Inside Social Games

We’ve been covering how big game maker Electronic Arts may be making a big move into social gaming by acquiring top developer Playfish, but yesterday it made a separate social move. The company launched Facebook Connect for its casual gaming site, Pogo.com. This Connect integration is not as full as other ones we’ve seen — specifically, you have to first log in or create an account on Pogo.com, then use Connect to find Facebook friends and share information back to Facebook.

There’s no way to log in using your Facebook identity instead of creating a separate Pogo.com account. Still, for Pogo users, they’ll now be able to share information back to Facebook so their friends can see. This activity may encourage more Facebook users to go to Pogo, create a new account, log in, and start playing.

Pogo’s traffic has been flat, and its core demographic — older women — has been loving Facebook lately, as Inside Social Games contributor Eric von Coelln notes. Still, the site has come out with some nice games in the last couple of years, like Word Whomp Dash, so maybe Connect will help it get more people playing.