14 DAY TRIAL // A new report coming from the firm Lazard Capital Markets shows that current players of online games, both traditional titles and those recently launched on the Facebook platform, plan to spend more time engaged in playing them this year around than they did last year, taking time away from more traditional titles.
The report says, “Both traditional browser-based online games as well as social games are showing stronger usage growth as compared with console gaming in our survey. Specifically, 86 percent of online gamers plan to spend at least as much or more time playing games online this year. Similarly, 88 percent of social gamers plan to spend as much or more time playing Facebook games this year.”
Apparently the huge number of players who engage in social gaming are also making the titles profitable, with 21 percent of those questioned who play games on Facebook saying that they are buying virtual goods using real world money in order to stay competitive.
The fact that this figures is higher than in other similar reports is linked to the fact that the sample the Lazard report focuses on is made up of more active gamers.
The biggest growth area is linked to gaming on mobile phones, with only half of console owners saying that they have a smartphone, which suggests that there is space for gaming to grow in the handheld space.
A previous report has suggested that those gamers who are described as hardcore continue to spend significant time with their home consoles, enjoying and expecting big titles like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo: Reach or Gran Turismo 5.
On the other hand more casual players, those who were more interested in fitness titles or in the now fading music simulation business, are less attracted to their home consoles and are looking to the online medium and Facebook to satisfy their gaming needs.