Tag: mobile gaming industry

Storm8 surpasses 10 million daily users for its games

| January 25, 2013

Storm8 mobile gaming surpasses 10 million usersStorm8 reaches major milestone in mobile gaming

Mobile gaming is quickly becoming a field that cannot be ignored. While much of the game industry continues to hold a strong focus on traditional platforms, some developers are adopting an exclusive focus on the mobile space, producing games that are designed specifically for mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets. Storm8 is one such company. The developer was founded by former Facebook engineers who had a strong passion for games and the company has recently been making waves in the mobile gaming space.

Developer catching up to the dethroned Zynga

Zynga, the former champion of mobile gaming, recently announced that it saw 33 million daily active users in July of 2012. While this is somewhat lower than what the developer had seen in previous years, it shows that Zynga still holds a strong grip on mobile gaming, even amidst its downfall. Storm8, however, is catching up very quickly. The developer recently announced that it has reached the 10 million daily active users milestone.

Social games mark success for developer

Storm8, which was founded in 2009, has developed a variety of mobile games that have garnered a massive fan base. Like other companies involved in mobile gaming, Storm8 tends to design games to be addictive and provide instant, or near-instant, gratification. These games are generally easy to get involved in and require a modest time investment to see any reward. While gamers do not have to spend hours playing Storm8 titles, they typically do because these games have strong ties to social networks, encouraging community more so than solitude.

Developer finds success despite lack of funding

Storm8 is somewhat unique in the game industry, especially in the mobile sector, in the fact that it has not yet taken any funding from investors. With the poor performance of Zynga in public markets and the rapidly evolving nature of the funding landscape, investors are showing more caution in regards to the ventures they support. Storm8 has little to worry about, however, as the developer has managed to etch out significant success without having to rely on the investments of outside parties.

Social gaming picking up momentum

| January 23, 2013

social gaming picks up momentumSocial gaming represents several potential benefits

Social gaming is gaining ground both online and on mobile platforms. These are a new breed of game that have a strong focus on community and typically have a very close link to some kind of social networking site, like Facebook or Twitter. The vast number and variety of games in this genre belies the fact that social gaming is a relatively new trend. In a short amount of time, the genre has become a very promising market, with more than half of all social network users playing a social game of some kind.

Report highlights growth of social games

eMarketer, a leading marketing research firm, has released a new report concerning the growth and emerging trends seen in the social gaming sector. The report predicts that more than 141 million people in the U.S. alone will be playing social games of some kind by 2014. Another 101 million people are expected to play social games on their mobile devices over the coming years. The report also notes several trends concerning social gaming that may part of the reason this genre has become so popular with advertisers and not just consumers.

Social games prove popular among advertisers

The report notes that in-game advertisements are 100% viewable by gamers, making their exposure to these advertisements exceedingly high. Given the fact that many social games are designed to keep players engaged in the game itself for as long as possible, these advertisements have a high probability of interaction with consumers. Another aspect of social gaming that makes the sector attractive to advertisers is the fact that most social games are available on a wide variety of platforms. Mobile devices are not the only platforms that can play social games.

Social gaming has some catching up to do

Social gaming is on its way to becoming a massive and influential market. eMarketer suggests that social gaming will become a thriving enterprise in the coming years. Game developers have already put a strong emphasis on social games, but the appeal of this genre has not yet matched the allure of mobile gaming and other traditional focuses on the game industry as a whole.