Digital sales show strong growth with the help of mobile games
Market research firm SuperData has released a new study focused on the game industry and the sales therein. The study shows that sales for the month of March have grown somewhat over the level they had been in the same month in 2012. The growth is most pronounced in the field of mobile games, which have become rampantly popular among consumers of various types. The study shows that social games, however, continue to experience a steady decline in terms of revenue.
Digital sales grow 2.9%
According to the study, digital game sales for March grew to $875 million, an increase of 2.9% over the previous year. Mobile games, especially those that have some online and social elements, contributed heavily to this growth. Mobile games were able to capture the attention of consumers with an assortment of in-app purchases and advertisements, all of which contributed to the overall revenue that these games produced.
Social games begin losing ground with consumers
While mobile games saw growth, social games continue to experience a decline. Social games, those found on social networking sites like Facebook, have begun to lose favor among consumers due to lack of innovation and the inherent difficulty in engaging consumers in advertisements and in-game purchases on such platforms. SuperData notes that Facebook insists that social games are on the rise, but there has been a decided lack of competition in the social network’s social gaming environment since Zynga’s fall from grace.
EA pulling out of social gaming space
Large game publisher Electronic Arts announced early this week that it would be closing down some of its social games hosted on Facebook. The publisher has adopted a strong interest in mobile games, considering social to be a thing of the past and mobile to be the future. While EA already has a strong presence in the game industry, the company has found it difficult to compete in the mobile games arena and is keen to devote more focus therein.
Facebook has some high hopes for mobile games
Facebook has long been a strong presence in the realm of social gaming due to its status as one of the most used social networking platforms in the world. The social network has been supporting various kinds of social games over the past several years, and has plans to continue doing so, but Facebook has also been growing more interested in the world of mobile games. Facebook has announced plans to reach out to a demographic it has not pursued in any serious fashion over the next year: Core gamers.
Facebook to focus on core gamers
Core gamers represent the stereotypical demographic of consumer that plays games in some way. This demographic is typically separated into various subclasses, such as mid-core and hardcore. Facebook has taken a strong interest in core gamers due to the fact that they are willing to devote a significant amount of their time to games that they enjoy or, in some cases, games that they do not enjoy at all. In the world of mobile games, more time spent playing a game itself generally translates into more money spent by the consumer, whether by participating in advertising or purchasing in-game content or virtual currencies.
Social network to offer developers promising incentives
Facebook is formulating a plan to attract mobile game developers to its platform, hoping that these developers will produce games that are attractive to core gamers. Currently, the social network is showing interest in a wide range of genres for these games, though which genres Facebook will focus on more intently will be determined by further research into what gamers actually want to play. Mobile games themselves are somewhat attractive because of their easily accessible and addictive nature, so Facebook may be interested in genres that play to the strengths of mobile gaming.
Mobile games may help Facebook overcome the past
Facebook experienced a turbulent 2012, with much of the social network’s turmoil being based on poor performance in the stock market. Lackluster security has also been a major problem for the social network, an issue that has served to plague Facebook for some time. Mobile games may be able to help the social network put much of its past troubles to rest, as long as these games are as successful as the company is hoping they will be.
