Grand Theft Auto clone Crime City inspires investors to flash the cash

Yup, crime pays. For years we've watched Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto video game franchise blow up the charts (and rake in the cash), and now we might see its Facebook knock-offs follow the same trajectory. Well, one of them at least. Crime City, a very GTA-like game that has been on Facebook for under a year, has secured 7.5 million monthly players and, according to AppData, that doesn't seem to be dropping off anytime soon.

Now, Crime City creator Funzio has secured a cool $20 million dollars from investors, with plans to grow its crew (headed up by social gaming vets from Zynga and hi5) and to, hopefully, build more games that, much like its mafia-inspired hit, will continue to show that social games don't inherently need to involve farming, pets or other cute and cuddly themes. What can I say -- I like my farming games as must as the next person, but definitely don't mind a little larceny on the side.

CityVille killer? Zynga's Empires & Allies rockets to 23 million players

For all intents and purposes, it's crazy town at Zynga HQ right now. Empires & Allies, the studio's newest Facebook game, has reached over 23 million monthly players in just over two weeks since June 1, according to AppData. Actually, we're getting an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu in the office--oh yeah, CityVille enjoyed the same insane growth in almost exactly the same time frame.

In December of last year, the city-builder soared to 22 million players in less than two weeks. And we all know what happened afterward: The game continued to reign in players until it peaked at 101 million this January. (CityVille now enjoys a healthy chunk of that with over 90 million players.)

With the way Empires & Allies is going, this new strategy combat game could enjoy the same success as CityVille, if not eclipse it considering its potential hardcore appeal. In fact, the game has already accumulated nearly half of its predecessor's daily players with 7.7 million, though it's too early to tell whether that number will sustain over time. It's already clear that Zynga has struck gold yet again, as E&A has eclipsed several of the company's offerings that have been around for some time including FrontierVille, Mafia Wars and Cafe World. E&A could even be the second game to surpass FarmVille. Now isn't that a scary thought?

So, how did Zynga do it? Well, with promotions in FarmVille and CityVille regarding Empires & Allies, it's no surprise that the game has gotten this far. Not to mention that the game already is featured in RewardVille and above every Zynga game out there via the bar that sits above each of them. However, what we think is truly going to hook more gamers is its target demographic--those 90 million plus CityVille fans.

Much of the game is quite similar it is to its predecessor, softening the barrier to entry that the game's combat might present. Either way, with two new mobile games in Hanging with Friends and CityVille Hometown, and now another mega hit Zynga just might be able to afford that vacation to Mars for its staff. Oops, did we ruin the surprise?

Top 25 Facebook Games - December 2011: FarmVille Strikes Back

I guess in Facebook game years, FarmVille is kind of like Obi Wan Kenobi. And boy, did Zynga's farming game come back stronger than we could possibly imagine, or what? As The Sims Social falls from its cushy number two spot after losing 7.9 million monthly players, FarmVille swoops in with a 2.8 million gain this month. CityVille lost a few million, but still clings to the top.

EA and Playfish's slugger dipped even further on December's daily players chart to fifth place with a loss of 1.1 million players. (This is what we chalk all that up to.) Of course, CastleVille--Zynga's fastest-growing game ever--makes a grand entrance into both top 25 charts. The kingdom-builder shot up to fifth place in monthly players with 20.8 million, and an impressive second place in daily players with 7.3 million. That should be the shot in the arm the company needs for its imminent public offering, no?

Not so fast, considering Mafia Wars 2 didn't even make the charts in daily players, the best measure of a game's dedicated (and paying) audience. Zynga launched Mafia Wars 2 in October. The game does, however, have 11.3 million monthly players, which ties it with Wooga's Diamond Dash. That puzzle game is nine months old.
Top 25 Facebook Games by MAU
An interesting newcomer to this lineup is Nordeus's Top Eleven, which creeps up in 25th place on the daily players charts with 950,000. Unfortunately, the rest of these charts look like business as usual, aside from Zynga's major losses including Adventure World, which hemorrhaged 4.3 million monthly players. Though, it's refreshing to see some more developers continue to thrive in the top 25 charts, like King.com with Bubble Witch Saga and 6waves Lolapps with Ravenskye City.

[Source and Image Credit: Inside Social Games]

How can The Sims Social reclaim its second place spot? What other games do you think deserve to be on this list?