The Sims Social makes EA the #2 Facebook developer

Zynga can't be ignoring this: Electronic Arts' latest title is rapidly approaching CityVille stats

It was bound to happen eventually. One game developer can’t rule the world forever.

The Sims Social, the latest release out of EA’s social gaming studio, has claimed second place on Facebook’s app leaderboard, according to AppData. In less than a month, the app has accumulated 40.2 million active users, with 10.7 million--more than a quarter--returning to play daily.

Still at the top of the leaderboard is Zynga with CityVille, the company’s biggest game since FarmVille and the biggest game on Facebook since it launched last winter. Today, the app sees 75.5 million monthly active users, but just 13.3 daily actives, barely more than the Sims Social.

Already, the Sims Social could be on track to outpace CityVille in both categories.

To be fair, CityVille did a little bit better in its first month. In less than thirty days since it launch, the app had already accrued 61.7 million users, over 20 million more than Sims Social has done in about the same time frame.

That said, Zynga had a huge advantage in its past game catalog. To build momentum and excitement for CityVille, for example, all the company had to do was tell users of its other games about this new, cool, city-style version of FarmVille, and millions would be sold. Even less directly, “Zynga” was already the household name for social gaming on Facebook, so it would be easy to draw users to its new titles.

Electronic Arts, though a major brand in gaming for nearly three decades, is a newbie in the social gaming space. It acquired Playfish to help it build up a solid presence on Facebook, and the launch of Sims Social is the first really tangible success to be borne out of that acquisition.

Consider that Electronic Arts is now the second-highest ranking developer on Facebook, after Zynga, with 82.7 million users. Take away the Sims Social, however, and the studio is left with 42.5 total users, which would put it between Microsoft and wooga in fifth place.

Make no mistake: The Sims Social is an epic milestone for EA, and more proof that Zynga can by no means rest on its laurels.