Cmune Combines Asia’s Gaming Expertise With Soft Platforms For Distribution

Innovation comes from many places. In the gaming and free-to-play field, Asia is at the forefront. The following column by China International Business, Cmune is mentioned as a notable innovator combining Asia’s gaming expertise with new distribution networks, being now “soft platforms” such as social networks, game portals and Apple Widgets.

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These online communities, and their integration with games, have been the driving force behind changes in the way games are monetized. A game hosted on a remote server has entirely different characteristics than a game hosted in one’s own home, as Ludovic Bodin, co-founder of of China-based gaming start up CMUNE, explains, “Both game portals and social networks are becoming very strong distribution and entertainment channels. An important change for traditional game production is the evolution from game-as-a-product to game-as-a-service, especially connected to the ‘virtual goods’ business model.”

The familiarity of Chinese developers with these revenue and distribution models makes China an ideal place for gaming companies working in what is a new business environment in the West. One current example is CMUNE, the Beijing-based developer of a “platform to rapidly produce, distribute and monetize 3D multiplayer web-games,” says co-founder Bodin. CMUNE made a name for itself with Paradise Paintball, the first 3D game on Facebook. The game has, to date, been downloaded 1.5 million times and has been a regular fixture on the most downloaded web-widget on the Apple Store dashboard.

Bodin founded the company back in 2007, along with Shaun Lelacheur Sales, and says he chose to develop in China because, “among the top 10 online gaming companies in the world, seven are from Asia and five specifically from China.” He suggests that the knowledge and operational excellence is in Asia today. “The West is just starting to catch up on ‘free to play’ models, while 3D browser-based games are only just emerging worldwide.”

As Bodin points out, “The [Chinese] virtual goods market of 2009 is five times larger than the US market.” It should be obvious to anyone involved that this added level of saturation can offer unique skills, fostered by the Chinese marketplace, to help worldwide gaming companies get ahead.