The Tendo View

Farmville, Mafia Wars, Texas Hold ‘em Poker. Maybe you haven’t played them, but you’ve seen references to them on your Facebook newsfeed—and your teenage kids aren’t the only people playing. Social gaming is on the rise, and not just in popularity. There’s money to be made.

According to Eiji Maeda, a JPMorgan Chase analyst quoted in BusinessWeek in May:

 “Once seen as a realm of low-profit, cheap games, this market is maturing into an attractive proposition for major publishers. Companies that forgo games playable online, including on social networks, will be left behind as the market for packaged software shrinks long term.”

So why is social gaming growing when traditional video games are in a slump? eMarketer pinpoints a few factors, including the fact that games are free (with optional spending), they’re integrated into the social networking experience, they can be played in short bites, and they typically focus on universal activities, like taking care of a pet or running a restaurant.

According to a survey from Trendstream and Lightspeed Research, 25 percent of U.S. Internet users ages 16 to 64 played social games in February 2010. That could translate to almost 40 million users. Even more startling: The social gaming industry generated an estimated $725 million in the United States in 2009, according to a Think Equity study, and that figure is expected to triple by 2012.

This means that social gaming is ripe for marketing opportunities: think custom games, product placements, ads, and so on. Have you thought about the social gaming space and how it could tie into your marketing efforts?