did facebook eat the casual game market?
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was given to the New York Chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) on October 27, 2009. I tried to synthesize several of the downward trends in the casual PC download game market over the last year and how Facebook is quickly capturing the traditional casual player demographic compared to other large portals like Pogo. The intention was to make developers in the casual PC download game market aware of the declining market and the potential of the fast-growing Facebook platform as an alternative.TRANSCRIPT
Did Facebook Eat the Casual Game Market?
Eric von Coelln IGDA NYC Pecha Kucha Night
October 27, 2009
Blog: http://eric.voncoelln.com - Twitter: EVCinNYC
Who is this guy?
2005-2008
2008-2009
2001-2005
1997-2001
Casual Game Distribution: The Old Days
25%
Photo by Scott Harmsen, Kalamazoo Gazette
22 million daily active userson Facebook
30% in the US6.6 million daily active usersin the US on ONE application
Daily US Visitors – August 2009
Pogo.com 5,500,000
Yahoo Games 1,100,000
MSN Games 463,000
Games.com 422,000
Big Fish Games 410,000
Addicting Games 389,000
King.com 323,000
Miniclip.com 320,000
Shockwave not available
Wildgames.com 297,000iWin 237,000Wordlwinner 231,000Popcap.com 157,000Gamehouse/Real Arcade 210,000
10,059,000
22 million daily active userson Facebook
30% in the US6.6 million daily active usersin the US on ONE application
Vs.
Facebook Quickly Getting Older, More Female
• Traditional Casual Gamer• Heavily Female• Skews Heavily older• Plays more in browser than Download
55-65 45-54 35-44
Feb-09
717,260 1,377,440 3,598,800 Sep-09 3,284,500 5,913,360 8,659,040
458% 429% 241%
FarmVillelaunches
Casual Download Game Spiral: Dropping Prices
Jan 2009
Sep 2009
May 2009
Casual Download Game Spiral: Fighting for Space
Market Saturation
Casual Game Distribution: Now
20% (moreDownward
Pressure)
Facebook Distribution Option$25K/dayper millionDaily Users
-- Sean RyanLoki Partners
Don’t Get Me Wrong…
• Different Type of Game– Take advantage of viral nature– Monetization has to be core part of design
• Requires more of a Continual Service Model– Different infrastructure – scale, payments– Facebook changes rules sometimes– Frankly more like an MMO
Plus…
Zynga Dominates Everything…
They Used to Be Small Too
0%
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Daily Active User divided by Monthly Active User
Social Game Sticky Factor
See more about the Sticky Factor at http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/10/27/the-sticky-factor-creating-a-benchmark-for-social-gaming-success/
Key Learning From Zynga’s Quest
0%
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ame
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Gifting Launched
Achievements Launched
First Loot Offering
Cross Promotion Key to Success
Join Together to Cross Promote
Facebook a Direct Model to Explore$25K/dayper millionDaily Users
-- Sean RyanLoki Partners
No New York Companies…Yet?
Twitter: @EVCinNYCBlog:
http://eric.voncoelln.com