Mobile gaming is establishing itself as a serious form of
mass entertainment, appealing to a diverse group of consumers across the world.
The growth in this market is driven on one hand by the emergence of modern
touchscreen smartphones as a suitable gaming platform, and on the other hand by
innovation in casual games that attract users from both genders and from all
age groups.

This is also reflected in the industry’s revenue base,
which will grow from less than $5 billion in 2011 to more than $16 billion in
2016.

An ever-larger share of mobile gaming revenue is coming
from virtual goods and other purchases that take place within the game. These
in-app payments will account for about one-third of the 2011 revenue base, but
by the end of 2016 their share will increase to almost half of the total. Also,
the in-game advertising revenue will increase considerably, as more and more
advertisers take advantage of mobile games’ mass-media potential,” said Aapo
Markkanen, senior analyst, ABI Research.

Thanks to digital distribution of the content, barriers
to entering the mobile gaming sector are low.

However, the dynamics of both casual gaming and the
discovery of new content make it a risky hit-and-miss business, though good
content is still definitely more important than luck.

Rovio’s ‘Angry Birds’ is an early example of the sort of
following that the most successful titles will be able to achieve, yet for one
such hit there will be scores of failed attempts to catch consumers’ attention.

This is likely to result in further consolidation among
developers, as can be seen from recent acquisitions made by industry giants
such as Electronic Arts and Zynga.

ABI Research’s new Mobile Gaming” study
describes available types of games and revenue models, provides analyses of
market drivers and inhibitors, and offers an overview of the main technology
issues.

It includes forecasts for user bases and end-user
revenues, broken down by revenue segment and geographic region, as well as data
on relevant consumer trends gathered by ABI Research’s latest Bi-Annual
Consumer Technology Barometer.

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]