据socialtimes预测，Facebook平台锁定硬核玩家的游戏市场到2013年将增长5倍。

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该平台的硬核游戏市场代表包括Kabam（游戏邦注：其开发游戏包括《Kings of Camelot》、《Dragons of Atlantis》）和Casual Collective（《Backyard Monsters》以及即将推出的《Battle Pirates》开发商）等公司推出的策略类游戏，其Facebook用户总数约2000万人，预计今后两年将增长至1亿人。

Facebook平台已有不少硬核游戏用户，但这一群体主要是出于个人目的或工作需要才使用Facebook，他们对休闲类社交游戏并不感兴趣。

Casual Collective首席执行官Will Harbin认为，开发商必须开发这类群体容易接受的游戏，但这并不意味着这些玩家会就此放弃自己的Xbox 360之类的传统游戏平台，“随着游戏内容质量的提高……我们终会看到（Facebook平台）男性游戏市场的发展。”

虽然比起Zynga的热门游戏《CityVille》（游戏邦注：该游戏月活跃用户高9800万），《Backyard Monsters》的用户基数明显偏低，但Harbin相信锁定硬核玩家的Facebook游戏比前者更容易创收。

理由是年轻男性用户更愿意为自己的游戏体验花钱，“我们游戏的收益情况虽然不如Kabam理想，但却比Zynga的情况更乐观”，他举例道，在Casual Collective宣布升级《Backyard Monsters》的一款武器后，该游戏一天内的营收就激增了3万美元。

Harbin还大胆预测，硬核游戏不久后将凭借极高的MAU（月活跃用户）进入Facebook热门游戏排行榜的前25强，“到2013年Facebook前25强热门游戏中，可能有30%属于硬核类游戏。”不过在今年2月份，Facebook前25强游戏中，仅有三者属于这类风格的游戏，即《Mafia Wars》、《Crime City》和《City of Wonder》。

他还表示，这些未来的热门硬核游戏将主要出自Casual Collective及传统游戏开发商之手，Zynga不太可能涉足这一领域，因为“他们可能很难调整业务方向”。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

REPORT: Facebook Games May Grow Fivefold By 2013

The market for Facebook games targeting hardcore gamers just might increase fivefold by 2013.

The total current market, including strategy games from Kabam (Kings of Camelot, Dragons of Atlantis) and Casual Collective (such as Backyard Monsters and the upcoming Battle Pirates) represents about 20 million Facebook gamers. Two years from now, however, that total might become 100 million.

Hardcore gamers are already on Facebook for personal and professional reasons and might not have embraced games on the site, because they’re not excited by the casual game offerings.

We “just need to make games they’re not embarrassed to play,” Casual Collective Chief Executive Officer Will Harbin said. This is not to say such gamers are going to abandon their Xbox 360s. Rather, “as quality of the content increases… we’ll see a lot of growth in the male gaming market.”

Gamers at work or school who can’t access their consoles and high-end PCs will steadily gravitate toward Facebook games catering to the hardcore players.

While Backyard Monsters has a low user base relative to top games like Zynga’s CityVille (4 million to 98 million), Harbin argues that the Facebook games aimed at the hardcore gamer audience monetize far better.

Young males are consistently more likely to spend the most for their gaming experiences. “Our games do not monetize as well as Kabam but they monetize a hell of a lot better than Zynga,” as he put it.  By example, he noted that in the days after Casual Collective announced a new upgrade to a Backyard Monsters weapon, revenue surged by $30,000 a day.

In any case, Harbin is bullish that hardcore games will also penetrate into the top 25 most popular Facebook games in terms of monthly active numbers.  “Probably 30 percent of the top 25 will be male dominated” by 2013, he  said.  As of February 2011, only three of the top 25 (Mafia Wars, Crime City, and City of Wonder) are arguably in that category.

Harbin believes some of those popular hardcore games will be produced by studios like Casual Collective and major developers from the traditional industry, but probably not Zynga. “It’s going to be hard for them” to “change their business,” he said.（source:allfacebook）