How many of you play social games? I knew it was popular but I caught some figures on CNN’s website last week that really brought it home just how big it’s become. The FarmVille Facebook game is apparently being played by a staggering 27 million social gamers ever day, adding up to more monthly active users than the population of France.
Zynga, the company behind the game, is just one of the developers changing the way people view gaming, as the social aspect becomes an even bigger part of the industry. What’s most exciting are the new opportunities social gaming presents for smaller or up-and-coming developers – although we might consider the games to be pretty basic, they can actually go a long way to allowing less experienced developers hone their technical and creative skills.
It also attracts a wider audience of gamers and makes gaming more accessible to a different demographic: surely a good thing. In fact, the average social gamer is supposedly a 43 year old female. Quite a different audience to the stereotype of gamers as young men and teenage boys as this Times article also shows.
It’s quite an extraordinary phenomenon. As Facebook and other social networks continue to grow in popularity this type of gaming is only going to continue expanding. Let us know if you’ve been hooked on any social games lately.
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Comments (1)
I think it varies a great deal as well. Whilst millions play the incredibly easy and approachable Farmville, millions of players enjoy World of Warcraft every day as well, which is a deep and complex game. It just goes to show that social gaming is not just a Facebook driven phenomenon, but more a changing of opinions towards video games in general.
Thanks for the great post.
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