Digital sales show strong growth with the help of mobile games
Market research firm SuperData has released a new study focused on the game industry and the sales therein. The study shows that sales for the month of March have grown somewhat over the level they had been in the same month in 2012. The growth is most pronounced in the field of mobile games, which have become rampantly popular among consumers of various types. The study shows that social games, however, continue to experience a steady decline in terms of revenue.
Digital sales grow 2.9%
According to the study, digital game sales for March grew to $875 million, an increase of 2.9% over the previous year. Mobile games, especially those that have some online and social elements, contributed heavily to this growth. Mobile games were able to capture the attention of consumers with an assortment of in-app purchases and advertisements, all of which contributed to the overall revenue that these games produced.
Social games begin losing ground with consumers
While mobile games saw growth, social games continue to experience a decline. Social games, those found on social networking sites like Facebook, have begun to lose favor among consumers due to lack of innovation and the inherent difficulty in engaging consumers in advertisements and in-game purchases on such platforms. SuperData notes that Facebook insists that social games are on the rise, but there has been a decided lack of competition in the social network’s social gaming environment since Zynga’s fall from grace.
EA pulling out of social gaming space
Large game publisher Electronic Arts announced early this week that it would be closing down some of its social games hosted on Facebook. The publisher has adopted a strong interest in mobile games, considering social to be a thing of the past and mobile to be the future. While EA already has a strong presence in the game industry, the company has found it difficult to compete in the mobile games arena and is keen to devote more focus therein.
High resolution devices may be the key to successful mobile games
Mobile games have become something of a phenomenon in the game industry. These games have proven to be rampantly popular with consumers, many of whom are more than willing to participate in in-game advertising and mobile purchases. As such, the mobile games market is considered to be significantly lucrative and home to very promising opportunities for developers. These developers do, of course, have to find ways to encourage consumers to make in-app purchases. A new study from mobile games studio Pocket Gems suggests that this may be a matter of quality in mobile technology rather than mobile games themselves.
Study suggests screen quality influences in-app purchases
The study from Pocket Gems suggests that the quality of a mobile devices screen directly influences whether consumers will make an in-app purchase. Consumers that play mobile games on better quality screens, such as those typically found on tablet devices, are more likely to make in-app purchases than those that play games on lower quality screens. Pocket Gems notes that Android users with high resolution mobile devices are up to 10 times more likely to purchase in-game items or virtual currencies.
Popularity of high resolution devices may be a sign of disposable income
This may be because many consumers consider high resolution screens to be synonymous with processing power for mobile devices, which may lead consumers to believe that some mobile games are better than they actually are. Consumers that have a high opinion of a game or its developer typically tend to support that game or developer more strongly. Pocket Gems notes that consumers with high resolution devices are more likely to have disposable incomes as well, which makes them more likely to conduct in-app purchases.
Android shows greatest potential for mobile games monetization
The study suggests that mobile games developers looking to find major success in the game industry may do well to tailor their games for high resolution devices. The study shows that the correlation between screen resolution and monetization is the highest in Android tablets. Conversely, the study shows that the iPad has no correlation between resolution and monetization whatsoever.
