Arkadium examines the '5 W's of Social Game Purchases' [Infographic]

Arkadium has long been more than just a game developer, as the name behind Mahjongg Dimensions is also interested in the how's or why's associated with social games. This is true once again this week as the company has released the results of a March 2012 survey of over 1,500 gamers that details purchases in social games, along with the reasoning behind why gamers make purchases in their favorite social games.

The survey was made up of mainly players between the ages of 18 and 34, as 61% of players surveyed fell into that age rage. Interestingly, of those surveyed, 45% of men and 37% of women had made purchases in at least one Facebook game (I might have thought it was the other way around). What doesn't come as a surprise are the genres in which most of that money is being spent, with "Simulation and Building" games accounting for 69% of purchases (games like Zynga's FarmVille and CityVille are prime examples of money-makers in that "genre"). Meanwhile, games like Arkadium's own Mahjongg Dimensions, which would fall in the Arcade or Action category, only accounts for 22% of purchases.

While spontaneous purchases might account for a small portion of money spent in Facebook games, most players aren't willing to invest money into a product until they've been playing the game for at least a week. Unfortunately, those purchases sometimes go to waste, as only 49% of players say that they still play every game they've purchased items in after 6 months. Then again, this could be looked at in comparison to $0.99 mobile apps, which are normally abandoned just as quickly (or quicker). At least here, gamers are playing something for free and can come back to the product at any time to find (normally) an incredibly updated experience.

Arkadium's survey results are full of fun factoids like these, and you can find the full infographic below (click on the image to make it larger).

Are your surprised by some of the results of this survey? Have you ever invested real money in a Facebook game? Sound off in the comments.