Facebook Gaming

One recent trend which has turned into a multi million dollar business is Facebook gaming. Companies such as Zynga have created business models which revolve entirely around creating gaming platforms for social networking websites, primarily Facebook. Those who have a Facebook account I'm sure have experienced the waves of hundreds of game requests from FarmVille, CityVille, Mafia Wars and etc.  However, this has failed to spare other social networking websites either. Google is known to also have strong ties with Zynga, as CityVille for Google+ was recently launched. For the moment, Google+ seems to have spared much of the impact of social networking games, however only time will tell how popular it becomes.

The games are generally based upon interacting with your friends, you usually earn points/credits/items by interacting with your friends in the game. The company itself then either sells credits or utilises advertising to generate revenue.  Personally, I work in a retail store which sells credits for FarmVille and other Facebook and Google+ games. Much to popular belief, the game cards sell like hotcakes, people of all ages seem to snap them up at every denomination (which ranges from $10 to $50).

(http://gamenreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/The-Sims-Social.jpg)

What I'm really wondering is, is the popularity of such games destined to continue? Or is it simply a gimmick? With the recent launch of The Sims Social (it's free to play, or you can watch the trailer for it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMCcYa_gLZs), it seems that the traditional game developers such as Electronic Arts are quite keen to become involved with the platform. Already The Sims Social seems to be quite popular from what I can tell (by seeing which of my friends are playing the game). Clearly, it is obvious Facebook and other social networks would like its users to spend as much time on the website as possible, with the more users on the site at one time, there is more opportunity for advertising.

Personally, I think there will always be a place for gaming in the way of video game consoles, however I'm unsure as to where social network gaming is headed, or just how big it will become. At the moment, it is largely seen as a casual time waster, however I get the feeling as I continue to see big money being spent by consumers on the game credits, that there is much more to come..