Casual Games Beats Youtube

August 18, 2007 · Filed Under Gaming, MMORPG News, Musings, Online

If you think Youtube and SNS (social networking sites) such as Myspace and Facebook are hot, guess again.

In a latest study conducted by Parks Associates and published by Gamasutra.com, casual games over the Internet is the preferred activity of choice among adults.

The study showed that 34 percent of adult users are playing games weekly compared to 29 percent using sites like YouTube and 19 percent using social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

Gamasutra writes: “The study found 79 percent growth in online gamers over last year, compared with 46 percent growth in social networking, though video streaming site use was up the highest at 123 percent, which Parks says “could pose a significant challenge to the gaming industry in capturing the online leisure time of Internet users.”"

Parks analyst James Kuai warns that the casual gaming industry “cannot rest on its laurels. In order to counter the growing competition from other online activities, the industry needs to continue to grow its fan base and find ways to better monetize its existing audience.”

The problem with monetizing casual games is directly tied to the business model. Most of the time it’s FREE. But in order to make money from the small ratio of players who will eventually become paying users, one has to develop a huge user-base of players. That’s why first-world countries such as the US, Korea, Japan and China can cash in on this business model. Countries such as ours (Philippines) still need to work on our internet and hardware infrastructure to build upon that user-base which will eventually bring in the bacon. We’re getting there…

Companies such as www.popcap.com have been succesful because they give extra value to those who pay - usually by having a right mix of “trial anxiety” wherein they let you try the game for free and entice you with more game features such as levels, unlimited time, etc. in the full version. This practice has been emulated by a lot of startups. But in this fierce jungle, only the strongest will survive.

Now, that we’ve tackled games again, I’m giving away a 1GB USB flash drive (and more) just for bloggers who will write about games.

Check it out!

GM T

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