Inside Social Games

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is a big day for retailers. And with the growth of social gaming this past year, the day might also be big for virtual goods retailers. Zynga, specifically, is offering discounts for items in a couple of its bigger games.

Roller Coaster Kingdom, a tycoon-style title with 15.5 million monthly active users, will be having its own virtual “Black Friday Sale,” as spotted by Jason Salas. As a game that involves the creation of a top notch amusement park, costs can run a bit high, and hiring your friends only saves so much. So, it looks like Zynga will be slashing ride prices by 25%. Yes, its a 25% off sale for all of them, and this includes rides that cost both in-game coins as well as those that cost real money.

Of course, if you’re not a fan of Roller Coaster Kingdom, Zynga will be holding other sales as well, for its long time hit title, Mafia Wars. From Friday to Monday (until 11:59pm PST), the company will be offering discounts on some of the most highly demanded “Limited Edition and consumable items.” Players will be able to track what they purchase on a special “mastery bar” and if they buy 20 or more items, they will receive an extra gift that has only been descirbed as “uber.”

Not enough? Mafia Wars will also present a special “Featured Item” hourly that will see discounts greater than any others for that time. Moreover, this promo is said to be tied to the Thanksgiving event, Mafia Wars Food Fight, in which all jobs and attacks have a chance to drop Thanksgiving items. All ready, we know that virtual goods make for an excellent source of revenue, but just how well will it do on this dark, dark day? Insanity or genius… guess we’ll see on the 27th.

[image via Sharktronics]