Keynoting the Develop Evolve conference, Playfish GM and co-founder Kristian Segerstrale said that while the early years of Facebook gaming as a separate category had kickstarted the wide games industry, the future was about rolling that experiencing back into gaming.

"Multi platform capability will win in future - iPhone, iPad, console and Facebook," he said in a talk entitled Social Games: After the Revolution.

"We used to talk about social games and games but it will just be games. Social is everywhere now. Sociability has had a fundamental impact on how we make and distribute games and now the business will be about migrating customers between platforms. Big games will be on all platforms."

In the game

To some degree, this switch has already started happened, with Playfish recently releasing products based on FIFA and Madden.

"Social games have just become games, and this change will enable us to create more gamers, as well as monetise them better between these platforms. Some people will only spend $2 on a game whereas for others a game will their main entertainment," Segerstrale said.

"Knowing who is who will be key."

Indeed, what will be important for the industry will be how the advantages provided by social games - viral promotion, very fast iteration, data driven design - will feed into the wider market

"We're at an inflexion point," he predicted.

"The production value of our Playfish games is changing, especially in terms of graphics and creating more meaning in terms of gameplay for a player, and how this ties back into the social aspects and how it changes how you interact with friends."

As well as gameplay, the use of real world licences such as Madden will also let publishers such as EA to hook into player's (and their friends') real world passions, which enables more meaningful micro-transactions that, for example, can be tied into players and teams.

All grown up

More specifically in terms of how Playfish's business had changed, Segerstrale pointed to some main areas.

"The early days of Facebook games were characterised by issues with scams, spams and privacy, but as the industry matures, building consumer trust is key," he said.

Another was the balance between using data-driven optimisation from players to optimise a launched product, while still innovating to create exciting, new, inspirational experiences.

Unsurprisingly, considering EA purchase of Playfish 12 months ago, he also thought company consolidation would continue, especially in terms of the marketing muscle these new games will require.

"Era of winning by cloning is over. Franchise and meaning will win," he said.

His final point was subtle, and pointed to a movement away from total reliance on Facebook - platform stability.

"Facebook has done an incredible job as a platform, but the investment decisions we're having to make are getting bigger and are cross platform. We have to think about the longterm now."