Gender pay gap revealed, moving on from Sparcade to WorldWinner, and Gameloft's ads strategy
One of the last week’s biggest stories in the industry at large has been the gender pay gap reveal from UK-based games companies.
Firms with more than 250 staff were required to reveal the pay gap between male and female employees or face a potential fine. Results showed an alarming disparity with 78 per cent of companies paying men more than women, according to the BBC, with none of the games companies we looked at paying women more than men on average.
Second on our Hot Five was our chat with GSN Games’ SVP and GM Jeremy Shea about competitive mobile gaming network WorldWinner and how its steady rise to success was helped, in part, by lessons learnt from Sparcade's cancellation.
Advertising solutions, illegal gambling and Clash Royale
Elsewhere, we caught up with Gameloft VP for advertising and brand partnerships Alexandre Tan to chat about how Gameloft Advertising Solutions division generated €37 million ($46 million) in 2017.
Also on our Hot Five was the US federal appeals court ruling that Big Fish Casino constituted “illegal gambling”, and how Supercell’s Clash Royale League is shaping up.
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#5: World's top esports teams flock to Supercell's Clash Royale League
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World's top esports teams flock to Supercell's Clash Royale League »Supercell has brought in 36 of the world's top esports organisations to take part in the first Clash Royale League for 2018.
The groundwork was already set by the Finnish developer late last year with the Clash Royale League Challenge.
Over 25 million players competed to qualify for the league with fewer than 7,000 players from 113 countries making it to the next stage.
Pro teams will now set to put together their team rosters from the League Challenge pool as they prepare for spring and autumn match seasons and a spot at the World Finals event later in the year to compete for the $1 million prize pool.
#4: Big Fish Casino constitutes “illegal gambling”, rules US federal appeals court
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Big Fish Casino constitutes “illegal gambling”, rules US federal appeals court »The Ninth Circuit of US Court of Appeals recently ruled that Big Fish Casino constitutes “illegal gambling”, sending a case previously thrown out back into the courts.
The legal dispute started back in 2015 when a woman named Cheryl Kater sued then Big Fish Games owner Churchill Downs after spending $1,000 on virtual chips.
The claim said the chips represented “something of value”, which under Washington state law comes under the definition of gambling.
Should the case get further favourable court rulings, it's a decision that could have a big impact on Big Fish Games and the mobile games industry at large - though it should be stressed things are still a long way off from that.
#3: Gameloft Advertising Solutions’ long-term bets for future growth
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Gameloft Advertising Solutions’ long-term bets for future growth »One of the strongest areas of growth for mobile games publisher Gameloft has been in advertising.
It took the bet in 2014 that the mobile ads would grow exponentially, and with €37 million ($46 million) generated in 2017 through the Gameloft Advertising Solutions division, it may just have been right.
“There’s a strong shift toward digital advertising, mobile is the fastest growing digital component, and in some markets digital ad spend is now bigger than TV,” explained Gameloft VP for advertising and brand partnerships Alexandre Tan.
The route to success would be more complicated than simply choosing a bunch of mobile ad networks to work with and integrating their SDKs. Gameloft’s approach has been more strategic with elements of ad placement and frequency all in mind.
#2: How a real-money version of Angry Birds has WorldWinner flying high
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How a real-money version of Angry Birds has WorldWinner flying high »GSN Games is now finding its feet with competitive gaming network WorldWinner.
The lessons of success would be learnt, however, through the failure of its last endeavour Starcade.
WorldWinner had been part of the broader GSN organisation since its 2007 acquisition, but the desktop social casino gaming portal hadn’t been launched on mobile until the closing of Sparcade.
Not only could Sparcade’s extensive backend services be reused, albeit powering a much more straightforward social component, but WorldWinner’s mobile app (currently just available on iOS in the US and Canada) also launched with Sparcade’s high quality branded content.
#1: UK games companies reveal gender pay gap
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UK games companies reveal gender pay gap »UK games companies with more than 250 staff were given until midnight on April 4th to reveal the pay gap between male and female employees or faced a potential fine.
According to the BBC, the data on show so far has revealed an alarming, although not surprising, disparity in pay.
Of those that have been published so far, 78 per cent of companies pays men more than women, 13 per cent pays women more, while eight per cent reported no gender pay gap.
We broke down the gender pay gap of UK games companies and found that in none of those instances were women paid more than men based on the figures as presented.