2012: A year in casual gaming

2012 AYEAR IN CASUAL GAMES Super Meat Boy® sells more than 1 million copies JAN "With social games audiences maturing and the industry's offerings increas- ingly starting to resemble traditional video game out- ings, it'll be enough to make fans of even high-end console outings give them a second glance." Atari" begins making mobile and social games CASUAL GAMES ASSOCIATION Casual Games Association predicts social 20 iOS game Temple Run" sees 20 million downloads games market to hit $8.64 billion in 2014 and 7 million active users 16 Scott Steinberg CEO of TechSavwy Global Parks Associates study: US gaming population has almost tripled since 2008 FEB "We think social gaming is a disruptive industry and will break into the mainstream, regardless of what happens to the industry in general." 21 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry Business Insider Intelligence Zynga" announces partnership with Hasbro® to produce a line of board games inspired by the online Zynga games zynga Hasb MAR From prior year 12 GOC +17% 22,500 attendees Angry Birds" animated series announced, possible movie APR Bubble Witch Saga" surpasses more than LE 20 million monthly active users MАЧ Angry Birds" hits 1 billion downloads Game of Thrones" social game announced, based on HB0 show Superdata reports that average U.S. social gamers spent $37.59 in April, which is about $8 less than a year ago "It's becoming widely known that the majority of smartphone users connect with the Facebook app on their mobiles. As smartphones get better and more consumers are opting to their use mobiles and tablets to access games, their expectation is access anywhere. And, they want the experience to be seamless with their monthly active users gameplay on Facebook. We are seeing this is especially the case with casual social games, which transition well onto the mobile platform." 15 SimCity" Social 2.5% of social gamers have converted to surpasses 10 million paying users, 1.4% increase from last year Jun 10 Japan's Gree moves mobile gaming into the spotlight at E3 E1 Riccardo Zacconi King.com CEO zynga JUL “The only way we are going to grow this industry is by creating new excitement, First Zynga® insider trading lawsuit filed new mechanics and new Casual games console Ouya" announced, raises $3 million in two days social." .... Last Casual Connect conference Mark Pincus Zynga" CEO at GamesBeat takes place in Seattle, moves to SF in 2013 Worldwide video game market to reach $82 Billion by 2017 according to DFC Intelligence Facebook® updates platform policies, limits games on third-party sites DE Video games turn 40 Amazon" announces it will enter the social gaming market with the debut of Amazon Game Studios AUG A study by strategy consultants Roland Berger predicts online casual games market will generate $46 billion by 2016 SEP "In the long term there's no reason why the casual (games business) would not over- come the hardcore business 13 Minecraft" sales surpass 7 million on PC Yves Guillemot Ubisoft CEO to GamesIndustry.biz because there are more people that are inter- ested in buying 11 f Mark Zuckerberg announces at TechCrunch Disrupt that 235 million people play games on Facebook each month casual." Castle Crashers" passes 3 million players E ED Facebook's largest casual social game, Candy Crush Saga® is released on ioS Facebook" announces 35 million more people are playing games on Facebook® compared to 2011 and expects strategy games to grow on the platform AS Farmville 2" reaches 61 million monthly active users E4 OCT 10 .... OnLive" assets sold PlayStation 3" hacked again for $4.8 Million 19 SongPop amasses 20 million active users Todd Heringer Breaktime CEO to PocketGamer.biz Sheldon Cooper plays Words With Friends® with Stephen Hawking in episode 6, season 6 of The Big Bang Theory" XBLA game Poker Smash released for ios ПО "Our philosophy for delivering fun and differen- tiated games hinges on the notion that the casual market is actually underserved when it comes to games that offer more immersive experiences. Casual gamers will engage with complex loops if delivered appropriately." Facebook® announces “Top Rated Social Games of 2012," with SongPop, Dragon City" and Bike Race™ taking top three spots Hulu" launches gaming hub DEC "Our strategy has been really one of fewer, bigger and better. We're) Just creating really strong, core gameplay experiences, and quality experiences are really what our focus is golng to be this coming year and thereafter." 1 Journey" and The Walking Dead" games garner multiple Game of the Year awards, beating out Wii U" launches Dungeon Rampage" surpasses 5 million registered users many AAA titles E Apple names The Room its best iPad game of 2012, Rayman Jungle Run® the best iPhone games of 2012, Angry Birds" HD the most popular paid app of 2012 Nick Earl EA AII Play, to Games.com (EA All Play is EA's mobile-only arm) 19 O 16 Homer Simpson becomes hopelessly addicted to playing a game called "VillageVille" on his myPad on episode 8, season 24 of The Simpsons" REBEL ENTERTAINMENT wwW.REBELENTERTAINMENT.COM Copyright © 2012 Rebel Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. All third party trademarks above are the property of their respective owners. Rebel Entertainment is not affiliated with or endorsed by these companies.