FarmVille, Angry Birds double the number of gamers in three years

Games -- everybody loves 'em. Or, at least, more people love them than ever before. A new Parks Associates study shows that the number of gamers have doubled in the past three years thanks to games like FarmVille and Angry Birds.

The study surveyed people who play at least one hour of games every month, and that number increased from 56 million in 2008 to 135 million in 2011. The majority of the new gamers are so-called 'casual gamers,' many of whom play quick-hit games on social networks and mobile devices.

"These changes have significant implications for the gaming industry," Parks Associates analyst Pietro Macchiarella says. "This new majority of casual gamers is looking for games with low entry barriers, with limited investments required in terms of dollars and time necessary to learn the game.

gaming doubles in three years

"The ubiquity of portable devices and Internet access allows more people to play on-the-go, putting pressure on the gaming industry to design games that can deliver a satisfactory experience within these specific conditions," he adds.

Macchiarella predicts that with the rapid consumer adoption of tablets, such as the not-yet-released Amazon Kindle Fire, Americans will spend more time than gaming before as well. More people spending more time playing accessible games on even more accessible devices? Yep, sounds about right to us.