King.com overcomes Zynga in the social and mobile gaming space
Zynga has long been at the head of the totem pole in terms of mobile gaming, largely due to the company’s relationship with Facebook. Recently, the social network began loosening its ties to Zynga in an effort to break free from a company that has been facing very serious challenges. Now, the struggling developer has been supplanted by an up and coming social game studio known as King.com. The studio’s “Candy Crush” title recently eclipsed Zynga’s most popular games.
Candy Crush Saga has more than 9.7 million users
According to information from AppData, a service that measures daily active users for mobile and web applications, the “Candy Crush Saga” boasts of more than 9.7 million users worldwide. Julien Codorniou, head of European gaming partnerships with Facebook, notes that King.com has managed to become the second largest game developer on the Facebook platform in just under 18 months. King.com may be able to use this momentum to power major growth this year.
Cross promotion nets King.com major success and growth
Kimg.com attributes much of its success to the fact that it uses its existing games to promote its new titles. Thus, the 9.7 million people playing the Candy Crush Saga are exposed to the company’s latest games, increasing the chances of these people actually playing these games as well. While Zynga still holds dominance in the realm of monthly active users, those playing Zynga games typically only log in to the company’s titles for small periods of time throughout the month, lessening the developer’s opportunity to sell products to gamers.
Mobile gaming represents massive, lucrative market
According to a recent study from Flurry, a mobile research and consulting firm, free-to-play games accounted for 80% of the $10 billion mobile gaming market seen in 2012. There can be no doubt that mobile gaming is a force to be reckoned with, especially with mobile titles like Candy Crush Saga boasting of such a gargantuan user base. King.com is well on its way to becoming the next ruler of the social and mobile gaming space.
Denny |
December 18, 2012
Mobile games generate significant profits
Mobile applications represent a huge and massively lucrative market. According to Flurry, a leading analytic firm operating in the mobile space, mobile applications accounted for $10 billion in revenue during 2012. The firm has released a report concerning the lucrative mobile applications business, which highlights the impact of free mobile games. The report shows that though free mobile games do not cost anything to play, that account for the majority of the revenue seen in the mobile applications market.
80% of revenue generated through free mobile games
Mobile games are among the most popular applications that are available to consumers with smart phones and tablets. These games often provide hours of entertainment and are typically designed to be very addicting. For many, mobile games are valuable assets because most of these games are free-to-play. Most of these games are filled with advertisements, however, which is part of the reason why they are generating so much money. According to the Flurry report, free mobile games accounted for 80% of the $10 billion in revenue the app market saw t his year.
In-app advertisements help generate revenue
In-app advertisements are not the only thing generating income for mobile games. Many games come equipped with a “cash shop,” which offers bonuses, new equipment, and exclusive features to gamers that want to spend money on the game itself. These cash shop marketplaces are very common in free-to-play games and account for the majority of the revenue they manage to generate. The report also shows that consumers spend large amounts of time on free-to-play games, thus increasing the likelihood that they will purchase something from the cash shop.
Free-to-play games are a lucrative business
The free-to-play model has become very lucrative for developers of mobile games. The report suggests that most developers have yet to identify the ideal niche in which these types of games flourish. Companies like Electronic Arts and Zynga have managed to find a way to make free-to-play games highly appealing to consumers with some cash to spend. Though the latter has been experiencing financial problems of late, Electronic Arts may serve as a powerful example of how to develop games that emphasis participation in a cash shop.
