Social gaming is becoming increasingly popular, with many of us getting stuck into the craze and inviting our friends and family along with us. Some of the most popular social games include: Farmville, Zynga’s Mafia Wars, Cityville and The Sims Social. These types of games are mostly played on formats such as desktop PCs, laptops and smartphones. The growth of social gaming is making an incredible boost in the global market which is set to rise to $17.4 billion by 2019.
Social game players tend to play with people their own age and there doesn’t seem to be an age limit. Many of these games are free to play but the game can make money from players who purchase in-game currency with real-life money or those who buy gift items for their games. From Smartphones to PC’s and Tablets, social games are penetrating the video game market in full force, drawing in tens of thousands of avid fans who may not even consider themselves “gamers” per say.
Social networking is said to be one of the main reasons as to why social gaming has become so popular. An average of 200 million users play games online and with the popularity of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, it is no surprise that users want to play games that enable them to socialize with their friends and family.
Organizations are aiming to meet the demand of their users by creating games of different genres such as virtual villages and casino games. Social-casino games are becoming increasingly popular among fans of the social gaming genre. The iPad is one of the most popular means to play these types of games however players can use their laptops and smartphones to get access to social-casino games. A total of four out of 10 top-grossing games are social-casino games published by organisations such as: DoubleDown, Big Fish and BitRhymes.
Social-casino games are perhaps considered more entertaining by gamers because of their fast-paced, casino vibe that the games generate.
“The influence of women in this sphere can scarcely be over-estimated. They are engaging more in new forms of social gaming at a rapid rate and as providers of key betting and gaming products we are always on the look-out for innovative ways to appeal to the female audience. The numbers of women playing are exciting for a brand like ours and our challenge is now to develop the ways to monetize the female social gaming enthusiasm.”
David Williams, Head of Consumer PR at Ladbrokes Casino
The rise of social games should be viewed as a positive for the entire video game genre as a whole, as it introduces an entirely new group of gamers to video games, even if social games are still just a subset of the video game category.
