Most mobile games challenge players to use their phones to kill alien invaders or drive race cars. But LimeLife Inc. CEO Kristin McDonnell wants gamers to use their phones for . plating?
LimeLife targets 15- to 30-year old women with a host of mobile entertainment offerings, from wallpapers to text alerts to games. The company’s latest title, “Top Chef Challenge,” dares gamers to work their way up from a dishwasher in a greasy spoon to running a kitchen in a five-star restaurant.
The title features several minigames, McDonnell explained, including a “Tetris”-like challenge and a food-prep assembly-line. “There’s a plating game – are you familiar with that term?” she asked a male reporter. “You see a plate and have to (replicate) it through memory.”
The game, which is based on a hit show from cable’s Bravo network, is one of a growing number of mobile offerings based on high-profile TV franchises. LimeLife also offers “Rachael Ray Recipes on the Run,” a cooking application from the Food Network’s disturbingly perky hostess, and is planning to launch “Law and Order,” a mobile game based on NBC’s hit program.
Licensing link to TV
Licensed titles have long been popular in mobile gaming, of course, as publishers have sought to piggy-back on the marketing efforts for blockbuster films or extend the reach of popular console games. And quiz shows have transitioned easily to the mobile gaming world, thanks largely to recognizable brands and simple game-play.
But TV-inspired games seem to be gaining ground recently, according to Verizon Wireless. The carrier said EA Mobile’s “The Simpson’s” was its ninth best-selling title of 2007, and Capcom Entertainment’s “Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” was second only to the dominant Tetris franchise in sales for the year. A quick stroll of carrier decks reveals other TV-inspired offerings including “Stewie’s Arsenal,” “Hannah Montana” and “SpongeBob Atlantis Treasure.”
Licensed titles not only help get prominent deck placement – a vital factor in the success of any mobile game – they can help explain to potential buyers what the game is about. Titles like “Crazy Penguin Catapult” or “Bliss” leave a lot to the imagination, but those browsing the deck can be sure that a game based on “Top Chef” will be some sort of cooking simulation.
And TV tie-ins allow opportunities for marketing campaigns that can’t be matched in other media. “Top Chef Challenge” was promoted with “snipes” – promotional ads laid atop broadcast streams – encouraging users to text the word “chef” to a short code; a 10-second spot on the show also pushed the game.
“When consumers look at titles on the carrier deck, it’s often extremely helpful if they can immediately conjure up in their minds what the mobile game is going to be like,” McDonnell said. “And in terms of speaking to a customer base in a way that resonates, there’s not better way than through TV advertising. . That type of TV promotion really helps drive buzz among consumers.”
Demographics expanded
While male teens and young adults account for the overwhelming number of console gamers, analysts say roughly as many women play mobile games as men. That ratio is likely to continue – or perhaps increase – as mobile games expand beyond stand-alone offerings and become integrated into the vast number of social networking sites online and in mobile.
Most television-based games are also a natural fit for women, McDonnell said, lending themselves to casual game features instead of first-person shooters or fast-paced sports games.
“Women tend to like more cerebral games, more puzzle games, and not so much fast-action, ‘twitch’ or 3-D” offerings, she stated. “They like things that require some thought.”
But the majority of content available to mobile users is still targeted at men, according to McDonnell. The challenge, she said, is presenting female-targeted content to women without forcing them to swim through oceans of offerings they’re sure to ignore.
“Women aren’t tinkerers; they’re just not going to keep on clicking, clicking, clicking to find stuff that applies to them. Especially if what they see along the way is NFL videos and Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.”
