Social Gaming Stats Prove Why It's The Domain Of The Casual
There's a reason why the hardcore don't take social gaming seriously.
If someone asks, "Do you play video games" and the response is, "Yeah, but only on Facebook" or something of that nature, the correct translation to that reply is- "No, I don't play video games." At least, as far as the core gaming group is concerned.
And thanks to new statistical results concerning this new social gaming boom, the real gamers out there probably have some justification. Playnomics has published their third quarter 2012 "player engagement report," and the main point is as follows: Nearly 95% of all US players who started with social gaming in the first part of Q3 were inactive by the end of the quarter, and about 85% of US players acquired in that quarter didn't even come back after the first day.
It was interesting to note that if a player came back for at least a week, that person would probably keep playing for a while, thus upping the retention rate. But beyond that, it's pretty clear that just because games are available just about everywhere now, this doesn't automatically imply those who try them are "gamers." My guess is the stats wouldn't be much different for smartphone and tablet gaming, either, although tablet games have gotten a lot better as of late.
10/19/2012 9:27:37 PM Ben Dutka