The Sims Social has been one of the few games on Facebook to compete with Zynga’s dominance on the platform. Currrently, it sits just behind CityVillewith the second largest playerbase on Facebook, with a current player base of more than 65 million monthly active users. And according to a new report from gaming social network Raptr, many of those players came at the expense of Zynga games and other titles in The Sims series.
The Sims Social has been one of the few games on Facebook to compete with Zynga’s dominance on the platform. Currrently, it sits just behind CityVillewith the second largest playerbase on Facebook, with a current player base of more than 65 million monthly active users. And according to a new report from gaming social network Raptr, many of those players came at the expense of Zynga games and other titles in The Sims series.
Based on the activity of the Raptr community, which totals some 10 million gamers, a number of people who played other games in the series, like The Sims 3, and other EA developed social games, like Pet Society, moved on to The Sims Social. Playtime amongst users for both those games dropped by 50 percent after the release of The Sims Social. Considering EA heavily marketed the game to existing users, this makes sense.
The big news, though, is that The Sims Social appears to have had a significant affect on Zynga games. Playtime for both Empires & Allies and FarmVille dropped 25 percent, while CityVille‘s dropped slightly, though Raptr claims recent promotions such as the Enrique Iglesias guest appearance have reduced this somewhat.
“EA is a rising force in the social games industry,” Raptr CEO Dennis Fong explained. “Data from the previous Raptr Report outlined the strength of Zynga’s position in the social gaming space, but EA is poised to capture significant market share if it can capitalize on the popularity of The Sims Social.”
The report also reveals that the behavior of The Sims Social players closely mirrors that of Zynga games. Both types of players have an average game session of just under five minutes and both play an average of eight times a day and 20 times a week, though The Sims Social‘s audience plays a few more times a month, with 39 average sessions compared to Zynga’s 34.
According to the report, some of EA’s recent acquisitions combined with the success of The Sims Social could mean trouble for Zynga.
“Historically, EA’s traditional brands didn’t translate well into social games, but with their recent acquisitions of Playfish and PopCap, they’re now positioned to have a strong follow up to The Sims Social,” reads the report.
You can view the entire report here.
