Tag: social mobile gaming

Mobile gaming investments rekindled

| January 31, 2013

investors mobile gamingInvestors taking a bold move on mobile gaming

For the past several months, investors around the world have been leery of mobile gaming and mobile ventures of all kinds. Many mobile-centric companies have been unable to deliver on their ambitious promises, which has translated into significant losses for several investors. These failures have done little to bolster the confidence investors have in the mobile space, but some of these investors are beginning to show a change of heart. Several parties have begun focusing on the battered mobile gaming and social gaming companies that saw turbulence throughout 2012.

Zynga continues to produce despite fall from grace

Zynga, the former champion of social mobile gaming, fell from grace in 2012.The company’s focus on creating addicting social games that borrowed heavily — at times too heavily — from other popular titles in the game industry eventually lost the favor of consumers. As people began to criticize Zynga, Facebook began to pull back its support of the developer. An exodus of investors had added insult to injury to the former gaming titan, but the developer continued its work.

Investors throw lifeline to Zynga and Glu Mobile

Zynga’s tenacity seems to be attracting the attention of new investors. Shares in the company have risen by 12.5% on Monday, the heaviest day of trading the developer has seen since November. This may be due to the developer’s rekindled focus on producing unique games of high quality for mobile consumers. Zynga is not the only developer that is seeing renewed investor interest. Glu Mobile, a developer that had been seeing trouble akin to that of Zynga, saw its shares spike by 16.5% on Monday.

Mobile gaming continues to be attractive market

Despite the problems some companies have been facing, mobile gaming is still considered a very powerful and lucrative market. Investors, though cautious, have shown that they are willing to take risks on developers that had proven their ability to establish a strong presence in this market in the past. If investor support for Zynga and Glu Mobile continues to grow, the two companies may soon find themselves back on top of the proverbial totem pole of mobile gaming.

DeNA joins Entertainment Software Association

| January 27, 2013

DeNA joins ESAESA welcomes latest member DeNA

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a U.S. game industry trade group, has announced that DeNA, a developer of social mobile games, has joined its ranks. With the inclusion of DeNA, the ESA now boasts of 36 companies from throughout the U.S., as well as several other countries, all representing the various aspects of the game industry. DeNA will bring its expertise in social mobile gaming into the mix, which is expected to be a major benefit to the trade group because of the increasing focus the industry has begun to place on the mobile space.

Social mobile games growing in popularity

Social mobile games are extremely popular. Companies like Zynga and Storm8 have pioneered this field of gaming, showing just how willing mobile consumers are to play these games over the past few years. Mobile games themselves are widely popular, but when social elements are introduced into these games, they become much more enjoyable for some consumers. As such, social mobile gaming has begun to gain the full support of the game industry, with interest even coming from developers that have traditionally been solely involved in console gaming.

DeNA finding success around the world

DeNA is based in Japan but recently established a strong presence in California through its acquisition of San Francisco-based Ngmoco last year. This acquisition provided DeNA with a significant amount of attention throughout the global game industry and positioned the developer to enter into partnerships in China, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, and elsewhere. DeNA has established a very extensive network of connections, making its social mobile games widespread and common in several of the world’s most popular gaming markets.

Developer poised to compete with GREE more aggressively

The developer’s primary rival in the social mobile gaming space is GREE, a Japanese social networking and Internet media company with a heavy hand in the game industry. GREE is responsible for many of the most popular mobile games in Japan and the rest of the Asian market and is one of the reasons DeNA has had to expand into other markets to find success. Backed by the ESA, DeNA expects to find the clout it needs to compete with GREE more effectively.