This step is both welcome and overdue. The previous approach for data formation in terms of DAUs (daily active users) and MAUs (monthly active users) on the Facebook platform featured an in-built element of error, by registering visitors as fully-fledged users. This was very difficult to factor out, given the manner in which Facebook metrics have been historically reported; one rare insight into this matter was available in Zynga's S-1 SEC filing, where it disclosed the disparity between its in-house definition of 'users' compared to that of Facebook.

As a result,  user counts for Facebook games will see a one-time decline. The top 200 games on Facebook have seen MAUs by nearly 20 per cent (173m), whereas DAUs decreased by just four per cent (5m). This suggests that the change in approach to user-tracking has filtered out the most transitory of users that, ongoing, will provides a more accurate gauge of performance metrics such as ARPU and engagement levels. Major operators have seen changes that follow a similar pattern to the top 200; the MAUs and DAUs for Zynga's portfolio dropped by 25 per cent  and four per cent; for Electronic Arts, 26 per cent  and four per cent for Wooga, 22 per cent and five per cent. Some of the biggest per-title MAU losses were seen by Zynga's Adventure World (58 per cent), Crowdstar's It GirlMagic Land (45 per cent), Kixeye's Battle Pirates (58 per cent) and Vostu's Megacity (51 petr cent). (32 per cent), Wooga's

One question still remains, however: our data for the first three quarters of 2011 suggested a gradual decline in engagement (ratio of DAUs to MAUs) for the top-tier of Facebook games. What's now unclear is whether there was a proportionate decline in engagement of 'true' game users with visitors removed, or if, say, an increase in the leveraging of third-party traffic-sharing networks were causing games to receive increases in visitors but not active users across 2011. Further insight into the matter will be available in the coming months, as we continue to track the Facebook games platform in the wake of this modified methodology.