There’s no question of whether or not social games are big money, but breaking down the user demographic has been a long-time effort of many studios and research firms. Arkadium, a game development studio, has provided one of the latest dissections of which types of social gamers spend what.
For starters, according to their research, social engagement plays a big role in how much people spend. 63% of people who play games with at least 6 friends have made purchases in Facebook games. Within that statistic, a third of them have forked out over $20 for a single purchase.
Arkadium also noticed that online shoppers who spend at least $100 a month are more likely to spend money in social games. 20% of them spend $50 or more per month, and 52% of them have spent more than $11 on a single purchase.
This demographic extends beyond just the casual farm sim players that many view as the cash cows of social gaming. In fact, over 60% of people who play core strategy, RPG and sports games via Facebook have made a purchase.
There’s a lot to take away from Arkadium’s findings, perhaps the biggest being that social gamers are a very diverse bunch. I’m confident that diversity will ultimately benefit the model, too. The more unique types of users, the wider the variety of games we’ll ultimately see.
