Key to social games is diversity, says Facebook game partnership director

Facebook games are a growing and much more diverse set of games than they began as, director of game partnerships at Facebook Sean Ryan told VentureBeat.

According to Ryan, Facebook games have traded in their simplistic ways for gameplay that is much more in-depth.

"If you look back four years ago, the games that won Social Game of the Year were almost simple word-based games," said Ryan. "The vampires or the mobsters or the Big Brain games. "

"Now I look at FarmVille 2 or Jet Set Secret. They're pretty rich games. There are bigger storylines, better music, deeper gameplay. They're becoming full-fledged games in a way that I think is compelling. And they're a much more diverse set of games. I think that's the greater theme over the last four years," said Ryan.

With the games growing, monetization of Facebook games remains a prime concern for developers. While Ryan and many others have adopted subscription-based payments for games, Ryan agrees it isn't the only possible model.

"Virtual goods or some type of freemium model tend to be the most efficient way to drive users," said Ryan.

"The advantage of virtual goods, versus subscription, is that it tends to match how interested you are in the game and how much you're willing to either spend time or spend money. That's often a better match."

With no one set model for the social gaming scene, developers can only continue to experiment with new ideas.

"I think we'll continue to see people looking at different types of revenue models for different types of users and different types of games," said Ryan.

"That's what I keep going back to. It's not just one type of game or one type of revenue model."