据gamasutra网站的消息，市场研究公司NPD Group日前表示，在过去三个月里，大约20%的美国人在社交网络上玩游戏。

这意味着有5680万，年龄在6岁或者6岁以上的美国人在社交网络上玩游戏，其中35%是新的游戏玩家，在Facebook和MySpace等其他社交网络开始玩游戏之前，他们从未玩过任何形式的视频游戏。

npd group

这对于社交游戏厂商Zynga而言，无疑是个好消息，Zynga曾推出最受欢迎的社交网络游戏FarmVille。Facebook此前曾表示，约一半Facebook用户玩游戏。

妇女与老人更有可能在社交网络上玩游戏。相关数据显示，社交网络游戏玩家中约53%的玩家是女性，47%为男性。

NPD 分析师安尼塔·弗雷泽尔(Anita Frazier)称，尽管35%的社交网络游戏玩家为游戏新手，但很明显，同样有许多已经是游戏玩家的用户，被吸引到了社交网络游戏之中。这影响了游戏玩家在其他游戏上花费的时间以及在

游戏上花费的钱数。由于越来越多的用户被吸引到了此类游戏之中，整个游戏产业应当对这一影响进行评估，并且必须对此作出相应调整。

多数游戏玩家玩游戏并不投入资金，但约10%的社交网络游戏玩家为获得像更好的武器和装饰品等虚拟商品而付出真金白银。玩家称，自从他们开始玩社交网络游戏后，他们游戏的总支出减少了20%。这有助于解释为何当传统游戏销售直线下降时，社交网络游戏营收则一路攀升。

弗雷泽尔表示，社交网络游戏着眼于大众市场，它也面临着诸多挑战，加载速度缓慢以及游戏品质问题令玩家备受打击，而社交网络的简单游戏模式也让玩家们心生厌倦。显然，如果社交网络游戏希望保持其玩家群体，并刺激玩家花钱玩游戏，此类游戏还必须继续进行发展演变。

Around 20 percent of the U.S. population aged 6 and up, or some 56.8 million Americans, have played a game on a social network, according to a new report from market research firm The NPD Group.

The company’s “Social Network Gaming” report notes 35 percent of that segment is new to games, and had not played any traditional PC, home console, handheld or other types of video games before trying out social titles.

While the study shows that female and older respondents are more likely to be new gamers compared to other groups, it also found that the gender breakup of social network gamers is “fairly evenly divided” with 47 percent male and 53 percent female.

The firm adds that 10 percent of social gaming respondents have spent real money on microtransactions for those free-to-play titles, and 11 percent say they will likely buy virtual goods and currency in the future.

Those purchases affect their spending habits for other gaming activities, too, as traditional gamers say they spend 20 percent less on gaming overall since they started playing social network titles.

“Although 35 percent of social network gamers are new to gaming, it’s clear that a lot of existing gamers have been drawn into the social network gaming arena as well,” says NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier.

She continues, “This impacts both the time they spend with other types of gaming, as well as the amount of money they’re spending on gaming. As more players are drawn into these games, the entire games industry is going to feel, and have to adjust to, the impact.” (source:gamasutra/tencent)