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(source: PlayFirst®)

As I was making my rounds of blog reading earlier this week I was drawn to a particular post on Inside Social Games, “Ten Reasons that Social Games May Eat the Casual Market”. Andrew Mayer argues that Social Platform Games are both “casual plus plus” as well as the “new bigger better thing”.

I happen to agree that the 10 reasons he outlines have helped turn social games into the hit they are today. Though, I would argue that casual games aren’t going to roll over and let social games take their market share. No, my friend, there will be war… or 10 new reasons to alter how casual games work today.

Casual game developers and publishers have taken significant time and resources to create inviting (and addicting) games and portals. The problem here comes when users decide the $6.99 and up cost for one game just might not be worth taking out their credit card, even if the free demo was awesome.  A couple options come to mind to help keep users returning to casual games as well as keeping money in publishers’ pockets.

1. Learn from social games

As mentioned in the article, micro-transactions are a key for social games to keep users engaged while still making money. Mayer states, “While you can buy a new level or outfit for a casual game, it’s harder to sell someone a new experience” but you can think of casual game portals as an entire social experience in themselves with each game a piece of that experience. Some type of global currency or point system can be the glue to hold these games together as part of a larger goal or simply to create a way for users to get premium games/items.

Casual game publisher PlayFirst illustrates this point well with the PlayGold currency they created allowing for the purchase of items as well as a point system to give meaning to time spent on the site (and in the future enhance user experience).

Along with adopting an economy like social games, offering numerous and alternative ways for users to pay for currency and goods is important. Social game publishers realized that not everyone has a credit card or wants to pay cash, so many adopted some form of alternative payment method such as advertiser supported transactions or mobile payments.

2. Use casual experience as an advantage

Many social games are quite addicting and have huge followings but the case is also true that many of them die off after some time or lack entertaining graphics to entice game play. Casual games tend to be simple yet graphically pleasing, creating a natural hook for repeat engagement, especially if there is a social atmosphere built into the portal.

While no side may have completely figured it all out the truth remains that they have and can continue to learn from each other. I look forward to watching the social and casual game markets evolve and being a part of them both.

(via - Inside Social Games)