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Revenues from Mobile Games Set to Mushroom by 78% in 2005

March 8th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

The onset of mass multiplayer gaming, a widening gaming demographic, greater playability, and increased adoption of mobile services in emerging markets point to a fast expanding market for mobile games, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

“With console games, customers are obliged to make the commitment to purchase a fairly expensive piece of hardware. The beauty of mobile is that it provides a potential global audience of several hundred million 2.5G users who already have that hardware in the form of their handset,” said report author, Dr Windsor Holden. More …

Indiagames to Bring “World Cyber Games Mobile Competition”, the World’s Largest Computer & Video Game Festival, to Mobile Phones

March 7th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Events & Conferences | No Comments »

Indiagames secures global rights to bring the WCG Mobile Game Competition.

Games Developers Conference,San Francisco, USA

Crazy Frog turns into a real prince

March 7th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

The huge popularity of ringtones is fuelling rapid growth and consolidation in the mobile-content industry.

Turn on MTV and you would be hard pressed to avoid the first star

Yahoo in push on mobile games

March 4th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Yahoo yesterday signalled its intent to boost its revenues from mobile phones, announcing the creation of a games studio and the acquisition of a developer of platforms for wireless gaming. Yahoo did not disclose terms of the deal to buy New-Jersey based Stadeon, but John Cahill, its founder and chief executive, will move to Yahoo’s Silicon Valley headquarters to lead its mobile games business. More … More …(2)

PLAY IT OUTLINES PLANS FOR MOBILE GAMES DIVISION

March 4th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Games publishing pioneer Play It today announced the launch of a new mobile phone games label. The value publisher which sells a range of great games for Playstation and Playstation 2 starting at just £6.99, has confirmed 10 titles will be initially shipped by Play It Mobile. More …

Gameloft Secures Exclusive Mobile Gaming Rights to Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks’ War of the Worlds Movie

March 3rd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Games | No Comments »

Gameloft, a leading developer and publisher of video games for mobile phones, today announced it has signed an exclusive agreement with Viacom Consumer Products, Inc. to develop, publish and distribute the wireless game version of the biggest movie event of the year, Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds starring international superstar Tom Cruise.

With exclusive gaming rights for the movie, Gameloft will develop the War of the Worlds storyline into a mobile game and distribute it through Gameloft’s wide network of carriers, partners and its online store. The agreement reinforces Gameloft’s strong position in mobile gaming and adds to the company’s growing list of licenses with strong international brands. More …

Mobile phones seen challenging Sony PSP

March 3rd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Mobile phone video games will rival games on mainstream handhelds like the Sony PSP by late 2006, executives of some of the top phone game publishers say.

The cost and complexity of developing such games makes consolidation inevitable, the chief executives of private publishers Sorrent and In-Fusio and top mobile executives of Electronic Arts and the Walt Disney said in a panel discussion at the Reuters Technology Summit. Handhelds like Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS currently far outstrip cell phones in terms of graphics capability and processing power. But before long, those executives said, phones will be equal to the challenge. More …

IndiaGames: Ready to take on gaming giants

March 2nd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Vishal Gondal says he was “surprised by the interest but sensed the fit was right” between his games company, Indiagames, and Tom Online, the Chinese internet company. The deal was also without precedent: it was the first time an Indian technology company had been bought by a Chinese counterpart.

Gondal, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who has been dabbling in start-ups since his school days, is unfazed by the significance of Tom Online’s $18 million purchase of an 81 per cent share in Indiagames, India’s biggest publisher of games for mobile phones. More …

Which Gaming Company is the Most Valuable?

March 1st, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

In the new report Market Leaders in the Video Game and Interactive Entertainment Industry, DFC Intelligence provides a detailed analysis of the leading publishers in the interactive entertainment industry. One of the obvious questions that a report like this looks at is what do investors value in a game company? Of course, this begs the question of which company is the most valuable. More …

THQ Wireless to Bring South Park Content to Mobile Phones in Europe

February 28th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Games | No Comments »

THQ Wireless Inc., a subsidiary of THQ Inc., announced today that it has signed a major licensing agreement with MTV Networks International to bring the global adult animation phenomenon South Park to mobile phones in Europe.

The comprehensive suite of South Park branded wireless products is expected to include games, video clips, ring tones, wallpapers, screensavers and MMS. In addition, for the first time, fans will be able to download video clips from the Eighth Season of South Park, plus watch video clips on their mobile phones of some of the greatest moments from the hugely popular television series. More …