Inside Social Games

In tandem with the release earlier today of the Top 25 Facebook Games, we have just run the numbers and compiled the MySpace platform gaming charts for September 24, 2008.

Leading the charts are Mobsters (by an unknown developer) and Mafia Wars (by Zynga), light social RPGs that are relatively similar to Mob Wars, one of the leading games on Facebook. Also on top with over 8 million users is Own Your Friends (also by an unknown developer named “Peter”) which follows similar game dynamics as Serious Business’s Friends For Sale and Coolapps.com’s Owned! on Facebook.

What’s notable about the MySpace Top 25 Games chart is the developers you’ll find sitting atop the MySpace social gaming world. While many of the apps are produced by independent (or stealth) developers, large social game developer Zynga is dominating the charts with 7 of the top 25 games on MySpace – many of which (like Texas HoldEm and Street Racing) have similar counterparts on Facebook, but some of which (like Dragon Wars) were originally released on MySpace.

Leading social network application developer RockYou also has a strong presence with 2 titles in the top 12, and original viral game developer Blake Commagere is still sitting pretty with Vampires, Zombies, and Werewolves all hanging in the top 25. Large Facebook social game developers Playfish and SGN do not have any titles in the top of the MySpace gaming charts.

An important difference in the MySpace Top 25 is that MySpace only publishes total user counts – NOT active users. So while many of these games may have achieved significant distribution, there’s no guarantee that users are actually engaged. It’s impossible to know exactly which games are indeed keeping the most players engaged.

(If any readers know the identity of any of the unknown developers above, please let others know in the comments!)