Social gaming represents several potential benefits
Social gaming is gaining ground both online and on mobile platforms. These are a new breed of game that have a strong focus on community and typically have a very close link to some kind of social networking site, like Facebook or Twitter. The vast number and variety of games in this genre belies the fact that social gaming is a relatively new trend. In a short amount of time, the genre has become a very promising market, with more than half of all social network users playing a social game of some kind.
Report highlights growth of social games
eMarketer, a leading marketing research firm, has released a new report concerning the growth and emerging trends seen in the social gaming sector. The report predicts that more than 141 million people in the U.S. alone will be playing social games of some kind by 2014. Another 101 million people are expected to play social games on their mobile devices over the coming years. The report also notes several trends concerning social gaming that may part of the reason this genre has become so popular with advertisers and not just consumers.
Social games prove popular among advertisers
The report notes that in-game advertisements are 100% viewable by gamers, making their exposure to these advertisements exceedingly high. Given the fact that many social games are designed to keep players engaged in the game itself for as long as possible, these advertisements have a high probability of interaction with consumers. Another aspect of social gaming that makes the sector attractive to advertisers is the fact that most social games are available on a wide variety of platforms. Mobile devices are not the only platforms that can play social games.
Social gaming has some catching up to do
Social gaming is on its way to becoming a massive and influential market. eMarketer suggests that social gaming will become a thriving enterprise in the coming years. Game developers have already put a strong emphasis on social games, but the appeal of this genre has not yet matched the allure of mobile gaming and other traditional focuses on the game industry as a whole.
Mobile gaming draws criticism for focus on children
It is no secret that mobile games are designed to keep people playing them as long as possible. The longer a person plays a mobile game, the more exposed they are to the various advertisements and services being offered through that game. The mobile gaming space has been seeing more criticism for this common practice recently, however, because of the fact that many mobile games are played, if not designed specifically for, children.
Kytephone report shows Rovio games are the most addictive
A new report from Kytephone, a company that offers tools for the Android platform that are designed for child safety, shows that children are very susceptible to addictive mobile games. The report shows that many mobile games, especially those that are free to download, are very popular among the younger audience. The company drew its data from more than 13,000 children between the ages of 8 and 14. Kytephone found that the most addicting titles in the mobile gaming space came from Rovio, the developers of the Angry Birds franchise.
Rovio games beat out other titles on the mobile platform
During the 2012 holiday season, Kytephone found that children were spending 51% more time on mobile gaming than they had been during other times of the year. The majority of this time was spent on various Rovio titles, including Angry Birds and Angry Birds Star Wars. Other titles that are popular with children on other platforms, such as Minecraft, fell well behind Rovio in terms of mobile gaming. While most of these games are not associated with any fees, they do expose children to advertisements and often encourage the spending of money in order to unlock new services.
Mobile games could be exposing children to advertisements designed to encourage them to pay for services
Mobile gaming has begun attracting critical attention because of its apparent focus on appealing to a very young audience. For entertainment purposes, this is rarely a problematic issue. Mobile gaming applications do not exist for the sole purpose of entertainment, however, as most developers in the mobile gaming space rely heavily on putting advertisements within the games to generate revenue. These advertisements can also collect personal information from a consumer, putting a child’s personal information at some degree of risk.
