Blog: mobile games

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Has Blizzard’s mobile gamble paid off?

Perry Gresham

11 Aug 2022

mobile games

diablo

microtransactions

Blizzard was once perhaps the most loved game developer – with a devoted fanbase built on the back of iconic titles like Diablo and World of Warcraft. However, over the past few years there has been a shift in the perception of the developer, especially within its core fanbase.

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Reflections from PG Connects London 2022

Karol Severin

25 Feb 2022

PG Connects

industry events

Games industry

PG Connects London 2022 was the first in-person games industry event that I attended in over two years. Having spent the best part of the pandemic on Zoom, which quickly blurred the lines between a call and an event, walking into a physical venue was truly reinvigorating.

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Quick Take: Zynga Partners With Ferrari To Delight CSR2 Players

Karol Severin

15 Sep 2017

brand building

csr

csr2

Zynga’s CSR2 , a leading racing mobile game, has partnered up with Ferrari for a promotional in-game event to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the iconic car brand. A mutually beneficial brand-building partnership Having kicked-off yesterday and running through till February 2018, CSR2 will gradually roll out six special anniversary Ferraris, adding to the 10 Ferraris already available in CSR2 .

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Quick Take: Zynga Swings To Profit in Q2

Karol Severin

3 Aug 2017

brand loyalty

forever franchise

Games

Zynga is turning things around. Its Q2 2017 revenue and booking performance were the best in four years. The company’s revenue was $209.2 million, up from $181.7million in Q2 2016. What’s more, Zynga had a $5.

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Zynga Teams Up With MGM To Create ‘Words With Friends’ Game Show

Karol Severin

20 Jul 2017

cross-format entertainment

games on tv

Media

MGM Television and Zynga have announced a collaboration to develop a new television game show based on Words With Friends , the world's most popular mobile word game. The show will also incorporate aspects from Zynga's larger portfolio of With Friends word and puzzle games.

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Why Facebook’s Instant Games Could End Up Eating Apple And Google’s Lunch

Karol Severin

4 May 2017

facebook games

instant games

messenger games

Facebook has started rolling out its non-download Instant Games globally, after having launched in the US in November. The announcement has come after additional new developer features were introduced to Instant Games developers during last week’s F8 conference.

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Why Apple Dedicated A Feature Page To Indie Games

Karol Severin

17 Mar 2017

app store

Apple

appstore

Apple’s App Store introduced a permanent feature page for indie games yesterday. The move is another step in Apple’s ongoing effort to provide more effective discovery tools and thus, drive more value from the long-tail of the app economy.

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Why Super Mario Run Will Be A Hit Game, But Not A Mobile Craze

Karol Severin

16 Dec 2016

mario run

Mobile content

mobile games

Nintendo launched its much anticipated Super Mario Run yesterday on iOS globally. The media has been flirting with Pokemon Go comparisons throughout the lead up to the release. The record breaking story of Pokemon Go makes both consumers and the press look for the next big thing.

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Cutting Through The Hype Around Pokemon Go’s Success

Karol Severin

26 Jul 2016

game apps

Mobile content

mobile games

The success of Pokemon Go has been impressive so far. However, its achievements are currently over-hyped. Media outlets have been reporting the game’s every new ‘record breaking’ accolade. While true, the majority are taken out of context.

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What Tencent’s Supercell Takeover Tells Us About The Future Of The App Economy

Karol Severin

22 Jun 2016

game app business

gaming apps

Mobile content

Supercell, the company behind Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, agreed to sell 86% of their equity to the Chinese giant Tencent for $8.6 billion. The acquisition catapults the Tencent into being the number one mobile game publisher in the world.

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MIDiA Chart Of The Week: The Mobile App Funnel

Mark Mulligan

14 Dec 2015

acquiring mobile users

apps

Chart Of The Week

App companies lose users and revenue right across the user acquisition and retention process. Thus as the global app market grows the amount of lost revenue accelerates also. MIDiA’s app funnel analysis reveals just where on the customer life cycle users are lost, why they go and provides industry averages to benchmark against for freemium apps and trial subscription apps.

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App Bubble Update: Hit Mobile Game Publishers Are Running Out Of Steam

Karol Severin

12 Nov 2015

Activision

app bubble

app bubble burst

We pointed out the risks associated with the app economy being too dependent on a few hit apps back in 2014. The big question always was whether new titles of hit mobile game publishers could replicate or supersede the popularity of their previous hits, before users started becoming bored and investors start to panic.

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How Freemium Games Antagonise The Mainstream

Karol Severin

14 May 2015

freemium games

freemium vs. paid

iap

In 2014 the freemium model accounted for 98% of Google Play revenue. The success of a few hit releases brought the freemium model into mainstream. But freemium apps often heavily rely on a small amount of large spenders.

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