Interview: Why MetroGames Scaled Back Facebook Development To Go Mobile

Despite primarily working on social platforms for the last few years, Argentinean developer MetroGames says that it has decided to scale back its social game offerings to focus more heavily on the mobile market. MetroGames has been working with Facebook and other social networks since 2008, and currently operates a handful of titles, including Auto Hustle, Fashion World, and Texas Grand Poker. In a recent interview with Gamasutra, MetroGames CEO Damian Harburguer pointed out the difficulties of competing with the juggernauts of the social space, and explained why the company decided to shift its focus to a new platform. "We have canceled almost all our pipeline of upcoming games [on Facebook]," Harburguer said, noting that he believes the company is more likely to find success on mobile platforms, where he said ad dollars have less of an impact on a game's success. A New Mobile Focus Harburguer explained that on social platforms, MetroGames had trouble competing with the large marketing budgets of major app developers. With its mobile games, he hopes the company can stand out without relying so heavily on ads. "We felt that by doing this, it would be much easier for us to become a leader. If you look at the [social] market, you might think that at the very end the one with the best product is the one who wins, but on Facebook right now it seems the one with the biggest buck is the one that wins." By focusing more on mobile platforms, MetroGames hopes to focus on creating quality games that can stand out regardless of their studio or marketing budget. "If you look at the mobile world, maybe having a cool game would give you the number one spot. We think that we can build the next cool game, and that’s our goal." Harburguer said that he has been particularly inspired by the success of Rovio's Angry Birds, a title with well-realized, yet simple mechanics that went on to find great success. "If you look at the market, the most successful game ever was Angry Birds and that is just a great idea with excellent execution. So that’s what we want, to build a game that is really cool and that everyone loves." Earlier this year, the company announced a five-year deal with mobile app publisher Chillingo, and Harburguer said the company will help MetroGames promote its new mobile titles and provide feedback on upcoming projects. The first game to come out of this deal is Pixel Ranger for iOS (pictured), an arcade style shooter based on one of MetroGame's existing Facebook titles. Retargeting Its Social Strategy Despite MetroGames' new mobile focus, the company is still involved in the social space – albeit with a more cautious approach. Harburguer said that the company will continue to maintain its existing Facebook titles, and will be "very selective" of any new projects it chooses to pursue. "You need to compete with something extremely unique to succeed [on social platforms]," he said. "The only way to be very big is to bring something really, really unique that could not be copied in a short period, so that’s why our big bet on social is something that is really unique." While the company chose not to divulge any more info on its upcoming Facebook projects, Harburguer says the studio has high hopes for its next title in terms of its quality and long-term success. "We think the quality of the next game will be strong enough so that the word of mouth effect will be very big, because the quality is way far away from the other Facebook games, even when speaking of the biggest companies," he says. Harburguer says MetroGames hopes to launch its upcoming Facebook title within the coming weeks.