Google Steps Up Its Game

from BrandChannel - Sheila Shayon - April 27th, 2011

Google has officially entered the gaming business. Exhibit A, the LinkedIn job posting above for a Games Product Manager.

The job description makes it clear that a product manager is being sought to “drive Google's gaming strategy,” as games will “significantly” influence Google's social platforms.

Google has been moving into social media more aggressively since Larry Page took over as CEO and stated that workers' bonuses will be tied to social success.

Gaming is the top search query for the behemoth. Google gaming rumors have been percolating since last summer, when the company invested up to $200 million dollars in Zynga, hired games wunderkind Mark DeLoura, and acquired social game developer Slide.

What strikes fear into the heart of games developers with Google getting in the game is how the brand’s ubiquitous web presence which will support cross-platform, multiplayer activity.

It’s a veritable "hip-bone connected to..." refrain: “On the desktop and laptop, Google has the Chrome web browser; on the netbook, Chrome OS; on the smartphone and tablet, Android — and in the living room, Google TV. These platforms are all tied together by one of the most powerful forces in the online realm: open web technologies.”

Google Games will be created in HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3 — that is to say, virtually playable on any machine, and deployable on any updated browser, smartphone or tablet.

What’s missing is a Google social network, limited so far to Google +1, the recently launched function that allows users to vote up (but not down) and flag search results to their social networks.

Facebook, for now, maintains the leaderboard with games like Zynga's FarmVille as the glue creating stickiness on the social network, but against the resources of Google, search and YouTube, that position is about to be seriously challenged.