Facebook gamers now total 250 million users. The social network revealed the new milestone during Tuesdays Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Facebook last reported its gaming numbers in August 2012, a total that equaled 235 million FB gamers. The 250 million milestone is a large increase over the 205 million gamers Facebook claimed 12 months earlier.
Facebook also announced that game installations at Facebook.com have increased by 75 percent since March 2012. To date there are more than 200 games on Facebook.com and at least 1 million monthly active users on each game.
Upon announcing its new gamer totals the company also revealed that it will launch a new Timeline section devoted solely to video games. According to a Facebook spokesperson:
“The game section will give people a way to express their favourite games on their timeline and About page, and will serve as another re-engagement and discovery channel for game developers.”
Facebook has not revealed if that change will be directly related to a users profile pages or if it will fall into place with the recently announced News Feed section.
The announcement comes at a time when Google Android and iOS have fought to pull users away from traditional desktop applications and towards mobility. However, Facebook drove 263 million clicks from the mobile News Feed to Google Play and the Apple App store. It is likely Facebook’s ability to drive visitors to mobile gaming platforms that has led to close FB integration from mobile game developers.
Facebook could greatly benefit from the cross-platform approach of gamers. While more users are taking advantage of smartphones and tablets, they are also more likely to continue their gameplay while sitting at their computer which utilizes a bigger display and easier game play functions.
Facebook has been offering developers cash to develop new Facebook.com integrated games. In 2012 Facebook paid out more than $1 million to those developers.
Facebook notes that in 2012 more than $2 billion was paid out to developers as paying game customers increased by 24 percent.
The future of gaming is still anyone’s guess but Facebook’s approach to cross-platform accessibility appears to be paying off in a big way.
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