M-Biz Global mobile games sales up 62 per cent in 2008

Mobile gaming firm M-Biz Global says sales of games through its TryNBuy service were up 62 per cent in 2008 in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA).

The company sells games through an application preloaded on 'vanilla' handsets - those sold SIM-free through channels other than mobile operators.

M-Biz Global also says that December was particularly strong, and suggests that the credit crunch could be one of the reasons, leading consumers to seek out cheaper entertainment on their phones.

The company's sales of games in the UK increased by 50 per cent in December compared to the average sales in the other eleven months of 2008, while increasing 21 per cent globally.

Christmas Day was the most popular day in December for mobile game downloads through TryNBuy - presumably as people unwrapped their shiny new SIM-free handsets - with six times as many games sold that day in the UK as the average day in 2008.

Digital Chocolate appears to be doing well out of TryNBuy, meanwhile: its Mini Golf: Las Vegas game (pictured) was the most popular among UK users, according to M-Biz Global.