Sunday, October 05, 2008

SocialTimes.com

SocialTimes.com

SGN Hitting Home Runs With iPhone Games

Posted: 04 Oct 2008 11:29 PM CDT

-SGN Logo-When I sat down with Shervin Pishevar, CEO of SGN, at f8 earlier this year, I asked him about whether or not his company has plans to begin developing games for the iPhone. At the time he said little more than their company is seriously considering all social platforms. For me it seemed pretty obvious that one of the primary platforms for social games would soon be the iPhone.

While the iPhone has proven to be a revolutionary platform, the applications still lack significant social features. Event SGN’s latest iPhone games aren’t very social but for now that doesn’t matter given that they are already extremely successful. Within a few days SGN’s first game, iGolf, rocketed to the top of the application charts. In just a couple weeks the company would have a second game at the top of the charts: iBowl.

At least one commenter on the iBowl application asked for the release of an iBaseball game. My guess is that they will have a whole suite of Wii-like games before all is said and done. Just a couple months ago things weren’t looking as rosy for the company. There was a lot of chatter about developers leaving the company and it appeared that active usage of the company’s Facebook applications were dropping.

While I wouldn’t say that the company was near its end, I would be willing to say that the company was navigating some extremely choppy seas. No path to success is ever easy though and SGN may have just made it through one of their first serious tests of will. Just this past week Shervin Pishevar posted a note on Facebook that at first glance sounds trippy but after looking is the executive digging deep for inspiration.

The note would also go on to inspire others and while the company is still early in its iPhone history, there is no doubt that they may have just found a better environment to play. While the path to revenue for iPhone applications is a bit more challenging, I have no doubt that SGN will be able to get there quickly. The only thing that I’m left wondering is when will SGN’s social gaming competitors follow suit onto the mobile platforms?

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