The first time I posted about Mafia Wars statistics using the Facebook Application Data from
All Facebook was way back in June. The graphs had a different appearance and so did the numbers! There were over 5 million Daily Active Users and the downward shift was very gradual. Many question the validity of this data but it's good for comparisons as I'm sure it's gathered in a consistent manner. I do know that there was a reporting bug and the numbers don't properly correlate to the dates at the bottom of the graphs
(1) which explains why we have data for today when today isn't over yet.
(all underlying images property of allfacebook.com)
When Italy Loot became giftable, I predicted that it might help these numbers go back into the positive. There was a micro spike of + 41,047 players. I think that was due to players busting out their energy accounts to farm the giftable high end Italy loot.
After one day, the numbers dropped again. This is most likely a direct reflection of the ridiculously low Italy loot drop rate
(1). The drop of -41,048 was almost identical to the increase the previous day. I think I was the only one who kept farming!
Things didn't stabilize and the next day was significant because the Daily Active Users fell below the 2 million mark. I wonder what Zynga thinks of all this?
The events that we are all so tired of are NOT helping the situation. The Spider event was the last straw for many and Mafia Wars is now into the second day of less than 2 million users.
To be fair, it is the weekend and there are usually less playing. I have less readers over the weekends than I do during the week and that's been a consistent thing ever since I added a visitor counter to my blog.
It's hard to correlate my reader data to the what is happening with the Daily User statistics. With less than 2 million people playing everyday, only a small percentage of those players are reading. You can see there was a lot of interest in March due to the launch of Brazil. April is proving to be just as busy and there doesn't seem to be any signs of Zynga slowing down. Only time will tell if Mafia Wars is going to survive. I may need to find a new hobby!
The entertainment value of Mafia Wars is plunging in line with the player stats. I have multiple long-time players in my mafia leaving the game weekly and sight the reasons you cover over and over in your blog. We have heard of entire family's closing their doors. This game is completely losing it's appeal, especially those of us that have been here from the beginning and are still tolerating a poorly constructed and supported game. It is only a matter of time..... ;(
ReplyDeletei love statistics! thanks for putting them together! especially the daily charts before and after italian loot has become giftable is VERY interesting.
ReplyDeleteif zynga would un-nerf the drop rates more people would play with their farms, i bet.
survey is clearly accurate...
ReplyDeleteI've quit. The events just make it so annoying.
ReplyDelete