Social Games Could Soon Be Pulling In $5 Billion a Year

Scott Bullock

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Social Games Could Soon Be Pulling In $5 Billion a Year

If you think social games are big business now, wait until their market grows to five times the size it is today.

According to analysts at research firm Park Associates, the international market for games played on social networks, like FarmVille or CityVille, hit the $1 billion mark last year, and is expected to grow by vast amounts in the coming years. By 2015, the social games industry will have grown to five times its current size, and will be pulling in an industry-wide total of $5 billion a year in revenue.

Part of this rampant growth is due to the numbers of people who play social games. It is estimated that over 250 million people play social games, making them prime targets for advertising and marketing dollars. Promotions and ad dollars aside, social games are very lucrative sources of income in and of themselves. With the cost to develop social games so low compared to developing AAA games, most of the money made by microtransactions is pure profit.

The biggest factor in the increasing profitability of the social games market, however, is the industry's ready access to behavioral data, allowing the companies to cater their games towards the most profitable groups. "Zynga's huge market share is the best proof of the competitive advantage made possible by properly leveraging consumer data," said the research firm of social games giant Zynga. "The abilities to measure the efficacy of different gameplay mechanisms, to tweak game design in near-real time, and to test new models are advantages that traditional gaming companies will never have."

Source: GamesIndustry.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-04-11-social-gaming-to-hit-USD5-billion-by-2015]

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manythings

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I wonder if there'll ever be a Spiderman comic about the evils of social gaming like back in the day.
 

Woodsey

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Christ, here we go again.

Tell publishers this and they'll piss themselves thinking all of their customers are throwing out the gaming rigs and consoles so that they can play Farmville on a bloody Netbook.
 

manythings

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HankMan said:
manythings said:
I wonder if there'll ever be a Spiderman comic about the evils of social gaming like back in the day.
Beware the Networker! He'll Poke you... to DEATH!
And the CSI Miami joke; "I guess he'll never update his status *sunglasses* to Murdered."
YEAH!
 

Smokepuddle

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I'm sorry but that's just retarded... these people seriously can't find a better use for there money than something as pointless as shit on farmville? And to imagine... people wonder why the economy went into recession? Christ people are stupid.
 

Veloxe

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Social gaming, liberating stupid people from their money, one penny at a time.
 

tehweave

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God. Fucking. Dammit.

Wii. Kinect. Farmville. Casual games and then uber-casual games that make money off of EVERYTHING YOU DO.

Sigh. I am on the verge of giving up all hope for the industry.

MUST GO BACK AND PLAY FALLOUT 3 AND SILENT HILL 2 AND OKAMI ONCE AGAIN!
 

Sneaky-Pie

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How about the industries should be able to coexist without everyone getting pissy over what others do with their own money?

Grow up, people.
 

Raven's Nest

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Sneaky-Pie said:
How about the industries should be able to coexist without everyone getting pissy over what others do with their own money?

Grow up, people.
Pretty much... If people are stupid enough to pay to play these games, or micro-transact themselves into debt, Zynga and its ilk deserve every penny they make.

It will have no effect whatsoever on the development and distribution of AAA games.
 

Shameless

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Guys, you must realize that games are for everyone, just because they made games for non-gamers doesn't mean they will abandon hardcore gamers, will any of those casual games single handedly surpass the revenue of Call of Duty or Halo ?
 

linwolf

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tehweave said:
God. Fucking. Dammit.

Wii. Kinect. Farmville. Casual games and then uber-casual games that make money off of EVERYTHING YOU DO.

Sigh. I am on the verge of giving up all hope for the industry.

MUST GO BACK AND PLAY FALLOUT 3 AND SILENT HILL 2 AND OKAMI ONCE AGAIN!
Funny thing I know people that would call Fallout 3 for a casual game.

OT: I hope people wise up and don't buy to many stupid ting in these games(read that sparkling mount in wow), but the games themselves seems fine and the more people that likes games the better.
 

tehweave

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linwolf said:
tehweave said:
God. Fucking. Dammit.

Wii. Kinect. Farmville. Casual games and then uber-casual games that make money off of EVERYTHING YOU DO.

Sigh. I am on the verge of giving up all hope for the industry.

MUST GO BACK AND PLAY FALLOUT 3 AND SILENT HILL 2 AND OKAMI ONCE AGAIN!
Funny thing I know people that would call Fallout 3 for a casual game.

OT: I hope people wise up and don't buy to many stupid ting in these games(read that sparkling mount in wow), but the games themselves seems fine and the more people that likes games the better.
I'm curious... How is fallout 3 a casual game? FPS RPG with action, dialogue, a decent storyline, lots of missions, good graphics... If Fallout 3 isn't hardcore, then what is?
 

linwolf

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tehweave said:
linwolf said:
tehweave said:
God. Fucking. Dammit.

Wii. Kinect. Farmville. Casual games and then uber-casual games that make money off of EVERYTHING YOU DO.

Sigh. I am on the verge of giving up all hope for the industry.

MUST GO BACK AND PLAY FALLOUT 3 AND SILENT HILL 2 AND OKAMI ONCE AGAIN!
Funny thing I know people that would call Fallout 3 for a casual game.

OT: I hope people wise up and don't buy to many stupid ting in these games(read that sparkling mount in wow), but the games themselves seems fine and the more people that likes games the better.
I'm curious... How is fallout 3 a casual game? FPS RPG with action, dialogue, a decent storyline, lots of missions, good graphics... If Fallout 3 isn't hardcore, then what is?
First of it is not my opinion but relayed from somebody I know and second I really likes Fallout 3, but I will try to present the point.

If you played the old fallout they where a lot harder than Fallout 3 and therefore making the jump in difficulty is making it more casual.
The storyline have been simplified a lot there are less of it and there are more plot holes in it, all to give it a broader more casual appeal.
The game don't punish you for mistakes you can't make the game unwinable, there are autosaves with every room and a lot of other point that I have forgotten.
 

Azaraxzealot

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Smokepuddle said:
I'm sorry but that's just retarded... these people seriously can't find a better use for there money than something as pointless as shit on farmville? And to imagine... people wonder why the economy went into recession? Christ people are stupid.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_299/8746-Casual-Gamers-Are-Better-Than-You

felt is was relevant.

until we start showing our support of our "core" games like casual gamers show their support, their industry is going to take over ours.