The characteristic of the social-gaming phenomenon is the fact that it combines social aspects from the social community with those from online games. The previous online-gaming community came to be a continuously growing segment while at the same time the users increasingly wanted to use the web to maintain social contact and to share common interests with their peer-groups – the combination of both elements leads to positive synergy effects for both sides, especially due to the huge number of users.

Also the dynamics of the games are changing. While a few years ago the majority of the console games was based on a single player strategy (e.g. you have to beat every other participant to reach the next level), today the amount of collaborative games is increasing. This is also one reason why the audience expanded to new target groups such as females, older audiences or entire families.

Entertaining brand games – more than just sponsoring

The several opportunities of the gaming segment can also be used for successful brand positioning, due to the simple fact that games can be entertaining, interactive and require the active attention of the player. Therefore a well-conceived branded game enables the user to experience the brand in a personal and entertaining way and not just as the games’ sponsor. Examples for successful and entertaining games were launched by brands like Axe, Mini Cooper or Burger King.

In the last months there were several successful examples which confirmed the up-and-coming social gaming trend such as the large fusion of the Chinese social networking platform 51.com with China’s biggest online gaming platform ga-me.com. Yet another example is the very successful launch of the Italian online gaming platform fueps.com which includes e.g. Fuepslandia, a genuine virtual city along the lines of Sim City where people can have a home customized to their personal tastes, paying for this with "tokens" earned by playing the various games available on the site.  

Pro

- broad number of users

- different target groups

- customer loyalty via branded games