Things are just not looking up in the world of digital agriculture. This month, FarmVille gets knocked down yet another spot to fourth place with nearly 35.4 million monthly players, ousted by Zynga's brand new Adventure World. Admittedly, we were afraid of what would happen to the Zynga Boston debut given its terribly slow start, but it has amassed 35.7 million monthly players. (Keep in mind that FarmVille still has more daily players than Adventure World.)

The massive developer's two most popular Facebook games are now CityVille--still at number one with 74.6 million monthly players--and Adventure World in third place. That leaves The Sims Social, arguably the biggest upset in Facebook gaming since, well, Zynga first beat itself at its own game, trailing close behind at number two with 66.5 million monthly players. Many wonder whether EA's wildly successful Facebook game can completely beat Zynga, and at the moment it seems to have peaked, according to AppData.
Aside from FarmVille seemingly nearing the end of its life on top despite even a new expansion, Lighthouse Cove, it looks like Zynga's most threatening competitors are solidifying their positions. As games like Gaia Online's Monster Galaxy drop over 10 places from the list completely and Cie Games's Car Town are knocked from the list one a few of the little guys remain. Ninja Saga hangs tight on the list, dropping one spot to 23rd place with 5.9 million players, while Social Point makes a major dent in the charts with Social Empires gaining over 2 million players to hit the 18 spot.

Other than Playtika's Slotomania at number 19 and King.com even bumping one spot up to 20th place with Bubble Saga, it's important to notice what's happening here. Aside from a few strong and likely savvy smaller developers, the Top 25 is slowly becoming dominated by the biggest names in social gaming. The giants of Facebook gaming are asserting their supremacy just as they did in the traditional games space, and it's likely only going to get harder for indie creators to find this level of success on Facebook. Hey, there's always Google+ Games, right?

[Source and Image Credit: Inside Social Games]

Do you think FarmVille has seen it's best days already? Do you think new independent developers still have a chance at hitting the Top 25? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.