Phone and tablet gaming

The major growth market for the videogame industry in recent years is mobile gaming – games we play on phones and tablets.

In 2014 it made up 17% of the gaming market but it is estimated it will reach 27% by 2016.

Why mobile gaming is taking off

1. Accessibility: consumers can play at any time and anywhere.
2. Global reach: developers can launch titles into any country they choose.
3. Free-to-play: Pioneered on PC, free-to-play is the dominant business model for mobile taking over 90% of global revenues.

How mobile games make money

1. Paid-for apps
2. In-game purchases (extra lives/add-ons/ access to higher levels etc.)
3. In-app advertising

In-app advertising and purchases
Advertisers traditionally buy app ads according to eCPM, which means effective cost per thousand impressions—the price to show an ad to 1,000 players. The average cost for a standard eCPM is $3.

In 2012, 75% of app-store revenue came from in-app purchases. Of the top 50 highest-grossing games in the iOS app store, only two aren’t free to download.


Phone and tablet gaming: tasks

Read this BBC News article about Candy Crush Saga. Answer the following questions:

1. How much money is Candy Crush Saga estimated to make each day from its users?
2. How does it make this money?
3. How many people are estimated to have installed Candy Crush?
4. Where do people play?
5. When was the game released?
6. When did it reach 500 million downloads?
7. Who is the typical Candy Crush gamer?
8. What percentage of gamers have spent money on Candy Crush, buying in-app purchases etc.?
9. What percentage say they are addicted to the game?
10. What is your own experience of playing Candy Crush? Have you played it? 

Now read this Daily Mail article about Candy Crush addiction. What does it suggest about the target audience for the game?

Extension task:
This report on mobile gaming has many important statistics regarding the mobile gaming market. Read it and summarise the key findings from each page.