The latest statistics released by mobile portal BuzzCity from its free games network Djuzz suggests downloads of sports titles are being affected by the popularity of current events.

It says during April large spikes came from sports fans looking to transfer their passion for real life contests into the mobile arena.

Racing downloads accounted for at least 20 percent of the tops games lists in several countries upon the back of F1's recent resurgence for example.

Finding the right formula

BuzzCity says such a trend is part of general seasonal variations, with action and adventure titles holding top spots in its charts across the course of the year, but other genres coming and going as the months pass.

"50 percent of the games download during April were in the racing category and we believe much of the interest is being fuelled by interest in the new Formula One season," says BuzzCity CEO KF Lai.

"As enthusiasm for global sports events starts to increase, we are able to observe a correlation in the interests of our mobile users.

"Games developers who are savvy enough to develop new content in line with key seasonal events which have a global impact, will experience a significant increase in success."

Balls to summer

Sales trends do alter country by country, however, with Lai adding that "regional variations will also ensure that developers are placing their content in front of the right audience".

He adds, "For example in South Africa, World Cup fever seems to be really heating up as football games take two spots in the Top 10 whereas in Romania, racing reigns supreme, accounting for 60 percent of the top games."

Indeed, BuzzCity claims in its full report that it will be keeping its eye on football games in the coming months, with downloads as a whole ramping up as summer nears - both visitor numbers and downloads are up by 53 percent and 86 percent respectively.

Nokia on top

Outside of the games arena, BuzzCity says its statistics show Nokia remains king when it comes to mobile internet usage, with Samsung "a very distant but consistent second".

The network itself is also showing consistency. Djuzz now offers more than 2,000 games from 37 different publishers, with 750,000 titles having been delivered to 1.2 million users across the globe.

More facts and figures can be viewed in BuzzCity's full report, which is available for free in PDF format from BuzzCity's website.