Neopolis GO - Play the city

Why the next Social Network might start as a Mobile Game? (or how I got addicted to @NeopolisGame) In 10 years, gaming and especially mobile gaming has evolved from solo, hyper-casual games to more complex, deep, and social experiences; tripling the market size in the process. Today, 67% of all teen boys play video games over the internet with friends weekly. 70% of Gen-Z teen gamers say playing video games helps them stay connected to others. It’s the #1 social platform for a whole generation. But this doesn’t seem to be enough. While online connections have strengthened, offline ones have suffered. Indeed, the % of teens who meet up with their friends everyday has shrunk in half in less than 20 years. This online/offline disconnect has fostered an unprecedented wave of loneliness, especially for younger generations, as 79% of Gen-Z reported feeling lonely last year. This doesn’t have to be. People are longing for a sense of community, a sense of identity and they very often derive it from a central thing: Location. As a matter of fact, location is the #1 thing people write in their Instagram bio. So how do we reconcile people’s need for both socialization AND location? That’s where @NeopolisGame comes in, a mobile-game I’ve become addicted to for the past few months, a location-based social app disguised as a mobile game. How does it work? 1. Single-player mode: The concept is very simple: You buy & improve real-world buildings (shops, coffeeshops, offices, stations, etc), like a real-world monopoly. They’ve mastered the farming-like gameplay, and have already achieved incredible retention (just like a social network) & are now achieving high user revenue (juste like a mobile game). 2. Multi-player mode: Now that they’ve laid down the technical and psychological foundations for a great single-player game experience, that’s where the real opportunity comes in: Build the social layer on top. They’ve only just scratched the surface with group quests, squad creation, local chats, mayorship—but the results are already fascinating: On Neopolis, you come for the buildings and you stay for the people. They have a shot at becoming the mobile town-square for every village in the world. The multi-player & social roadmap that have is insane. 3. Social, Local, Mobile: Remember the SoLoMo hype in the late 00s? Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. It held amazing promises but was a tad too early for its time, and its promise can actually be fulfilled as a mobile gaming, not social media, as Pokémon Go has hinted. @NeopolisGame has built the product & cultural foundations for a potential next-gen social network to emerge. It opens up access to a huge market: the rapidly growing $100 billion+ location-based advertising market. Plus, thousands of local commerce have already contacted them to host local activations. Watch this space & this company 👀