MGF2012: The mobile games industry is maturing

For two days London was the epicentre of the mobile games industry, as the 9^th annual Mobile Games Forum took place at the Hilton Tower Bridge hotel 25^th and 26^th of January.

An event like this is a good indicator of where the industry is at, and more importantly, where it is heading. Last year’s focal topics were whether or not to go freemium, what to do with location based services, and which platforms to embrace. This year’s event showed deeper signs of maturing as speakers were presented more forward-looking plans and showed concern with external adoption from both consumers and businesses alike. Of special interest were discussions around design convergence that have greater console-like experiences; the role of games in mobile transmedia; and the introduction of key performance indicators for stimulating transparency. Continue reading…

10 Key Social Gaming Figures

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An overview of online gambling and social gaming

Betting in social gaming is on the rise. Yazino has established itself as a legitimized player in the social gaming sphere while start-ups like Plumbee are bound to enter with a bang. At this year’s Social Gaming Summit, Facebook’s Julien Codorniou offered developers one piece of advice: develop mobile social casino games! I invited Julia Maxwell Research Analyst for CasinoTopLists to write an article about the current state of online gambling and its early footsteps into social gaming.

In many ways the world of online gambling is a unique beast. It generates revenues in the tens of billions of dollars each year, yet it has only really been in existence for the last 15 years, with the first substantial online sites emerging in the mid-to-late 1990s. While the basic core of the online gambling business remains the same – offering people the chance to play poker, blackjack games, and bet on sports from the comfort of their home – the industry has already seen several major changes during its brief lifespan, with plenty more on the way.

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Social games marketing 101

Lessons learned from the Social Gaming Summit

If there is one thing that last week’s social gaming summit made abundantly clear, it’s that it is just as much about the marketing as it is about the game. Whereas last year’s summit revolved around the growth and consolidation of the social gaming market, this year’s summit reaped the consequences of that trend. Social gaming has matured, the market has become crowed, and heavyweight  company’s such as Zynga and Wooga are dictating the capabilities and budgets required to win. What follows is an overview of some of the marketing lessons taught at the summit. Continue reading…