Social Gaming Market to Be Worth $17.4 Billion in 2019

A new report has suggested that the social gaming market will be worth a massive $17.4 billion by 2019. The amazing speed at which people are adapting to smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices over the last few years has seen the industry grow at an unprecedented rate.

Of course gambling firms have also been entering the market. In 2011 Caesars Interactive Entertainment bought social casino game developer Playtika for $90 million. This was followed by many such mergers and acquisitions between the two sectors and today nearly all the major online gambling companies have some kind of social casino presence.

The next five years is expected to see the use of mobile technology increase which will result in the expansion of the social gaming market at a rate of 16.1%. Just two years ago, in 2012, the social gaming market was valued at $5.4 billion.

The report found that around 200 million people currently play social games online and this number is expected to double by 2019. The report found that “Today’s generation spend their time on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace among others to socialize with family and friends. During their time on the web, the users spend over 50 percent of their time on social games competing with friends and colleagues. Many of the game developers are now looking to tap the social media market and develop games for the social networking sites.”