Nearly half of social gamers play on two devices, survey says

Has it sunk in yet? Mobile is surely one of the next steps for social games, if a recent survey of 10 thousand social gamers is any indication. Put together by mobile social game developer Itsmy, the company found that 45 percent of social gamers in the U.S. and Europe play the same games on both their computers and a second device. This implies that nearly half of the social gaming community is playing games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars both in their browsers and on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computer.

Better yet, the Itsmy survey found that 38 percent of the social gaming crowd plays the games solely on a mobile device. (When it comes to FarmVille, I can attest to that.) And weirdly enough, the company claims, "10 percent are already playing social games with four or more different devices, like mobile phone, PC, gaming console, tablet or TV ." Do people really need to be that connected to the farm?

"2011 will be the year of cross device and browser gaming," Itsmy CEO Antonio Vince Staybl says. "The mobile phone is still the first device to play our social games, but netbooks, gaming consoles, iPods and tablets are catching up rapidly."

Whelp, I guess some folks do then. However, keep in mind that the details of this survey are scant (aside from the sample) and it was conducted by a mobile social game developer. But no matter how you slice it, mobile seems to be where it's at.

[Image Credit: Waukster]

How often do you play social games on a mobile phone or tablet? Which do you prefer more? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.