Electronic Arts made the big decision earlier this week to back away from social games on Facebook, stating that "the number of players and amount of activity has fallen off" from its Facebook games.
But do EA's numbers reflect the Facebook social game sector as a whole, or is there still space for developers to make some real money on Facebook?
Facebook's technology communications manager Tera Randall shared some stats with me today, to allay fears that the sky is falling on the social network -- she claims that Facebook has more players, and the potential for monetization, than ever.
Web game installs on Facebook are up 75 percent compared to this time last year, she says, while as of March more than 250 million Facebook users are currently playing games on the social network each month, up from 235 million last October.
This figure represents 20 percent of all daily Facebook users, she notes. And these users are now more willing to put money down for in-app purchases in Facebook games -- year-over-year growth of the total number of payers on Facebook has increased 24 percent.
More than $2 billion was paid out to game developers during 2012, according to Facebook, while a good portion of Facebook's top developers generated record revenue last year. More than 100 developers on Facebook generated $1 million+ each alone.
Facebook on mobile
Although Facebook is having a hard time of translating its games platform to mobile, Randall's figures state that integration of Facebook into mobile games is still chugging along nicely.
For example, more than 55 percent of the top 400 grossing iOS apps, most of which are games, are integrated into Facebook. In fact, Facebook drove more than 263 million clicks to iOS and Android games during March.
Notably, the popularity of King's popular web and mobile game Candy Crush Saga, which has previously been the number one most played game on both Facebook and iOS, is down to the level of engagement that those users who play on both platforms show, says the company.
Of course Facebook's PR would say that gaming on it is strong.
But considering the overwhelming majority of games on facebook are "cow clicker" style apps with no real gameplay elements whatsoever, or pay-to-win, there's next to no appeal for anyone looking for what could be defined "a game" by most people. Even the thought of "facebook games" is mocked openly in internet memes because so many of them are trash.
First we had PopCap trying to bring us trashy early phone apps with as few gameplay elements as possible, now we have Zynga cluttering up and its myriad of clones on facebook. Same difference here.
I don't think that's true any more. There are a lot of legitimate games on Facebook like the traditional board games like Words With Friends, to licensed game shows such as Family Feud, to puzzle games like Candy Crush and Bubble Witch. And I'm not even really a Facebook gamer that's just a few I've had experiences with through family.
"But considering the overwhelming majority of games on facebook are "cow clicker" style apps with no real gameplay elements whatsoever, or pay-to-win, there's next to no appeal for anyone looking for what could be defined "a game" by most people. Even the thought of "facebook games" is mocked openly in internet memes because so many of them are trash."
So what?
Quarter of a billion people per month would suggest that these games are good enough for them.
I dont regard Bieber and Gaga as my sort of "music" but I am dont mind if millions of others believe they are the greatest artists alive.
But considering the overwhelming majority of games on facebook are "cow clicker" style apps with no real gameplay elements whatsoever, or pay-to-win, there's next to no appeal for anyone looking for what could be defined "a game" by most people. Even the thought of "facebook games" is mocked openly in internet memes because so many of them are trash.
First we had PopCap trying to bring us trashy early phone apps with as few gameplay elements as possible, now we have Zynga cluttering up and its myriad of clones on facebook. Same difference here.
So what?
Quarter of a billion people per month would suggest that these games are good enough for them.
I dont regard Bieber and Gaga as my sort of "music" but I am dont mind if millions of others believe they are the greatest artists alive.