Mobile Game of the Year

Last night at the annual GSM Association (GSMA) 2008 Awards Gala Dinner, Glu Mobile's original title My Hangman was a joint winner of the Global Mobile Award for Best Mobile Game along with Cellufun's Call of the Pharaoh.

My Hangman is a casual game based on the classic word puzzles and was created and developed in Glu's London studio. The title features 1,000 different word puzzles, multiplayer modes, and the ability to put pictures of friends into the puzzles themselves. Upon its launch, My Hangman has seen strong performance critically and commercially including reaching the number one spot on T-Mobile UKs Top Ten Games when launched on the network.

"We're honored to have this Glu original title recognized by GSM, said Greg Ballard, President and CEO, Glu Mobile. This award is a testament to the strength and creativity of our development team in making compelling original titles."

In Call of the Pharaoh, you get a job as an inscriber, priest or engineer and work with your fellow CelluPharaohs to create the largest pyramid possible. You must depend on your fellow workers to gather the bricks and ropes used to build up the pyramid, and then call together the engineers to plan, the inscribers to decorate and the priests to bless your pyramid as it grows larger.



Commenting on Cellufun's entry, the jury said: "Call of the Pharaoh introduces social networking to games, you can't win this all on your own, you need to call in your buddies. Beware, don't start this just before bedtime or you will spend all night on it!"

Congratulations to both companies.

Glu 2007 Results

US mobile game publisher Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU) announced details of the company's sales results for Q4 2007 and for all of 2007. For the 4th quarter of 2007, Glu reported a net loss of $861,000, on revenues of $18.1 million. In the same period last year Glu lost $2.3 million on revenues of $14.3 million. For the full year, Glu lost $3.3 million on revenues of $66.9 million. In 2006, the company lost $12.3 million on revenues of $46.2 million.

The company said it is growing on three fronts—by securing long-term licenses, expanding geographically and consolidating market share.

Glu is hoping to grow through acquisition as well, having targeted British rival Superscape Group. (LON:SPS) If the acquisition goes through, Glu would become the second-largest supplier of mobile games in the U.S., and be close to market leader Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS). During the call, Glu said that its offer to buy Superscape expires Friday, and they will announce the outcome on Monday.

"We closed a solid 2007 with a strong fourth quarter," said Greg Ballard, Glu's chief executive officer. "Over the past 12 months, we significantly raised our market position by securing world-class, long-term licenses, expanding geographically and consolidating market share. Our title line-up for 2008 provides a solid foundation for our success in the coming year. In addition, we are focused on increasing our global opportunities with the addition of MIG and the proposed acquisition of Superscape."