Tikka Masala Kabobs Anyone?
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
By Anita Frazier, Entertainment Industry Analyst Toys & Video Games
Like many of you, I spent a good portion of my Thanksgiving weekend cooking. In addition to the traditional turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, my weekend menu included hundreds of portions of Triple Berry Cheesecake, French Onion Soup, chips and guacamole, home-style pot roast and Tikka Masala Kabobs. Now, mind you, not all of this was real food. Much was conjured up in Cafe’ Frazier compliments of Cafe’ World, one of the most popular social networking games on Facebook. As my kids observed me running to the computer to serve up my fruit salad before it rotted on the stove (who makes fruit salad on the stove anyway?), they soon became curious and interested themselves, and before I knew it, I had created a Facebook account for my 7 year-old twins so they could run a cafe’ of their very own. And my kids have a lot of company when it comes to gaming.
Our newest report, Kids and Gaming, reveals that 87 percent of kids age 6-8 play games on some device, while 50 percent of kids in this same age group report playing games online, and 10 percent are playing games on cell phones. Even at this relatively young age, gaming is deeply rooted in kids’ lives. But one of the issues gnawing at the industry at large, the increasing incidence of free gaming - whether on a cell phone, or online, is an issue with the kids market as well. While there may not be as many young kids engaged in gaming on social networks right now, there are plenty of free online virtual worlds to draw them in. Our report found that only 9 percent of kid gamers ages 2-17 had purchased a microtransaction in the past three months. Having spent quite a bit of time myself now on both Cafe’ World and Farmville, I haven’t found anything that would compel me to take out my wallet and spend real money. My kids, however, have been enticed to buy a Grand Chase pre-paid game card at 7-Eleven. So the ongoing debate about how to best monetize these gaming experiences - experiences kids are clearly engaged in - remains one for the industry to grapple with.
Anyway, gotta go. My spaghetti and meatballs are ready to serve.
Video Games | Anita Frazier, Entertainment Industry Analyst Toys & Video Games | 
December 3, 2009 3:40 pm
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By Jayanta, January 25, 2010 @ 7:13 am
And also browser based gaming. They are becoming popular also. i have my own account with Farm-vile and Mafia in Facebook. After a long days of work, it seems pretty good to level up, getting all the extra cash, and finally to show my ‘virtual/online buddies’ that ‘JAYANTA HAS REACHED ‘XYZ’ level’