CityVille overtakes FarmVille's monthly active user count

Much like the offspring of real-life rural families yearn for a slice of that big city livin', the world of Zynga's Facebook-based social game CityVille has passed up the monthly active user count posted by former genre leader, FarmVille. In December -- the game's release month, no less -- the urban development sim pulled in 84.2 million active users, slightly edging out FarmVille's record of 83.7 million users set in March 2010.

However, CityVille hasn't had the daily active user retention that FarmVille managed to maintain at the height of its popularity. At the end of its release month, CityVille was pulling in around 20 percent of its monthly user base every day, slightly less than the 30 percent DAU retention FarmVille regularly boasts. Then again, is it that surprising that country folk are more dependable than city slickers? They clean up animal excrement like, every day, and they never even complain.