Data show more room for mobile game download growth
A new study claims that even though more consumers are playing mobile games, the percentage of those downloading a new game didn't increase over the past year in the United States and Western Europe.
Nearly 75 percent of the 98.4 million consumers in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.S. who played a game in December 2007 did so on a game that was found natively on the mobile device, according to mobile media measurement firm M:Metrics. This demonstrates untapped potential for downloadable content, the company said.
"It shows a strong appetite for mobile games, but there is significant room for improvement in the marketing, retailing, search and discovery of mobile games," said Paul Goode, senior vice president of business development and senior analyst at M:Metrics, London.
M:Metrics claimed that an estimated 38.5 million, or 8.8 percent of, mobile subscribers in the U.S. and Western Europe played a game that they had downloaded and stored on their mobile phone. That number for December 2007 is almost similar to the 35.3 million, or 8.7 percent of, mobile subscribers who played a downloaded game in the year before.
Per the market researcher, only 14.4 million, or 3.3 percent of, mobile subscribers in the U.S. and Western Europe downloaded a game in December 2007 versus 14.6 million, or 3.6 percent, in the year-ago period.
Spain has the highest penetration -- 12.7 percent -- of those consumers playing a downloaded game. At 5.6 percent, the country also has the highest rate of mobile games downloads.
France is the laggard, with only 4 percent of mobile subscribers playing a downloaded game and 1.3 percent downloading a new game in December 2007. The numbers have barely budged year-over-year.
The U.S. is fairly similar to Western Europe in its mobile gaming attitudes, M:Metrics found. Twenty-one percent of U.S. mobile subscribers played a game in December 2007, slightly lower than the 24 percent average for Western Europe.
But the U.S. marginally led Western Europe in the number of mobile users who downloaded a game: 3.4 percent versus 3.1 percent.
Gaming the system
The growing availability of smartphones over feature phones may lead to an increase in the download of mobile games. Smartphones often offer direct access to the Internet, sidestepping the wireless carrier's on-deck portal in the process.
In Britain, for example, an estimated 17 percent of smartphone owners played downloaded games in a month during the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with 9.8 percent of non-smartphone owners, M:Metrics data showed.
But smartphones also open the field to download of free or pirated content -- the bête noir of games publishers, movie studios and record labels.
Another curb on downloads is the carrier's on-deck portal.
"The concentration of retail sales through operator portals has meant that games are competing with an increasing number of offerings on operator portals," Mr. Goode said.
"Greater competition at the point of retail as the off-portal market develops should enable the industry to capitalize on the strong appetite for mobile games that is demonstrated by the percentage of people playing games every month," he said.
M:Metrics recommends that games publishers also create new business models to include subscriptions to online gaming communities, physical distribution and games subsidized by advertising within.
The in-game ad model for mobile may have legs since it's already gotten traction in the video and online gaming areas.
"While we do not have any specific data on the effectiveness of ad-funded gaming, given the casual nature of the mobile gaming market and the fact that price is consistently cited as the major reason for not purchasing further games, then ad-funded offerings should be attractive to consumers," Mr. Goode said.
