Category: Featured News

Mobile gaming to make a bigger splash in 2013

Mobile Gaming SplashTheo Sanders provides some insight on the industry and mobile gaming

The advent of mobile gaming has caused quite a stir in the game industry. As 2012 comes to a close, the industry has begun gearing for a new year of possibilities, with many developers adopting a strong focus on mobile gaming. Recently, SPOnG, a gaming news source, interviewed Theo Sanders, Lead Producer for Ubisoft Singapore. Through the interview, Sanders provided some insight on how the game industry views mobile gaming and what the future may hold for mobile platforms.

Developers begin to show serious focus on mobile platforms

Though mobile gaming now represents a massive market, the sector itself is still relatively new to the game industry. Large development studios have long held focus on traditional platforms, such as PCs and consoles. These developers have adhered to these platforms for decades, only recently beginning to show interest in the mobile gaming space. Sanders suggests that many major game developers are still unfamiliar with mobile platforms and that 2013 may be the year in which gamers see their favorite developers begin pushing their own boundaries and producing higher quality mobile games.

Mobile gaming helps keep game industry solvent

Sanders suggests that game developers are likely to produce some quality products despite the economic problems they face. Over the past year, the game industry has performed well in comparison to other industries. Mobile games helped keep the industry solvent. While most mobile gaming applications cost between $1 and $3 — with many more being completely free — sales volumes have been sky high. The financial clout of the mobile gaming market has helped propel the game industry through turbulent economic waters.

2013 may be a major year for mobile games

Mobile gaming is expected to pick up more momentum in 2013. Next year, consumers will have access to more advanced mobile devices that will allow them to play a wider range of games. The mobile game market will not likely have a shortage of new content any time soon, so consumers will likely have more than enough to keep themselves occupied well into the future.

Social media marketing may have been misunderstood last year

Social Media Marketing Missed PointExpert smartphone and tablet marketers are wondering if companies missed the point in 2012.

One of the hottest topics in mobile is the crossover of social media marketing content and the SEO practices, with many saying that one simply cannot exist without the contribution of the other.

However, as much as this may sometimes be successfully applied for desktops, mobile may have missed the mark.

According to an Econsultancy publication, SEO and social media marketing content have come together to create a marriage between methodology and technology which currently cannot be broken. There had once been a time in which these were entirely separate thoughts, but that time has long passed.

Unfortunately, many mobile social media marketing campaigns have failed to make this recognition.

This has presented a significant challenge for companies and marketers that have spent the last few years developing strategies that use SEO and social media marketing separately. However, many are saying that it is now vital for those brands to break away from their old habits in order to encourage successes in today’s multichannel marketplace.

According to the data from Econsultancy, 97 percent of online marketers feel that social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn can be beneficial to the successes of their companies. This includes everything from nurturing to lead generation. However, all too many of these same individuals are not seeing the connection between the two practices and are therefore failing to experience the full potential of each of those elements.

The report on the site went on to explain that for companies that recognize that the future of search is a combination of social media marketing content and the application of proper SEO techniques, has already arrived. Therefore, those who work to join the early adopters will be able to enjoy a considerable advantage over their competition, who has yet to catch on.

As SEO and social media marketing remain two pathways for driving leads through discovery and for boosting the highly valuable exposure through word of mouth, it is can be considered to be exceptionally important for marketers to see these two practices as a single methodology.