85% Of Social Gamers Quit After One Day

[Skelletonike]

I just play them when I'm really bored, then my daily actions are done and I'd need to wait... Meh... Once that happens I just go and do something else, I mean, I'm ok with having to wait on games, it's one thing if there was some sort of stamina (like most korean games have to limit the amount of playing time), but having to wait real time for stuff to be done, and on top of that waiting more time just to do something? They're a huge waste of time (oh, exclusions are some casual online games for android, while they do have limits, you can still do a lot on them).

 

[Just Another Gamer]

Yeah, because to play for more than five minutes you need to refill "gems" or "gold" or whatever for $2.99+.

QFT. This is starting to become the case for (free) non-social games too, but even a lot of paid mobile games these days constantly pester you to buy in-game items with real cash (items you may be able to afford without real cash eventually, but which will basically take longer than beating the game). At least the games are fully playable without buying any of these items, but it's still annoying to be pestered to buy them.

This is why apps like GameCIH was made so you can get the stuff that usually needs real cash for free.

Yeah, but it's kind of a pain to use and doesn't work on everything. For example it didn't work on Draw Something to get infinite coins/bombs. I used it in Mega Jump to unlock everything though (I now have like 4 billion MP, lol)
It would be a lot better if Android had something like Cydia's iAPFree that cracks in-app purchases. However from what I've read it's not possible on Android which is a pity. It can be done on a per-app basis, but that involves downloading a cracked APK and I'd rather have my apps stay up to date.

Well you have to pick one and having in-game purchases cracked is a good thing and to be honest not all apps are better off being up to date. I don't see the problem with using a cracked apk honestly I guess i'm used to it though since I never bought 1 app or game for my phone since I bought it.

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[relminator]

The only things I use my droid phone (aside from the obvious sms and calls) are the book readers, calcs and dictionaries. Phone games generally suck either because of the controls or because it's too "social"

 

[gokujr1000]

Maybe because whenever I play these things they make me pay upto 5 extra dollars for basically another half an hour of playing.

 

[Skelletonike]

I like the looks of that graph.


But seriously: it doesn't surprise me that much. The 'free to play' model contradicts with TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Things As A Free Lunch). Developers (understandably) want to get paid for the work they do, so they want your money. Customers, on the other hand, either don't want or aren't allowed to spend real money on things*. If anything, it's more a matter of when you call the people playing your game gamers.

Think of it this way: AAA games have shareware versions, demo's, gameplay video's, reviews, and so on, and so on. Are you considered a gamer if you play, watch or read any of those? No. With social games, it's much easier to just install and play it. Assuming it even requires an installation.
If it was up to me, I'd define a "gamer" by a simple definition: did he payed anything for it?

I know it's not the best definition ever (it would make it pretty hard to be a "gamer" if you're just playing freeware and cracked games), but in this case, it would give a totally different view of this news.


While I agree with the OP that social game developers need to hold on to their player base...my disagreement is in what the playerbase IS. You really don't want to cater to people who aren't going to pay you no matter what. So just leave them out of the equation. Focussing on your customers means exactly that: those who only check you out for a free ride will be gone whenever they find something else that's free or easily hacked.


*you need to be 18 to be eligible for a credit card. And google wallet has no way to put money on it without it.

I find that pretty stupid, and the fact that you say that in order to be a gamer one needs to pay makes it more absurd. Most free games, be them mmo's or social or whatever, usually have adds on their websites, the game itself or somewhere else, just from that they get some money, now, if you think about the neighbours thing, the more people means more traffic, hence more money from adds and sponsors. Point is, they don't just earn money from what people buy in those games, and also, there's games like Phantasy Star 2 Online, Vindictus, Dark Blood, etc... In those games you don't pay a subscription, you don't pay for a subscription fee, you don't buy the game either, but you still get the full game experience, at most you can buy character goods with real money, like clothes, costumes, etc... Those games need people, even if some don't buy items, they still get profit from them, this is all business and it's pretty well planned, you can't just tell them to remove the 'weeds', since those weeds are actually the majority of their gamers.
I have those mmorpgs as an example, but the same is applies to Casual FB like games.

 

[mrfatso]

yet strange enough, I am always getting request from people and friends, hey... hey... help me install this social game and give me some pointless junk ... hey ... hey... click me and send me more junk for this crappy game... screw social games that requires you to have a huge circle of friends/strangers

 

[Vampire Lied]

I'm glad ppl are slowly realizing that at least one genre of shit games is shit. I don't see the "mobile games are the next big thing" dying off too soon though. Shame.

 

[Deleted-188346]

Good thing that it's dying. However, I'm afraid of what they'll think of next.