The editors at Best Accounting Degrees decided to research the topic of:
The Industry of Facebook Games
Social gaming: The activity or practice of playing a video game on a social media platform.
The introduction of games like Farmville and Mob Wars has birthed a new kind of online gaming: social gaming.
In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be open to third-party developers
- Within 8 months, 14,000 apps were running on Facebook
Today, 1 out of every 4 Facebook users plays games
- (250 million people play games through Facebook)
- Up 11% from 2012
- 927,000,000 total hours are spent each month on Facebook games
Facebook made 1 billion in 2011
- 12% of Facebook-s revenue comes from Zynga
- Zynga has developed popular games such as Farmville and Words with Friends
- Money is made through fees and advertisements purchased by Zynga
- 90% of Zynga-s earning are from selling virtual goods
- In 2012, 27 million users purchased in-game items
10% of people who play Facebook games pay real money
- Players will, on average, pay $55
In Q1 2013, Facebook reported making $213 million, mostly from social games
- This is up 15% from Q1 2012
In 2013, Facebook announced that it had, in total, paid out $2 billion to its developers after taking out its own commission of 30%.
Candy Crush Saga
The biggest game on Facebook, Candy Crush got its start on the social network
- Its success took off after going mobile
Candy Crush is the top-grossing app in the Apple App Store
- It rakes in $850,000 per day
- 310,250,000/year - if Candy Crush were a country it would be 218th on the list according to GDP
- 7.7 million users are active per day
- Averages to $.11 per user, but 70% of users have never paid a cent
Candy Crush is a "freemium" app
- its free to play, but users can make in-app purchases to help them beat levels
While Candy Crush is available as an independent smartphone app, its still integrated with social networking
- Users can send requests and gifts to other players through Facebook
What-s so great about Candy Crush?
- Candy Crush levels start out easy and get gradually harder
- Only 5 lives can be stored up at a time
- It takes 30 minutes for another life to generate
- Users play until they-ve advanced several levels and the game becomes more difficult
- Eventually, users are looking for a boost to help them win just one more level
Farmville 2
A sequel to Zynga-s wildly popular game Farmville, Farmville 2 is now the second most popular Facebook game
- Over 40 million monthly active users
As in the original Farmville, Farmville 2 players can plant and harvest crops and raise animals
- Players harvest 850 million crops each day
- Plant 8,000 crops every second
- Available in 16 languages
- Played in 180 countries
Farmville 2 used its success to raise money in a fundraising drive for water.org
- Thanks to this campaign, 17,876 have been supplied with lifetime access to clean water
Despite the success of the Farmville franchise, Zynga has seen shrinking revenue and monthly active users
- In Q1 2013, quarterly revenue dropped 18% from $263 million
- Since October 2012, Zynga has cut 670 positions, reducing its workforce to less than what it was when it went public
- In November 2012, Facebook and Zynga loosened their alliance, bumping Zynga from its top spot in social gaming
It is estimated that by 2015, the social gaming industry will be worth $9 billion, globally
- The video game industry as a whole is projected to be worth $115 billion by 2015
Sources
- http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/1/2764825/facebook-revenue-ads-12-percent-zynga
- http://thesocialskinny.com/facebook-games-how-big-is-the-market/
- http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/05/report-game-industry-worth-74-billion-in-2011/
- http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-completely-addicted-to-a-stupid-facebook-game-2009-12?op=1
- http://www.sify.com/finance/how-facebook-gave-birth-to-an-industry-news-education-jegm4Xgeagc.html
- http://www.techspot.com/news/42287-are-facebook-games-making-more-money-than-traditional-games.html
- http://www.eonline.com/news/454970/candy-crush-makes-almost-a-million-dollars-per-day-admit-it-how-much-have-you-spent-on-the-game
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2013/09/09/how-candy-crush-makes-us-more-productive-at-work/
- http://www.gamesindustry.com/facebook-report-213-million-social-gaming-revenues/
- http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/facebook-gaming-dying-183250635.html
- http://kotaku.com/5669373/how-many-hours-does-the-human-race-spend-playing-facebook-every-month
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html
- http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/4/3837236/farmville-2-infographic-40-million-monthly-active-users
- http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-04/a-short-history-of-zyngas-rapid-decline
- http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2013/04/01/the-top-25-facebook-games-of-april-2013/
