It's been quiet a while since I launched the initial WYZN Scorum game. Since then it's been received well considering it only contains 5 different ways to play the game but it was intended this way just to get a version out there and see how well it performed. Since that time 10,000's of players have seen the Scorum name in the game but we are aiming to take that to 100,000's this year.
Now I am excited to announce a big update to the game coming soon. We are adding 8 more ways to Whack the Zombie using different Sports items and some of these are going to be a hell of a lot more creative and crazy than the initial ones. You will be surprised just how far this game will take you for outrageous fantasy based sports kills, even when the items in which to dispatch of a hideous fat creature such as your zombified neighbour are narrowed down to sport alone.
But before I give you more information on those kills, I'd like to touch upon a set back we experienced when launching the game on mobile due to the evolving platform of Scorum itself clashing with casual gaming and vice versa. The Google Play team came across the mobile version of the game due to it's increasing popularity (it now has over 40,000 installs) and between 1,000 to 3,000 active players per day even at this stage of it's development.
One of the team at Google clicked on the Scorum branding and was taken to the home page of Scorum when the betting platform had just launched. Granted the blogging platform content is much more than just betting analysis but at this time there was a frenzy of betting posts featured on the home page and the Google Play curator took one look at the website and thought "Gambling". Our app version of the game was immediately suspended due to Gambling apps or associated apps not being allowed in the marketplace without a license being obtained by the developers. Secondly even with such a license currently Google Play only allows apps that restrict all players except those from the UK, Ireland and France. In addition the app would then be blocked off to 18+ only. This pretty much killed the branding in the mobile game. This was nobody's fault in particular but just an unfortunate turn of events as Scorum was launched as a Sports media platform not just isolated to betting, but betting has become a front runner for where the platform could end up.
There is no discussing with Google over their judgement by the way, once they issue this sort of takedown, from my own personal past experience of publishing 6 games on the platform and countless other examples of developers, their word is final and without a total change they will just deny your app's re-entry onto the marketplace. In which case we have had to take the Scorum branding off the mobile version for now.
To resolve this issue going forward I am eagerly awaiting a branch off website dedicated to eSports and gaming touted last year by Scorum, whereby I will be able to re-launch the branding within the game aimed at that website without any fear of it getting banned again. I also said to the Scorum team that for our next game (which is going to be far bigger than this one - trailer here) I will add the Scorum eSports branding in as our main sponsor for free. This will again rely on first Scorum launching an eSports and gaming only website which does not have and does not permit betting content available on it. To be fair this would make sense from a business perspective when considering eSports and eGaming as the need for this sort of site to be family friendly benefits those wishing to compete or write about eSports who are under 18 which is already gaining popularity in countries like France for young audiences. There is also the indirect benefit that many Scorumer's won't pick up on unless they are involved in Advertising as a business.
Family Friendly websites have the chance of earning far more money than Adult only sites when it comes to general visitor traffic because they are more attractive to a wider range of advertisers plus a wider visitor base. This all equates to more money for the Scorum platform if they wished to use internal or external ads to further monetize the eSports website.
The Browser Version Lives On with Scorum Branding
Now with all that being said, the web browser version with the Scorum branding lives on! But as a concious effort when it comes to submitting the Viral web copy of the updated game in the future to other gaming sites we will be re-branding it from "Scorum" to "Scorum eSports" and pointing traffic at the eSports section of the website here - https://scorum.com/en-us/cybersport. This just makes more sense because it ensures there is no direct link to any betting material that at any given time can flood the home page and deny the game going viral on other gaming portals looking to maintain a family friendly policy (that's pretty much all of them!).
Luckily a lot of desktop traffic is actually western based due to the internet market being far maturer in Western nations plus some far eastern developed economies. Desktops came before mobile and the emerging markets while attractive are worth far less in CPC (cost per click) advertising than Western traffic. So when it comes to attracting the biggest spenders on the internet per person (US, UK and some European visitors) the browser version of the game is going to win through.
Moving back onto the eGaming/Sports site Scorum may launch at some point (I'll be one of the first to help market and push this) I have several questions to ask you guys...
Questions for Scorum Users Regarding the Possible eSports Site...
Firstly: My question to the Scorum crowd is should I brand the in game labelling as "Scorum eSports" or "Scorum eGaming" for the web browser game? My personal opinion is eGaming sounds more attractive than eSports which is still a misunderstood concept amongst many gamers. Check out this Medium article on eGaming and eSports to understand the link: https://medium.com/swlh/introduction-to-egaming-d4f75f88baca
Secondly: If Scorum were to launch an eSports dedicated website what would you like the domain and brand to be called? My personal opinion is that the domain needs to be short and to the point. Therefore I am thinking of SPGaming.com (short for Scorum Powered Gaming). The idea would be that the internal currency - SCR/SP could eventually power the development of new eSports indie based titles whilst also being used as an internal micro-transaction currency.
The Crazy New Kills to Come
I really wanted to crank up the creative notch on this title to give it more of a "ummmphhh" factor and increase it's likelihood of being played by many more Youtuber's whilst increasing the existing player base' engagement length. So I worked on a script for 8 new kills where some totally crazy s**t could happen. Some of the kills are rather more elaborate than the existing ones and will really delight fans of the series and hopefully make some news one too.
Just to give you a peak into the new kills, one will feature an Ent Tree (think Lord of the Rights Two Towers) performing a Highland Caber Toss like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb0FU8rSisU and another will see the zombie restrained by Sports Fishing Reels before being devoured by a Great White Shark emerging from the Garden Swimming Pool!
I will also be working on making the branding even more prominent for Scorum within the game just to get the brand recognised by all the game players and Youtube players.
I look forward to hearing your feedback on the update and the eSports questions.
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