A new report suggests the social casino games market will generate revenue of $2.7b in 2014, driven mostly by players using mobile devices. The latest Social Casino Tracker report by market watchers Eilers Research says social casino gaming revenue rose 8.6% to $663.7m in the second quarter, slower growth than in previous quarters but enough for Eilers to raise their full-year forecast by $100m.
Of greater interest, perhaps, is the fact that desktop social casino game play rose a mere 0.9% to $329m while mobile play rose 15.7% to $335m. Mobile now accounts for just over 50% of the total, up from 46% in the previous quarter.
As usual, Caesars Interactive Entertainment wore the social casino crown, with its Playtika, Buffalo Studios and Pacific Interactive offshoots claiming 21.2% of the total social casino revenue pie, up from 17.8% in Q1. International Game Technology’s social gaming division DoubleDown Casino maintained its runner-up status with an 11% share. Former social gaming kings Zynga were stuck in third with 8.8%, with a 24% gain in Hit It Rich! Casino Slots offsetting a 12.5% decline in Facebook revenue for Zynga’s flagship Poker product (the sixth consecutive quarter of desktop decline).
The rest of the social casino pie was split up as follows: GSN/Bash Gaming (7.4%); Big Fish Games’ Big Fish Casino (6%), Williams Interactive (5%), High 5 Games (3%), myVegas developers Playstudios (2%), DoubleU Games’ DoubleU Casino (2%), Bally’s recent acquisition Dragonplay (2%), with the remaining 32% (roughly $212m) divided up amongst a host of lesser (but likely profitable) lights.
