The social gaming landscape in the country is witnessing a growth momentum due to easy access to mobile and Internet facilities.
The growth of social networks sites, the time spent by users on them, the high entertainment value proposition and opportunity to engage in fun and casual interaction with friends, was fuelling the social gaming market, say social gaming experts.
“Worldwide over 500 million play social games. In India more than 10 million (over 50 per cent) of Facebook users play social games,” says Mr Deepak Abbot, Vice President-Product, Zapak.com, one of the leading social gaming players.
“Today conversations have found a new medium of interaction — Social Gaming. Social games now act as mini social networks.
They have now become the conversation starters among two people active on the network,” says Mr Rahul Razdan, President, Products & Operations, Ibibo web.
According to Mr Razdan, on a social network site, only 10 per cent are really active posting their pictures or providing updates on social life.
But a social gaming format works differently. Here, a user can simply play a game, make a comment and respond to their friend’s moves and take active part without really bothering about whether they had something awesome to say or post pictures, as would be required in a social network site.
It creates reasons for interaction with every action of a player demanding a counter reaction.
Gaming in India though dominated by men, has a sizeable women gaming population as well. Games that favour aesthetic expressions, building and growing a farm found favour with women, while games relating to mafia, violence and hard core action saw men gravitate toward them.
“Women constitute 30 per cent of the Facebook and Internet users in India, the same per cent can also be assumed in the social gaming space. As the games are more related to building, collaborating and managing these games appeal to women too. There is hardly any skill required to play social games, therefore, gender is not an issue,” said Mr Abbot.