What is a social game and how does it differ from a multi-player game? Bringing people together who know each other or who have shared interests. The psychology of social games will continue to grow. Experiencing the web with your friends is more enjoyable than by yourself. Users are looking for lightweight games that are easy to play and understand. Social games can reach a much broader audience and the social experience is more important than the actual game. People enjoy competing with each other and having a winner and a looser.
How do you monetize games? Many companies see the application as the ad unit. So the game itself is a branded ad. That is what BuddyMedia is doing now with several major brands. It is a good way to get big brands into the social media. BuddyMedia averages a partner deal of $100k to build their app. Sponsorship of games has also been productive. Videoegg ads have also been successful. Some games actually charge the user for upgrades. Like ghost racer allows users to upgrade their car for $20 and they make about $1k per day from upgrades. There are 19 year olds that are making 50k per month on their social games.
Some drawbacks to gaming is that games are hit driven. Meaning that they go viral and take off. Then they level off and die. Continued growth is difficult. People tend to tire easily from playing a game.
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