A new report from analysts working for the first eMarketer says that close to 69 million American will be engaged in regular social game playing in 2012, making up about 29 percent of the total Internet population in the United States.
The research firm says that a player qualifies as a gamer interested in social games as long as he plays at least one game on a social network at least once every month.
eMarketer says that the number in 2012 will be increased by one third when compared to the 53 million players who were engaged with social gaming during 201social network, which then accounted for 24 percent of all Internet users.
While the increase in the number of gamers who are interested in social-based titles is still impressive, the rate of growth seems to be slowing down, with the analysts at eMarketer saying that the decrease in pace is linked to a reduction of use when it comes to the most popular Facebook-based video games.
Facebook took some steps in September 2010 to limit the games' abilities to send out notifications to other players without them being actually requested.
This means that the viral spread avenues for titles like Cityville from Zynga have been reduced, which means that a smaller number of new players is attracted to them every month.
Despite this move from the company, those games which are based on Facebook currently represent 75% of overall social game use and the percentage is expected to hold in 2012.
In 2011 the social game market is set to create revenue of about 1.1 billion dollars, which is more than a quarter more than in 2010, with 192 million coming from spending by advertisers and the rest coming from one time payments from players.
The social game success is also putting pressure on more traditional titles, with big franchises, from Battlefield to The Lord of the Rings Online, becoming free to play in order to attract gamers who now have social alternatives.
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