Aggressive smartphone and tablet sales, slick mobile website design, and rapid app adoption has meant only good things for the mobile gaming industry.
A 2011 report by market research firm Mintel found that mobile and tablet gaming sales in the US alone reached a whopping $898 million in 2010.
Mintel predicted mobile gaming revenues would hit $1.6 billion by 2015 – an increase of 82%.
And that’s not the only bullish prediction Mintel made.
Word of mouth drives game downloads
According to Mintel, family, friends, and social networks are the most trusted source of mobile game reviews.
More that 50% of mobile gaming adults learn about new titles from their nearest and dearest, while 25% get the skinny via tweets and the like.
Ranking on official hot lists isn’t to be sneezed at either. Approximately 40% of adults choose their next gaming title based on whether it’s been given the thumbs up in app store.
Mobile gamers go social
Mintel Senior Analyst Billy Hulkower reports: ““It is almost a cliché to discuss the importance of integrating social networking components into gaming, but consumers have not lost interest.”
Young adults in particular, having grown up with texting, the internet, instant messaging and the like, expect a side order of social with their mobile gaming.
The study cited popular multiplayer games such as Words With Friends as proof of this powerful trend.
Freemium model most lucrative
When it comes to marketing mobile games, there are a number of popular revenue models to choose from: ad-supported, freemium and paid.
According to Hulkower, freemium apps offer the most revenue potential.
“Where a paid game may generate revenue from the sale price of the game from $0.99 to about $2.99 or more, a freemium game can actually earn greater revenues in the long run due to its potential ongoing stream of revenue from in-app purchases.”
“Games tracked across 21 iPhone game makers in June 2010 by market research firm Flurry earned on average $14.66 per user per year.”
“GigaOm estimated in November 2010 that 34% of the top 100 grossing apps (all types) on the iPhone used the freemium model.”
