[IGDA Mobile-SIG List] Future of mobile games

[William Volk]

The situation in the USA is similar, sales are almost entirely on new
handsets.  Much of that is driven by the harsh reality of the infamous
MMetrics statistic ">70% of mobile game customers never buy a 2nd mobile
game."

So, yes ... Ideally you would focus on new popular handsets.

The catch is, IF you want to get on deck, the mobile operators (in the USA)
will require you to be on a large % of the handset models they sell,
including older ones.

Back in 2005 that meant supporting stuff like s30 handsets etc...  I'm sure
that today you would be required to have s40 versions of a title to get on
deck.  In the USA you're on deck or you're dead in the water.

You CAN distribute games off deck (I have).  With P-SMS billing etc...

The question is, how do you drive the marketing for a product with a $4.99
retail price and a COGS of $2.40+?

I think the answer is, you have to tie the marketing to some vehicle that is
driving impressions.

Tripp Hawkins had some harsh words for the Mobile Game industry about the
margins etc... Worth reading:

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/25966/GDC-Mobile-Hawkins-speaks-out-against-l
icence-holders

Content may be king, but Content Distribution is KING KONG.

William Volk
CEO, MyNuMo
858 692 1124
Create It, Show It, SELL IT!
http://www.mynumo.com


> From: John Bridges <John.Bridges at ikkyou.com>

> 

> The real issue isn't necessarily that you don't want to build a game for all

> those handsets, its the prohibitive cost.


In the current market I would say

> that you should probably have 3 

development streams - 1 for Series 40 alike

> handsets, 1 for mid-range 

and 1 for high end.

The problem is the cap on

> sales price for the game is £5/€5 and in 

reality if you're going to build a

> high-end Symbian game you really want 

to charge £10 - £15. My hunch is that

> for Symbian content you won't 

significantly dampen your audience at that

> price but you will make a LOT 

more money - this is the ballpark for  alot of

> Blackberry content after all.


How significant is the s40 market nowadays

> though ? If you look at the 

UK market for example, deck sales are almost

> entirely driven by handsets 

1 - 2 years old.