Wooga CEO: 'I don't think the 30 percent Facebook share is an issue'

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Diamond Dash
Diamond Dash

Well, I guess neither do the legions of iOS game makers. Jens Begemann, CEO of Berlin-based Diamond Dash creator Wooga, defended Facebook's 30 percent cut it takes from Facebook Credits in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. The chief of the fourth largest social games company on Facebook outright said that he doesn't think the 30 percent is an issue. (The company just released yet another Facebook game, Magic Land, with plans for mobile expansion.)

"The whole Facebook platform is free, you've got tons of communication channels, you've got lots of viral communication to users, it's an amazing platform and you have traffic that's worth millions of dollars, and you get all of that for free," Begemann told GamesIndustry.biz. "And only when you're successful do you pay your 30 per cent revenue share. So it's fair."

Wooga helped boost the recent launch of Google+ Games with ports of three of its biggest games: Bubble Island, Monster World and Diamond Dash. Begemann went on to say that Wooga's presence on Google+ Games, which currently only charges game developers 5 percent of revenues from purchased in-game goods, is not mutually exclusive. "But we remain very very committed to Facebook," he said. "We will not slow down there."

The Wooga chief had a much more ... diplomatic approach to the Facebook vs Google+ Games debate than, say, Sean Ryan of Facebook recently. The head of games partnerships at the dominant social network said, "Google is at 5% because they don't have any users," to Fortune. While that might be (a heavily exaggerated) truth, what happens when even more game creators are lured in by the tiny number?

Do you think Wooga is right in its defense of Facebook? Does Google have a chance of competing with Facebook even after its discounted revenue cut dries up? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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