Social games, specifically on Facebook, continue to help TV networks engage with fans and tap into a network of often private conversations. A&E’s number one show, Storage Wars released a social game today on Facebook in honor of the premiere of its new season. The show “follows teams of bidders looking to score it big in the high stakes world of storage auctions” when someone defaults on their payments. The series averaged 2.8 million viewers per episode and peaked at 3.8 million last season.
A&E’s current Pawn Stars game (a show about pawn shops on History) is still averaging 200,000 daily uniques and 700,000 monthly active users despite being nearly a year old. The network’s excited about the value social gaming can continue to bring to their linear programming. For this new game, they are bringing the experience of Storage Wars to Facebook, where players can join characters from the show as they are guided through treasure-filled storage lockers with hidden treasures and cash bonuses.
We spoke with Kris Soumas, Senior Vice President, Games, A+E Networks about this new initiative.
Lost Remote: What’s new about the game?
Kris Soumas: Much like Storage Wars the show, in the game players bid on storage lockers on a quest to acquire wealth. Upon logging into the game, players choose a character name and appearance and then enter the map which directs them to auctions around the world where they can take on eager bidders on their own turf – and fans will be happy to see stars and items they know from the show. Players then bid with game cash in order to win auctions and earn game cash. As on the Storage Wars television show, players risk losing money for the chance to win-but the social game has a new twist. It incorporates a hidden object game mechanic into the gameplay. So by finding wanted treasures you unlock new bonuses.
LR: Who helped build it?
KS: Eyes Wide Games is the developer. They are mostly known for the work they did on the successful CSI game — but we first worked with their CEO, Stephen Griffin about a decade ago when he worked on a very popular web game for Lifetime called Cinema Sequence. The intersection of games and TV shows is unique, and we love working with developers who get it. You need to have both an appreciation for brands, and a passion for making games. We’re looking to take our shows into new territory. And to do that we need partners like Eyes Wide Games that understand how to interpret TV and reinvent it in such a way that gamers will love playing as much as fans love watching.
LR: What are the social features?
KS: In addition to competing on leaderboards, players can “hire” their friends in order to get more storage space, or send their friends gifts to help them on their quest.
LR: Why is gaming an important part of social TV?
KS: Social games are a vital part of A+E Networks Games strategy. A+E Networks strongly believes that TV shows and social games go hand in hand, which is why we’ve invested resources in developing games like Storage Wars ourselves. A show like Storage Wars lends itself to game development because it is a game show by nature; when players are watching they want to get in on the game – they want to test their own bidding savvy alongside Darrell or Barry or other show characters.
We’ve also found that TV titles lend themselves particularly well to social games. The weekly episodes provide a great opportunity to encourage consistent participation and fuel the viral nature of the game, while the game itself gives us a chance to promote upcoming episodes and otherwise engage our most avid fans. It all works very organically. A+E Networks has already had success with its first social game, Pawn Stars, based on the HISTORY show of the same name. In fact, even though Pawn Stars launched nearly a year ago in January 2011, it continues to attract more than 700,000 monthly active users. We’re excited to put Storage Wars into the public’s hands and see where they take it.