If you deal with mobile games, finding the next Clash of Clans (ideally before it becomes Clash of Clans) is a top priority. But without knowing how each mobile gaming company’s app lineup impacts their bottom lines, it can be a big challenge finding that next massive hit. App Annie is excited to announce its latest report, Portfolio Strategies in the Mobile Gaming Industry, which analyzes over 60 companies’ strategies towards building their app portfolios, including each strategy’s pros and cons. This information is critical for investors and executives looking for the next key investment or partnership. Learn more about our latest report below.

1. Portfolio Strategies
in the Mobile
Gaming Industry

2.
Portfolio Strategies in the Mobile Gaming Industry
Executive Summary
As in the broader entertainment industry, success in gaming has always been difficult to
predict. According to a paper published in the ​Harvard Business Review​, this is because hits
are driven by an unpredictable and complex network of social influences. Investors and
executives in the mobile gaming industry face similar challenges, as identifying the next major
viral hit is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. In order to deal with this uncertainty,
mobile gaming executives have been spreading their investments across a wider portfolio of
games. But not all portfolio strategies are created equal.
Thanks to ​App Annie Intelligence​ and its industry­first ​DNA​ categorization model​, we have
been able to identify a handful of distinct strategies used by mobile game developers.
Depending on their reliance on individual franchises, genres or a diversified approach, our
analysis of over 60 companies shows varying results. Portfolio strategies that focus on a
specific genre lead in terms of monetization on app stores (primarily in­app purchases, but
also includes revenue from paid downloads). On the other hand, portfolio strategies based on
game franchises appeared better suited to building brands that could create off­store
monetization opportunities (including licensing and merchandising).
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3.
Portfolio Strategies in the Mobile Gaming Industry
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Portfolio Strategies: Genres vs. Franchises
2. Relative Advantages of Each Portfolio Strategy
3. Conclusion
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4.
Portfolio Strategies in the Mobile Gaming Industry
1. Introduction to Portfolio Strategies:
Genres vs. Franchises
Portfolio strategies followed by leading mobile game developers.
Our analysis is based on the top 100 companies by combined iOS App Store and Google
Play game app revenue in the United States (source: ​App Annie Intelligence​, year 2014).
These companies have been placed into four distinct categories based on their primary app
store revenue drivers. Please refer to the notes at the end of the report for additional
information on our methodology.
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5.
Portfolio Strategies in the Mobile Gaming Industry
1. Franchise­Focused:​ Focus on a single gaming franchise, including any sequels or
spin­offs. For example, Rovio and Outfit7 generate a majority of their revenue from the
Angry Birds​ and ​Talking Friends​ franchises respectively.
2. Genre­Focused: ​Focus on multiple apps within a single genre without concentrating
on franchises. For example, King (NYSE:​KING​) generates most of its revenue from
match­three Puzzles, including ​Candy Crush Saga​, ​Pet Rescue Saga​ and ​Diamond
Digger Saga​. Similarly, Supercell generates revenue from strategy games that focus
on base sieges (​Clash of Clans​ and ​Boom Beach​) or resource management (​Hay
Day​).
3. Diversified: ​Do not focus on a single genre or franchise. For example, Zynga
(NASDAQ:​ZNGA​) has been categorized as a diversified company thanks to its
portfolio of strategy, puzzle, casino and racing games.
4. Others (excluded): ​38 of the 100 companies were excluded as they did not fit any of
the categories described above. Most of these companies generate all or a vast
majority of their app store revenue from a single game and not a portfolio of games.
For example, Mojang was excluded because of its singular focus on Minecraft.
Based on this methodology, 62 of the 100 companies were shortlisted for our analysis.
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6.
Portfolio Strategies in the Mobile Gaming Industry
2. Relative Advantages of Each Portfolio
Strategy
A majority of the top revenue generating companies are genre­focused.
Among our list of top companies, more than two­thirds followed a genre­focused portfolio
strategy while the remaining were distributed across the diversified and franchise­focused
strategies. The share of revenue among these companies was even more interesting with
nearly three­quarters going to genre­focused companies. Based on this, it appears that the
genre­focused portfolios have seen more broad­based success in app store monetization
compared to the others.
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7. We hope you found the
provided information
helpful.
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