Why Social Casino Games are Losing Popularity
It is estimated that 77% of Americans have a Facebook account and a vast majority of them have accessed some sort of game through the site. It all started out with some very basic offerings, and almost everyone can remember the endless string of Farmville notifications in their news feeds. Social casino games are now a part of their lineup, and while none of them are offered for real money in the US, users are given the option to make in-game purchases for things such as purchasing more chips, customizing their avatars, buying power-ups and more.
While these social casino games were incredibly popular for a while, their popularity is on the decline. The primary reason for this is that a number of software developers, upon seeing how many people were flocking to those gambling applications, began to create their own. As such, Facebook became inundated with hundreds of low-quality applications that were all very similar. Since many of the in-game perks require people to get their friends in on the action, and since the sheer number of available options meant that finding enough people in one's social circle to make play beneficial was all but impossible, people just gave up and stopped accessing them.
Thus, the most successful creators of social casino games are no longer spending money they don't have on advertising. Instead, in an effort to generate revenue, they are making in-game purchases necessary for progressing. Unfortunately, though, this has had the opposite effect. More people than ever are turning away from these titles because they simply do not want to spend the money it takes to keep going.