CityVille beats FarmVille's best numbers, shatters and sets records

It looks like Zynga and the CityVille team have received a New Year's gift now, too. (In fact, CityVille doesn't seem to need an occasion anymore.) TechCrunch reports that CityVille has become the biggest social game to ever grace Facebook, breaking FarmVille's record-setting peak of nearly 83.8 million monthly players in March 2010 with 84.2 million monthly players. Zynga's most recent social-gaming juggernaut has been shattering records since it launched early in Dec. 2010, but this is a first for both CityVille and the Facebook game genre altogether.

We've all said that the growth has to plateau at some point, but continues surging upward, blowing away our expectations and doubts without much more than a few stutters, according to a chart provided by Inside Social Games (ISG). It's ISG that also predicts CityVille to reach 125 million players at some point in 2011. Well, if the game keeps soaring at this rate of almost two million new monthly players daily, it's only a matter of time before CityVille at least reaches 100 million. Either way, CityVille is already the most popular social game to date in the genre's infantile lifespan. That is until Zynga launches something else, of course.

Google+ opens its doors to all, but (hopefully) mostly social gamers

The proverbial veil has been lifted, everyone. Google+ is finally open to the public, meaning anyone can join Google's social network regardless of whether they've been invited through a friend. More importantly, this means the service, which soft-launched back in August to a controlled amount of users through invites, is open to even more social gamers than before.

Granted, there are only 16 games so far on Google+ Games. But surely the company hopes, that with an influx of potential players, that developers will become even more interested in Google as a social gaming destination. However, there are several arguably basic social features that aren't yet a part of the Google+ developer API, or application programming interface.

Namely, the posts that players can push through to the Games Stream from a Google+ game are not interactive. This means that the viral nature of social gaming is severely hindered on the network--players cannot directly help one another through the Games Stream like the can through the Facebook News Feed. This essentially thwarts what is popularly believed to give social games their name.

At the moment, players can only post general updates such as, "I scored 5 bajillion points in Bejeweled Blitz!" However, Rovio played somewhat of a smarter game with Angry Birds on Google+ Games, and introduced a friend gate to most of its content, meaning players have to add so many friends to access new levels. Luckily, Google has already stated that it's working to introduce more robust features over time.

Regardless, omissions like this serve as proof that Google+ Games, while impressive in its scope, ambition and support, is still a nascent gaming platform when put up against competitors like Facebook. With this news, perhaps the race Google+ is running has changed track to whether Google+ Games can keep up with the demands and needs of its players, rather than its competitors.

[Via Inside Social Games]

Have you tried out Google+ Games yet? Do you think, after what you experienced, that Google has a chance at competing in the social games world? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment