Basil: So, where do you see the future of social games and MMOs? Where are they headed?
Maha: They're not on Facebook, that's for sure. Facebook has made life difficult for social gaming companies who don't have a foothold already on Facebook to start. It's much more expensive to start a social gaming company and grow a social gaming company within Facebook than it was two, three years ago when Kabam and Inhale got started. So, I don't look there anymore.
I think that there are other platforms, whether it's international game publishers like in China or India or Korea or Japan or Brazil or Europe or the Middle East, or it's mobile. I don't really think of Facebook as being the go to first platform anymore, and I failed to mention Google and Google+ and Chrome.
About the Guest:
“Maha Ibrahim invests in innovative cloud and digital media companies with the potential to become global market leaders. Maha is known in the venture industry for her ability to spot technology trends early, foster growth at her portfolio companies through hands-on operational guidance, and achieve profitable exits for entrepreneurs and investors.”
“Maha joined Canaan’s Menlo Park office in March 2000. She was one of the first investors to recognize the huge potential of social gaming. Maha led Canaan Partners’ early investment in social games pioneer PicksPal (acquired by Liberty Media) and is now a lead investor in Kabam, the world’s largest developer of massively multiplayer social games and InhaleDigital, the first social retail site for online games. Maha also invests in enterprise technology companies leveraging cloud computing to improve business outcomes”
Maha holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT and now serves as a General Partner at Canaan Partners.
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Future in Social Gaming
Maha Ibrahim talks about the future of social gaming and where its going.
