Skype rolls the dice with Facebook games
Facebook is quickly becoming a way for established software publishers and services to gain new market share. Today Skype (for Windows and Mac) slipped an app launcher for 18 games into Facebook's app directory. I might mention that the games already exist as Skype Extras.
Context & Ripple Effects
Skype tested the casual-gaming waters in May with its first move into the casual gaming market; today's step ports those same titles — already shipping as Skype Extras — into Facebook's app directory for Windows and Mac users. The economics are telling: eighteen SKUs of distribution gained without building anything new, just re-shelving existing inventory where the audience is.
The timing lands days before Facebook's rumored November 6th SocialAds launch — an unconfirmed product said to rely on cookie tracking and, per speculation circulating this week, underpinning a possible $100 billion valuation. ClickZ's pickup of this story frames the real draw for publishers: Facebook's app platform is opening up more advertising rep options, making the directory not just audience but monetization.
First-order effects
- Skype gains a second storefront for its 18 Extras games at essentially zero development cost, putting its catalog in front of Facebook's rapidly expanding app-directory audience on Windows and Mac.
Second-order effects
- Established software publishers watching Skype's zero-cost port will treat Facebook's directory as a default distribution channel, pressuring standalone casual-game portals and download sites on discoverability and pricing.
Third-order effects
- If the rumored SocialAds product materializes as an ad layer over the app graph, platforms like Facebook shift from hosting apps to taxing their distribution — turning the directory itself into the revenue engine and publishers into tenants.
The trend: Software publishers are migrating distribution from owned destinations into social platforms' app directories, trading shelf control for access to networked audiences.