EA shut down nearly as many Facebook games as Zynga in 2012

Joe Osborne
Updated
Social game crash
Social game crash

The FarmVille house is far from the only major social game maker going through hard times, you know. EA, the owner of social game studios Playfish and PopCap (to name a few), gave nine of its Facebook games the axe last year. That's just a few less than Zynga opted to let go of in the same time frame. Conveniently, and respectfully, the publisher issues this information publicly for all to see on its website (thanks, AllThingsD).

This fact speaks volumes not only to the state of the rapidly maturing social games industry, but the over games business at large. First of all, this goes to show that, while the barriers to entry are low, creating a successful, lasting Facebook game perhaps requires just as much finesse as crafting a winning console or PC game does. (At the same time requiring far more areas of expertise than the latter.)

Secondly, perhaps Facebook games simply aren't they were all cracked up to be before the bubble burst for Zynga last year. Sure, these games can make a load of money, but that requires way more mastery than taking known brands and slapping them on the platform like companies are so wont to do these days. Simply put, Facebook games aren't the money trees raised with Miracle-Gro that FarmVille made them out to be in 2008.

And last but certainly not least, looking back on 2012 only serves to prove the popular opinion that social gaming is to the 21st century what the Atari age was to the 20th century. Social gaming on the web and mobile is going through the same paces that games did during the crashes of 1977 and 1983, and that trend will likely only continue through 2013, though hopefully on a far less dramatic scale. The end result? Perhaps it will soon be hard to easily define the difference between games on Facebook and those on your next Xbox in 2014.

Do you agree that social gaming is going through a crash similar to games in the late '70s and early '80s? What will get the burgeoning industry out of this rut? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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