70% of the 300 million Facebook ‘gamers’ are women and 20% of all players buy in-game items/unlocks.
“Facebook will dominate the world,” that’s the stark (and, frankly, terrifying) message given by Bigpoint Games’ Chief Games Officer, Philip Reisberger, at today’s Evolve conference. However, if you’re going to entitle your presentation ‘The Future of Games’ you had better have something memorable to say.
According to Resiberger, social media destination have now taken over from pornography sites as the most popular sector for internet traffic. Reisberger outlined a number of reason why this is the case and why games on these platforms (especially Facebook) are so successful.
These included people wanting to beat others and best their scores, people wanting to feel valued and important, people wanting to express themselves and people wanting to be part of a community. In essence it’s about, in Reisberger’s words, “people wanting to be happy.”
Another reason is the fact that these services are free to use – Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, Twitter etc, all offering their services for nothing other than the time it takes to sign up. Of course, Reisberger said, many games (including Bigpoint titles and big-boys like WoW) are already free-to-play or at least dabbling with the idea.
However, it’s Facebook that’s king. Apparently 300 million players indulge in Facebook games monthly (totalling 900 million hours a month of play), 70% of these are women and 20% of all players spend real money in-game.
Reisberger’s conclusion? The future is free-to-play, social gaming.
Call of Duty who..?
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Paul Younger
Founder and Editor of PC Invasion. Founder of the world's first gaming cafe and Veteran PC gamer of over 22 years.
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Published: Jul 19, 2011 10:05 am