2015 trends, Super Bowl game ads, and Steam better that app stores?
Providing insight into the hot topics of the mobile games industry, these are the five stories that over the past week were our most read.
The Chinese market is always dynamic and provided us with two most-read stories.
Both highlight strong trends within the market. We spoke to German developer Goodgame Studios on how it launched its first game in China. The other big story was the rumour that Tencent had dropped $1 billion on the biggest gaming website in China.
Everyone's interested in trends; and we fulfilled that appetite by asking our Indie Mavens if Steam is now a better opportunity for certain studios and games than mobile app stores.
Oh, and we also had a massive roundup from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2015.
And finally, there was this thing called the Super Bowl, which this year contained adverts for mobile games.
So, counting down from five to one, check out what made the news last week and which trends will likely be re-appearing on our Hot Five list in future.
#5: Tencent rumoured to have bought China's #1 gaming website for $1 billion
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Tencent rumoured to have bought China's #1 gaming website for $1 billion »Previously owned by Chinese PC and mobile game publisher Changyou, 17173.com is China's biggest gaming website.
For that reason it has a powerful position across PC and mobile in terms of game discovery and hence provides its owner with a good opportunity to generate advertising revenue too.
And that's why it would be big news if it had been bought by Tencent, which is already the behemoth of Chinese PC and mobile gaming. Certainly Changyou has confirmed 17173.com has been sold.
If true, the move would underlined Tencent's unassailable dominance in its domestic market. As for the rumoured $1 billion price tag, that underlines how much cash Tencent has available to make this big calls.
#4: Do discovery issues mean Steam is now better than mobile for indies?
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Do discovery issues mean Steam is now better than mobile for indies? »It's been a longterm term, but over the past months, as discovery on mobile has got harder, so a certain type of game and developer have looked more aggressively to alternative platforms and app stores.
Head-and-shoulder above every other opportunity is PC and Steam; something highlighted by Erik Asmussen (82Apps) whose PWN: Combat Hacking failed on iOS, while his follow up game Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball has been successful priced at $10 on Steam Early Access.
A good opportunity, then, to ask our Indie Mavens what their opinions are.
#3: Supercell and uCool battle for a Super Bowl XLIX advertising victory
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Supercell and uCool battle for a Super Bowl XLIX advertising victory »The Super Bowl provides a massive opportunity for advertisers in the North American market. And that's despite 30-second adverts costs anything up to $5 million.
Given that expense, it's a surprise that game makers now consider it as good opportunity to get new players but that's exactly what happened this year, with both Supercell and US start-up uCool spending the big bucks on promoting their games, Clash of Clans and Heroes Charge respectively.
To that degree, it's a mark of how extreme the top end of the user acquisition market is, although it will be interesting to see whether this is the start of a broader high profile trend or an expensive opportunity that fails to generate ROI.
#2: How Goodgame Studios approached the Chinese market
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How Goodgame Studios approached the Chinese market »The Chinese market remains the one that all ambitious game-makers spend a lot of time considering. Of course, there are many different ways to approach this market so on that basis how German developer Goodgame Studios entered the Chinese market doesn't necessarily provide a template.
Launching first on iOS and learning from that experience before launching on the larger Android market appears to be a logic business model.
As Caglar Eger, its senior international business development manager, tells us you have to experiment with the market and treat it as a longterm project, not a short term revenue grab.
#1: 10 key trends from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2015
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10 key trends from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2015 »As you may have read, we had a conference earlier in January.
Sure, Pocket Gamer Connects London 2015 was a massive success, but post-event what impact will it have on your business?
That's why we've put together this neat roundup article which summarises the trends from the conference that will be impacting the way the mobile games business develops in 2015.
Covering everything from the morality of F2P games, to the value of narrative, why you need to value brands, the opportunity with video ads and will paid games provide a decent opportunity in 2015, you can see where the industry is heading.