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Half of the top 30 most successful apps on mobile devices began on Facebook, while more than half of the top 100 utilize the social media platform's app ads for growth, according to Facebook Europe's head of platform Julien Codorniou.
The Telegraph reports that Facebook's recent success in the mobile sector has bolstered its influence on mobile games and its appeal to companies looking to use the social network to build customer bases. Earlier this year, Facebook reported sales of $2.6 billion for its 2014 fourth fiscal quarter, with $1 billion of that from advertising on mobile devices.
"There is a new cartel in the world of gaming, which is that if you want to be big on mobile, you have to start on Facebook," Codorniou told The Telegraph.
"People want to play games all the time," he added. "They want to play on PC when they are at work or at home; they want to play on the phone when they are commuting or waiting in a line at Starbucks; they want to play on an iPad when they are watching TV. That cross-platform scenario that Facebook makes possible is what defines the next generation of gaming companies."
According to Codorniou, 260 million people play games on Facebook every month, with 600,000 paying to play every day. He said that Facebook's social integration promotes a game's growth by introducing ways for players to interact and compete with each other across platforms. One example of this is Facebook's connectivity through PlayStation 4, which lets players upload short video clips and achievements directly to the social network.
"That's such a nice experience for gamers, to discover games like that, to see what your friends are doing, so that drives a lot of engagement for them," Codorniou said.
"You take any platform in the world of computer and software, the gaming companies are always the first to embrace any new platform," he added. "Look at the iPhone, look at Windows, look at the Mac - always gaming first, because they are always looking for distribution and new opportunities."
