At Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2014, Will Freeman gave us his 10 trends that are shaking up the world of mobile gaming. 1. PUBLISHING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE PUBLISHING SERVICES 2. YOU SHOULD GO TO FINLAND 3. THE RETURN OF PREMIUM? 4. ASIAN M&As ARE CONTINUING TO RESHAPE THE GLOBAL POWER BALANCE 5. THE FUTURE OF DISCOVERABILITY 6. BRAZIL’S CONTINUED RISE 7. IS PC STEALING MOBILE’S GRASS ROOTS STUDIOS? 8. HAS CROWDFUNDING LOST ITS WAY? 9. IPOS: ON THE RISE OR FAILING DISMALLY? 10. COULD BRAND MARKETING BE BACK?

3. 15 MINUTES. 10 GLOBAL TRENDS
(Pocket Gamer’s Q2 ‘Global Trends’ report condensed.)

4. Who I am:
Will Freeman
Freelance Games Journalist and Consultant
Contributor to Develop, Pocketgamer, Eurogamer, Edge,
The Observer, The Guardian etc.

5. TREND ONE:
PUBLISHING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE
PUBLISHING SERVICES

6. • Some have speculated traditional publishing is
regaining relevance in mobile. That’s not quite it.
• A new kind of company is emerging that has remodeled
the traditional retail games publisher as a mobile-
dedicated service provider, empowering smaller teams.
• These outfits offer a blend of traditional publishing with
monetisation, data analytics, GaaS backend,
discoverability, funding services and PR and marketing.
• Ones to watch include Scopley and Tilting Point.
• “I do believe that the publisher’s role will become more
and more important going forward.” Matthew Wilson,
Head of Publishing, Rovio Stars

7. TREND TWO:
YOU SHOULD GO TO FINLAND

8. • Finland, as you may notice by looking around you,
remains dominant. Why, for so long? What is ‘the Finland
effect’?
• 200 games companies with 2,400 staff in a country with
only 5.4 million residents
• The Finnish games industry valued at $3.03 billion
across 2013.
• 37 per cent of Finnish games companies are based in
Helsinki
• 50 per cent of Finland’s currently active games
companies were founded in the last two years.
• Two words: ‘Nokia’ (est. 1865), and ‘demoscene’.
“There’s an attitude among entrepreneurs here that ‘all
boats rise’ by sharing knowledge and working together,”
states Andrew Stalbow, CEO, Seriously

9. TREND THREE:
THE RETURN OF PREMIUM?

10. • Once again the ‘return of premium’ is being heralded by
some (the press?), but is it really a reality?
• Recent premium/’premium with IAP’ mobile successes
include: Minecraft, Monument Valley, Out There, Football
Manager, Leo’s Fortune, Badland.
• Superdata have coined the term ‘Premiumification’
• But in February 2014, free-to-play accounted for
between 70 and 94 per cent of global iOS App Store
revenues (Distimo)
• “Are you aiming for numbers higher than $5 million
lifetime? You'll need to build a free-to-play game. And in
most cases you'll need to spend around $10 million
lifetime to build, support and advertise it.” Ben Cousins,
Consultant.
• Spiraling CPI and such means premium increasingly
appeals to creative studios, but F2P remains where the
money is.

11. TREND FOUR:
ASIAN M&As ARE CONTINUING TO
RESHAPE THE GLOBAL POWER
BALANCE

12. • SoftBank and GungHo’s $1.53 billion purchase of 51
per cent of Supercell may have set a new standard,
fuelling investor excitement (again; the press like the
idea).
• Those investing in games spent a total of $3.3 billion
in the first three financial quarters of 2013.
• In that same period eight of the 10 largest mobile
game deals were by outfits from Japan, China or South
Korea.
• “Asian game companies are focusing not only on their
countries, but are also aware of [how important] ‘global’
is in the smartphone era. The recent movement
represents this trend. The trend will be continued on a
global level.” Jun Otsuka, Business Development
Manager and Producer, Line

13. TREND FIVE:
THE FUTURE OF
DISCOVERABILITY

14. • Despite a lack of support from app store holders, CPI
and related models continue to be prevalent in
discoverability.
• And as the market grows and the stores get more
crowded, the problem has got worse, rather than better.
• Amalgamated data suggests average global iOS CPI
for loyal paying users rose from $1.24 (June 13) to $1.92
(April 14).
• Android loyal user CPI climbed from $0.90 to $1.01
over the same period.
• “The only two viable methods to get your app noticed
are support from the platform holder or buying users.”
Ben Cousins, Consultant.

