FarmVille: The Biggest Social Game of 2009, By the Numbers
While recent Zynga games have grabbed the headlines this fall — first Café World, then FishVille and most recently PetVille — virtual farming game FarmVille continues to grow by millions of users every month. Here’s a closer look at the stats for this social gaming hit.
As of today, the game has 72.9 million monthly active users, according to AppData, making it by far the most popular game on Facebook. The closest has less than half the number of monthly actives — Café World, at 32.2 million. Put another way, FarmVille is played by more than 20 percent of Facebook’s 350 million users every single month. In the “long tail” of social games on Facebook, it is the “fat head.”
Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that the game also has grown to have the most daily active users of any app — by far. As of today, it has 27.5 million daily active users. Café World comes in a very distant second with 9.62 million DAU. This means FarmVille has a “sticky factor” (DAU/MAU) of 38 percent, which is one of the highest out of any large application that we know of.
While FarmVille was not the first farming game t0 get big on Facebook, Zynga has effectively used various promotional methods, from cross-promotion on its toolbar to ad buys, to make it big. There are still questions about why FarmVille, and not the many other virtual simulation games on Facebook, has gotten so huge.
And, although social gaming insiders usually consider other genres, like role-playing mafia games, to be more lucrative, we can assume that FarmVille is bringing in serious cash with DAU counts this high. Like most other successful social games, this one has been making its money from virtual goods, specifically things like plant seeds and utilitarian items like pink tractors.
Perhaps people really do just like the farming concept more than they like tending virtual restaurants, pets or fish? Or, perhaps next year, we’ll see games in those genres come to match and even surpass FarmVille? “My father-in-law — a farmer — told me five years ago that I should make a farm game,” as Zynga vice president Bill Mooney related at VentureBeat’s DiscoveryBeat event last week. Mooney, a veteran game producer, says he laughed off the idea at the time. But now he’s the general manager of FarmVille, and one of the key people responsible for its success. Maybe, as his father-in-law suggested, social gamers do have some sort of special connection to civilization’s roots.
| Name | MAU |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1. |  FarmVille |
72,898,865 |
| 2. |  Café World |
32,175,759 |
| 3. |  Causes |
29,261,811 |
| 4. |  Social Interview |
27,873,612 |
| 5. |  Happy Aquarium |
27,405,705 |
| 6. |  Mafia Wars |
26,815,058 |
| 7. |  FishVille |
26,186,935 |
| 8. |  Birthday Cards |
24,957,972 |
| 9. |  Pet Society |
21,450,666 |
| 10. |  Texas HoldEm Poker |
20,349,406 |
December 14th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
[...] Now one site has put down the gauntlet and has declared Farmville the Social Game of 2009. Inside Social Games says that Farmville currently has 72.9 million monthly active users, which roughly translates to [...]
December 15th, 2009 at 7:38 am
If you’re sick and tired of running around totally broke while other players get barns and greenhouses and the most expensive villa, this information is for you.
You’ve probably always wondered why you can’t seem to make as much money or level up as fast as the other players in the game.
Learn more : http://www.farmville-secrets.tk
I used to wonder the same thing. I thought,
“Where are these people making money so fast?”
“Are they buying it on FarmVille?”
“What are they growing and selling?”
So I set out to spy on all the successful players I could find to see just what they did to earn all of their money and to level up so fast.
Learn more : http://www.farmville-secrets.tk
Juddy
December 17th, 2009 at 11:47 am
wow, i find it really intriguing that a farm game is this popular. i’m really interested in learning what the attraction is, especially considering the cultural norm that farming is NOT a desirable career option. do people realize that in real farming, it’s hard to make a living, and this is a way to live that farm dream without going broke? i kind of doubt that…
can you guess the average age of Farmville players? i’m working on a Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development project that targets middle school and high school kids, and i’d like to tap into what appeals to this age group, knowing that this generation is all about social networking.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
[...] of 72.9 million million active monthly players on Facebook. FarmVille recently earned the title of 2009’s biggest social game, with over 27.5 million active users logging in [...]
December 17th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
[...] of 72.9 million million active monthly players on Facebook. FarmVille recently earned the title of 2009’s biggest social game, with over 27.5 million active users logging in [...]
December 18th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
[...] Il faut dire que les utilisateurs Facebook passent près de 8 milliards de minutes par jour sur le site, qu’ils publient 55 millions de mises à jour de leur statut, qu’ils partagent 3,5 milliards de contenus par semaine avec leurs amis et qu’ils téléchargent 2,5 milliards de photos par mois.4 Les applications dans Facebook sont un élément important. Parmi ceux-ci notons FarmVille avec proche de 73 millions d’utilisateurs unique. 5 [...]
December 19th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
[...] reading this article on Inside Social Games, I saw the top Facebook applications of 2009, according to AppData. To no one’s surprise, [...]
December 20th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
[...] FarmVille: The Biggest Social Game of 2009, By the Numbers [...]
December 27th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Help..cafe world won’t open in my facebook and Farmville does open but when I try to click the market icon nothing happens..what’s wrong?? I’m using windows 7, my knowlege of computer is just basic please help….
January 4th, 2010 at 9:39 am
click market in farmville and nothing happens…please help< im a noob
January 6th, 2010 at 8:44 am
[...] building something new for themselves to show off. Already we have seen people flock to customizing farms, restaurants, and aquariums, so why not trains too? Currently, TrainSetGo has about 4,500 monthly [...]
February 8th, 2010 at 9:03 am
One of the things that proofs that FarmVille developers had a clear monetization strategy is that the game is asking you TO BUY items after 7 minutes of game play. That is remarkable
February 27th, 2010 at 9:03 am
HEIP, I played Mafia Wars just so I could receive the new flame farm tractors. I was successful in getting my plow, but even though I have reached level 15 in Mafia Wars, I cannot open my Flame Seeder…Help
March 1st, 2010 at 1:36 pm
[...] FarmVille PIC [...]
May 3rd, 2010 at 2:28 pm
[...] outra explicação apontada pela própria Zynga é o facto do jogo ser sobre agricultura e se tratar de algo que faz parte das raizes. Todos têm [...]
September 6th, 2010 at 9:58 am
[...] Of course, there’re downsides like fierce competition and a very high risk of depending on the social network T&C policy changes for 3rd parties. But it worth it… Just have a look to Farmville. [...]
September 18th, 2010 at 6:02 am
hye huw irr u how can i get fram ville …..
September 30th, 2010 at 12:37 am
Am I able to download the farmvillee game to my computer to be played off line? I dont want to join facebook or other sites.