Tag: tablet games

Mobile games benefit from freemium model

| March 9, 2013

Mobile Games FreemiumFreemium makes mobile games a booming market

Mobile games have become a very prominant market for the game industry. Games for smartphones and tablets represent a market worth billions of dollars in revenue and this market has begun to attract game developers that had previously been focused exclusively on developing titles for consoles and PCs. Though mobile games generate a massive amount of revenue on a yearly basis, most of these games are entirely free, though boast of a wide variety of in-game transactions. This business model is often referred to as “freemium.”

In-game transactions relatively accepted by gamers

Freemium is a simple concept: Mobile games that are free to obtain and free to play, but provide gamers with the opportunity to purchase in-game items and power-ups that can make the game more enjoyable. This is where the majority of the revenue that is generated by mobile games comes from. The freemium model allows developers to offer services to gamers for a relatively low price and because these prices are so low, consumers tend to participate in in-game transactions on a regular bases.

Freemium opens mobile games to more consumers

Analysts from Index Ventures, a venture capital investment firm, suggest that the freemium model is ideal for the mobile games market. This model allows developers to price-discriminate individual consumers, eliminating the upfront costs that are associated with other business models. A typical console game can cost anywhere from $30 to $60, but most mobile games are offered for free, with additional content being offered for as little as $1. Index Ventures suggests that the freemium model does not exploit consumers, but rather allows for a broader consumer base to participate in mobile games.

Business model not accepted by all gamers

Index Ventures suggests that many consumers are willing to sink money into mobile games in order to gain as much entertainment from these games as possible. The freemium model may be great for developers, but it is not universally accepted among gamers. Many argue that the freemium model encourages developers and publishers to create games that are deliberately restrictive in order to heavily promote in-game transactions.

Social and mobile games have a major impact on mobile marketing

| March 3, 2013

Advertisers see more engagement through mobile games

Mediabrix, a leading social and mobile advertising firm, has released new data concerning mobile marketing. The data highlights the advertisements that are seen through social mobile games and their performance in terms of consumer engagement. Social games have become very popular with consumers, which has made them equally popular with advertisers. Advertising in mobile games has also been extremely successful in recent years, suggesting that engaging mobile consumers, especially those that play games on their smartphones and tablets, is the best way to reach people through marketing campaigns.

In-game ads have higher click-through rate than normal ads

According to the data from Mediabrix, advertisements in social and mobile games have a higher click-through than other advertisements. These ads see an average click-through rate of 11%, 100 times higher than the rate seen through normal advertisements. Engagement in these advertisements is also significantly higher, beating out the engagement seen through web-based advertisements coming from companies like Facebook and Google.

Mobile games entice consumers to engage in marketing

Exactly why consumers are more prone to engage in advertisements in social and mobile games is something of a mystery. Mediabrix suggests that mobile games themselves are highly interactive, making consumers more prone to engage with elements they see on the screens of their smartphones and tablets. Mobile advertisements also have an appeal to those looking to stave off boredom, thus consumers with nothing better to do will engage in these ads for some entertainment.

More than 158 consumers expected to be mobile gamers by 2015

Mediarbix predicts that there will be more than 158 million consumers playing mobile games by 2015, creating major opportunities for advertisers looking to engage the mobile space. Social and mobile games are expected to have a major impact on the world of mobile marketing, especially due to the fact that consumers continue to show that they are more willing to engage in in-game advertisements than any other traditional form of marketing.

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