It may not seem like it sometimes, but there is a world of social gaming that has nothing to do with Facebook. A new study looked specifically at those games and found that while Asia is the largest social games market, non-Facebook platforms in Western markets will be responsible for nearly one-quarter of worldwide social gaming revenue within the next three years.
The study, conducted by SuperData Research and commissioned by social games and apps platform Viximo, projects worldwide revenue for this category will grow from $3.2 billion to $5.6 billion in 2014.
Facebook currently represents only about a third of worldwide traffic for social networks, despite being the indisputable market leader in North America. The study forecasts continued growth in Russia and Brazil, which currently have among the largest social gaming audiences, with 35 million and 32.6 million respectively. Germany is the Western country presently generating the most social gaming revenue, with more than $173 million.
According to the study, these countries show a rapid trajectory in increased non-Facebook social gaming traffic and present significant, incremental distribution with strong monetization and lower customer acquisition costs for social game developers. In addition to regional social networks, strong competition from Google+ will provide social game developers with broader distribution and increased potential for monetization, the report said.
“The social web beyond Facebook is often overlooked when it comes to games and applications. As it turns out, social networks beyond Facebook represent a non-trivial – in fact, significant – and fertile ground for games and apps,” Dale Strang, CEO, Viximo, said in a statement. “What we uncovered with this study was just how quickly non-Facebook social gaming is exploding around the world, giving game-makers a terrific opportunity to reach new audiences and generate new revenue.”
Related links:
http://www.superdataresearch.com