15. TREND SIX:
BRAZIL’S CONTINUED RISE

16. • Brazil puts the B in ‘BRIC’. It feels like it’s been
emerging forever, but it certainly continues.
• There’s a new Apple factory underway, and 4G has just
recently arrived in the country.
• Smartphone penetration in the nation near doubled
from 2012 to 2013, from 13.8 per cent to 26.3 per cent.
• There are now 217 million active mobile phones in
Brazil, and 48.8 million regular mobile gamers in the
country. 61 per cent of those players regularly invest
money in games, giving Brazil one of the highest
player/payer ratios globally (Anatel and Newzoo data).
• “We have around 200 hundred small or medium
developers in Brazil. The majority of theses companies
work with mobile games.” Marcelo Tavares, Director,
Brazil Game Show.

17. TREND SEVEN:
IS PC STEALING MOBILE’S GRASS
ROOTS STUDIOS?

18. • 10 years ago PC gaming was considered ‘dead’ my the
global press. Steam came along in 2003; a perfect storm
for the indie gaming revolution.
• In January 2014 Valve confirmed Steam has 75 million
active users. That number climbed 10 million in the
months from October 2013; a 16 per cent rise. 3,000
games.
• So it is dwarfed by mobile, but courts far more press
attention, and carries cultural clout.
• Hard to put a number on, but many small studios have
turned their back on mobile for Steam
• “I don’t think there’s a migration away from mobile, but
perhaps an increasing preference to launch first on PC
and come to mobile after.” Jesse Divnich, VP of Insights
and Consumer Experience, Tilting Point

19. TREND EIGHT:
HAS CROWDFUNDING LOST ITS
WAY?

20. • A sentiment is emerging that crowdfunding is suffering
its own discoverability crisis, as project numbers spiral
(often 5,000 to 10,000 active ‘game’ projects) and
consumer and press interest fades.
• Stats, however, suggest rude health. To date
$1,140,876,481 has been pledged across all categories,
and 62,596 projects have met targets. 3,430 of those are
game projects, 34 of which have raised over $1 million.
In Q1 2014 alone $112,038,158 has been pledged on
the site.
• 65 per cent of game projects fail. Success vs. release.
“I don't think it's a matter of losing status and influence.
It's just that the community has matured and so the
platform is now beginning to normalise. The days of
ridiculous numbers for any old project are gone.” Trent
Kusters, Director, League of Geeks

21. TREND NINE:
IPOS: ON THE RISE OR FAILING
DISMALLY?

22. • Depending on who you speak to the King IPO was
either a crippling failure (the press) or a typical (and mild)
example of the initial post-IPO challenge. So are IPOs in
mobile over?
• Not in Asia.
• King debuted on the NYSE opening at a price of
$20.50,
10 per cent lower than the firm's original offering price of
$22.50. Zynga also struggled.
• There’s a new caution about IPOs (Kabam openly
treading carefully). Seen as a sign of the mobile space
maturing.
• “Between the dismal post-IPO performance of Zynga,
and the subsequent one for King, it suggests that the
market is not a great place for companies like this. More
positively, it means that there is not a bubble in

23. TREND TEN:
COULD BRAND MARKETING BE
BACK?

24. • Many suggest traditional marketing is again important
to games: TV, print and billboard advertising,
merchandising, cross-promotion with food products, etc.
• Most agree it is hugely beneficial for paid games, but
only in the price range of the free-to-play giants.
• Think of video/streaming’s new power as affordable
brand marketing.
• Separate merchandising and marketing’s goals. Know
what is for extra revenue and what is to promote your
game.
• Make merchandise work as an isolated entity.
• “All the Angry Birds products that we bring out are a
part of the bigger brand, something that is fun and
delighting by themselves; not just vehicles for marketing
something else.”
Jami Laes, EVP Games, Rovio Entertainment

25. WHERE TO GET YOUR REPORT:
pocketgamer.biz/pgbn
Register and use your card.
WHERE TO CONTACT ME:
will.freeman@spadgy.com