PopCap Games recently tasked Information Solutions Group to conduct a new survey on the fast-growing social gaming market in the U.S. and U.K. The survey (downloadable as pdf here) found that more than 118 million people now play social games once per week (up 71%) and 81 million people play at least once a day (68% of all social gamers).
Better yet, from a business standpoint, "players are now significantly more likely to spend real-world money to buy content within social games, with 31 million players having purchased in-game currency, up 86%."
The survey also revealed some nice growth for the social sector overall, as 30%, or 35 million people who now play social games, are new to the category since February 2010. Moreover, the impact of social gaming is helping out gaming as a medium since 17% percent of people who play social games regularly are new to gaming altogether - that represents 20 million new gaming consumers.
From a demographic viewpoint, the average age of social gamers has gone down from 43 to 39 and the percentage of social gamers under 30 years old jumped from 19% to 30%, while the average first time new social gamer is a 50+ year-old woman. Indeed, female social gamers outnumber men 55% to 45%.
