Mobile gaming product launches mark E3 2015; revenue set to soar to $40B annually by 2017
WASHINGTON – Internet traffic has increasingly migrated from computers to mobile devices, so it naturally follows that gaming companies are seeking to leverage advances in mobile ubiquity by designing games for mobile devices.
At the 2015 Electronic Arts Entertainment Expo, which kicked off in Los Angeles this week, an astonishing 70 of the 275 exhibitors present are marketing mobile games. This is the largest-ever turn out of solely mobile gamemakers in E3 history.
They have good reason to be there; a 2014 report found that mobile gaming revenue surged by 40% and that mobile gaming was set to overtake other consoles this year. The total value of mobile games is estimated to be $25 billion annually and is projected to grow to $40 billion by 2017.
One market strategy for gamemakers is to take games popularized on consoles and produce mobile companion games.
Bethesda Games, the maker of the popular “Fallout” series, announced a mobile game called “Fallout Shelter”, which serves as a companion to its popular franchise. Meanwhile, EA, one of the biggest names in gaming, unveiled a Star Wars-inspired mobile card game.
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Peter Jones, Facebook’s head of gaming for North America, summarized his E3 expectations, “Simply more mobile: There’s a ton of opportunity for mobile game developers to create long-lasting entertainment brands that stay culturally relevant over long periods of time. The major franchises have done an amazing job over the years of continually delivering engaging entertainment experiences at E3. I’m curious to see what mobile game companies come up with next and how they continue to evolve into fully fledged entertainment brands.”
Mobile games are appealing to gaming companies because the cost to develop is lower and the potential reward is higher.
Big games like “Fallout 4” and “Mass Effect Andromeda,” which were also unveiled at E3, have been in production for years and cost millions. Mobile games can be developed in months for a few thousand dollars then sold via app stores, removing the need to find publishers.
Mobile games also can be highly lucrative with the advent of so-called freemium gaming, which allows micro purchases of a few dollars by the player to unlock items of use in the game. Millions of these micro purchases per day can add up. The “Kim Kardashian Hollywood” mobile game reportedly brought in $200 million for its developer Glu within a few weeks of its release.