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EA’s been gaining quite a bit of ground on the social front lately, but just how much wasn’t clear until today.  Raptr, cited as the leading social network for gamers, today released a new report analyzing the growing popularity of EA’s The Sims Social, which just recently broke the 66 million-player mark on Facebook. That’s just the tip of the iceberg – EA’s got the potential to take a far larger piece of the pie. 

The Sims Social isn’t the only property which is helping EA to steamroll through the social media games market, either. Dragon Age Legends is still pulling in fans of BioWare’s blockbuster RPG, and EA’s acquisition of Popcap and Playfish means they’ve now got some considerable market power behind them. 

“EA is a rising force in the social games industry” Dennis Fong, CEO of Raptr, said in a press release. “Data from the previous Raptr report outlined the strength of Zynga’s position in the social gaming space, but EA is poised to capture significant market share if it can capitalize on the popularity of The Sims Social. With this report, we examine the basis of [the game]’s success and the potential significance of EA’s acquisition of Playfish and Popcap to the company’s future social strategy. “

Seems to me that EA’s poised to completely dominate the social market, if they play their cards right. The Sims is one of the most popular franchises ever released – if anything was the perfect first step into social gaming, it was that series, and that series alone. The fact that players of The Sims Social mirror playtime patterns of Zynga’s most popular games, and their acquisition of Popcap includes that company’s massive user base, means that  Zynga, currently the dominant force in social gaming, should be very, very worried. 

You can find the full report here or through the source links below. 

Sources: Raptr, Businesswire.

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Raptr Press Release

 

Raptr Report Reveals EA's Success in Social Gaming with The Sims Social and Beyond

New Study Analyzes Gaming Habits Across 10 Million Raptr Members, Highlights Impact of The Sims Social and EA’s Social Game Strategy

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Raptr, the leading social network for gamers, has released a new Raptr Report that analyzes the growing popularity of EA’s blockbuster social game The Sims Social, which has captured more than 66 million players on Facebook. The report also examines EA’s potential opportunity to capture more market share in the social gaming space. The Sims Social study follows up last month’s Raptr Report, which detailed Zynga’s success in the social games industry and the company’s ability to attract, convert, and engage its sizeable audience. This Raptr Report on The Sims Social is available for free at: http://blog.raptr.com/2011/10/12/raptr-report-the-sims-social/

“EA is a rising force in the social games industry,” said Dennis Fong, CEO of Raptr. “Data from the previous Raptr Report outlined the strength of Zynga’s position in the social gaming space, but EA is poised to capture significant market share if it can capitalize on the popularity of The Sims Social. With this report we examine the basis of The Sims Social’s success and the potential significance of EA acquisitions of Playfish and PopCap to the company’s future social strategy.”

Some key findings of the Raptr Report: The Sims Social include:

• EA drove millions of players from The Sims 3 and the company’s other social games to The Sims Social, but an even greater portion of the game’s user base is comprised of Zynga game players.
• The Sims Social players average eight sessions per day, five minutes per session – mirroring the playtime patterns of Zynga’s most successful games rather than most of EA’s previous social titles.
• EA’s acquisition of PopCap gave the company instant access to a number of strong casual brands – and 59%-75% of that user base already plays social games as well, which is more than double compared with EA’s traditional game franchises.
• Read the full report for more in-depth stats and analysis of The Sims Social.

 

Methodology

This report is based on data collected from Raptr’s service, available at http://raptr.com. Raptr is the leading social network for gamers and currently automatically tracks gameplay activity for over 10 million users across PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Built with powerful proprietary data tracking features, Raptr analyzes more than 23 million gaming sessions and a billion minutes of gameplay each month, and Raptr is the industry’s only source for comprehensive gameplay trends and statistics across console platforms and PC. Data is compiled from the launch of Raptr to October 7, 2011. This report was not endorsed by any 3rd party.

 

About Raptr

Created by a world-class team led by CEO and founder Dennis Fong (co-founder of Xfire, Lithium, and Gamers.com), the award-winning Raptr service provides gamers with a central location to connect with both friends and the games they play. More than 10 million people already use Raptr to track their games and to discover gaming content personalized by their gameplay activity. Since 2007, Raptr has raised more than $27 million in funding from investors Accel Partners, Founder’s Fund, DAG Ventures, and Tenaya Capital. For more information about Raptr, please visit http://raptr.com.

Nicholas Greene   FollowTech_Light A gamer at heart, Nick started writing when he was a child. He holds a BA in English, works as a freelancer, and loves every minute of it. One day, he hopes to net himself a career in game design - but that's something for the future.

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