Last week, VKontakte announced the appearance of a catalog of downloadable games on its pages. We asked about the working conditions with the initiative Elizaveta Zharkova, Head of development and support of the gaming platform.
Orange CastBackground
On July 23, a catalog with games downloaded to a personal computer appeared on VKontakte. The closest analogy is a miniature Steam. VKontakte called its initiative an experiment.
At the start, there are 15 games available in the catalog. There are casual projects among them, and designed for hardcore players. Some of the games presented are claimed as VK exclusives. For example, the sci-fi third-person shooter Orange Cast (on the cover of the news) and the arcade game Oa: Beyond the Maze.
All games after installation can be run without linking to VKontakte, but authorization within projects allows you to save progress. The catalog authors plan to add social mechanics, “so that users can advise their favorite games, compete in them with friends or, conversely, play in teams.”
However, at the start, the working conditions of the social network with developers within the new catalog were not clear. That’s what we asked about Elizaveta Zharkova.
Interview
Elizaveta Zharkova, Head of Development and support of the gaming platformApp2Top.ru : Please voice the distribution of shares when publishing the downloaded game on VKontakte (how much to the platform, how much to the developer)?
Elizaveta Zharkova: Developers receive 70% of revenue, 30% — VKontakte.
Is there any minimum in terms of traffic volumes that you give to projects?.
Zharkova: We undertake marketing and promotion of projects inside VKontakte. Developers of downloadable games will practically not need to engage in promo, everything will be implemented on the platform side. At the start, we plan at least 2 million catalog impressions, and we are also going to launch ads for individual games.
Now the catalog is a ribbon of projects where, with an increase in the number of games, there will be problems with findability. How will you solve this problem?
Zharkova: Over time, we will add collections, personal recommendations and features to the catalog. Users will be able to select the desired projects by genre, reviews and other filters. To develop the downloadable games platform, we will use the tools that we are already using to promote online games.
You have been selling keys on VK Play for a year, where there is a full-fledged showcase and product rotation. Can you reveal its aggregate indicators, because the effectiveness of VK Play is partly a litmus test for the new platform?
Zharkova: VK Play is not associated with the platform of downloadable games. We are creating another product that will allow developers to conveniently promote their game projects, and users to immerse themselves in their atmosphere and community.
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