Category Archives: Mobile

Rovio announced in its latest financial report that its Angry Birds franchise has been downloaded 1 billion times.

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Nathan Grayson pulls no punches in his attack on the core gaming press, issuing a rallying cry to promote and support one of the most important sectors of our rapidly transitioning industry.

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After all that is-it-or-isn’t-it over whether Angry Birds Space would reach Windows Phone, Rovio has apparently confirmed the new port is not far off.

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Google has told TechCrunch that its app store, Google Play, passed the 15 billion download mark “a few weeks ago.” The last time the firm mentioned how many downloads the store had received was during its Q4 2011 earnings in January when the number stood at 11 billion. In comparison, Apple’s App Store hit 15 billion downloads in July 2011, and as of March 2012 the figure was 25 billion downloads. According to TechCrunch’s figures, Google Play is seeing around 1 billion downloads a month where as Apple sees around 1.25 billion. Google currently has 500,000 apps available while Apple has 600,000 available.

The Japanese Consumer Affairs Agency is cracking down on free to play social games which offer random rewards in return for micro-payments.

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Rovio has recorded revenue of €75.4 million euros for FY2011, 30% of which came from licensing and merchandising The company’s employee count grew from 28 to 224 in the period. Profit stood at €48 million. The latest Angry Birds release, Space, has been downloaded more than 50 million times.

Ubisoft mobile spin-off Gameloft has reported a successful start to the year, with €44.8 million in sales over the course of January through March. That’s a 14% year on year increase, which the company puts down to increased mobile gaming sales, as well as greater penetration of emerging markets. 44% of sales originated in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, while the US supplied 30%.

Hot on the heels of the World Cyber Games reformat, Major League Gaming in venturing into the mobile space.

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A report from analyst group App Data suggests daily usage for Draw Something has fallen by five million users in one month. The 33% decline comes on the heels of the Zynga buyout of OMGPop which saw the social game firm outbidding other interested parties with a $210 million acquisition. The title continues to fall towards the bottom of the App Store charts, with DAU peaking at 15 million in April to 10 million 30 days later. Thanks, Develop.

VG247 entered the newfangled mobile age today, releasing a whizzy free iOS app created by independent developer Shane McCafferty.

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NVIDIA has estimated smartphones released during 2012-2014 will contain “Xbox 360-class GPU performance out of mobile SoCs,” according to Anandtech. According to a slide handed to the site, if the trend in mobile chips continues, it will catch up with PC systems a few years beyond 2014. NVIDIA is currently toting its Tegra 3 System-on-a-Chip as a solution to high-end graphics on mobiles devices. Thanks, GI International.

Popcap has announced through a press release that the iOS version of the popular Plants vs. Zombies will be receiving multiple updates.

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Aeria Games has received funding from Sony’s So-net Entertainment internet subsidiary. The undisclosed round of funding will help the firm continue to provide services to its 40 million users worldwide across all MMO titles. Currently, more than 1 million players join the service each month, and Aeria’s new office in Santa Clara, California plan to launch one to two mobile titles per month. Thanks, Gamasutra.

The Android version of Imangi Studios Temple Run has been downloaded more than 10 million times since it launched three weeks ago. The game was released on iOS last year and has since been downloaded over 36 million times on the format.

Ex-Halfbrick veteran and industry old-timer Tony Takoushi has set up shop as Total ArKade Software. Takoushi, who’s been in the industry since 1979 for CVG, Sega Europe and Codemasters as well as Halfbrick, is currently in the process of creating the studio’s first game for iOS, Android and Samsung’s Bada service.

Via GI International.

Draw Something has surpassed 50 million downloads in just 50 days. Released in February, the game quickly became a hit with iPhone and Android users with 6 million drawings created, and on launch day alone, three draws per second were recorded. That figure is now at 3,000 drawings per second. The game is now owned by Zynga which wrote OMGPoP a check for $180 million last month. Thanks, VentureBeat.

Team Meat’s confirmed Super Meat Boy: The Game for iOS, as well as assuring the touch platformer won’t be restricted to Apple devices.

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DeNA and Disney have announced a partnership which will result in more licensed social games from the developer land the mobile gaming platform, Mobage. The first jointly-developed title from the firms, Disney Party, was released earlier in the week and a second, Disney Fantasy Quest, will be released on April 2. A card battle game featuring Marvel Comics characters will be released in June. All three are slated for release outside of Japan in July for North America and Europe. Disney and DeNA are currently in talks on developing new titles for international releases as well. Thanks, Siliconera.

Financials filed by Mojang have revealed since Minecraft’s launch in October 2010, the game has accumulated over $80 million thanks to more than 5 million paid downloads.

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While it’s not $200 million, it sure is damned close: SEC filings dug up by GI.biz show that Zynga paid a whopping $180 million in cash for Draw Something maker OMGPOP. Analysts and insiders earlier this week suggested the figure would range between $200- $210 million. Draw Something has been downloaded over 35 million times and over 1 billion drawings have been produced. Likely that figure is much higher today, as I went on a massive Draw Something spree last night into the wee hours. [image]