com yesterday. So actually, the first launch of Citizen Grim was not on Facebook, but actually on VK.
That network, which is very Facebook-like in its appearance and interface, is said to have about 119 million accounts (although I’m not sure of their active user total).
Julian also pointed to Japan and Korea as markets that they are considering as well, as places where Citizen Grim could be ported/localized. But as for exactly how they go about doing that, he isn’t quite certain yet.
We would probably need a dedicated team, or find third party parters who can carry that forth for us — and the latter might be the better route, if we can find a company that understands the nuances of the culture and how to maximize profitability for games in Asian then it would make a better strategy going forward.
The Rovio Model
Julian also emphasized the importance of building a brand with staying power, as opposed to building just a hit game. He explained that they want to be on multiple platforms and media, and says that a Citizen Grim graphic is on the way, and a possible movie as well. In that sense, he says, the model of Rovio who has experienced success with the Angry Birds brand is a good one to learn from.
It’s important that we do a brand that can last for years to come, rather than a one-shot game that only lasts a say, a year or a year and a half.
We’ll have to wait and see if Citizen Grim can endure as long as it intends. It’s certainly an ambitious plan, but the the social gaming industry, especially in Asia, has many zombies of its own lurking in the shadows which Eruptive will have to navigate past.
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