Back from GDC

The Movaya team was in San Francisco this week for GDC. GDC Mobile took place Monday and Tuesday and then the broader games industry took over on Wednesday.

We were very busy over the three days we were there, with over 20 meetings so we didn't have any time to post news on the site this week, but we will try to backfill interesting stories over the next couple of days.

We didn't spend any time at the sessions but having talked to lots of folks, the general theme surrounding the mobile game sector is that alternative distribution channels are the new focus for the vast majority of mobile game publishers. Moconews posted an article earlier this week titled: "The End Of Carrier Control In Mobile Gaming May Be Near" and from the discussions we had, this is definitely moving from talk to reality.

Now, to be clear, Movaya's interests are 100% aligned with off-deck or non-carrier mobile content distribution, so we are certainly biased, but let me provide some color on what is happening in the US market and you can make your own conclusions.

Of the 15 or so mobile game publishers we talked to this week, the majority said "2007 was a challenging year". Why was it so challenging? Well, it is broadly known that over 90% of the mobile games purchased in the US are sold by the carriers directly, meaning 4 stores (Verizon's Get it Now, AT&T's Media Mall, T-Mobile's T-Zones, and Sprint's Game store) control nearly all the mobile game distribution. And when you are reliant on only 4 channels for distribution, your risks are significant.

Point #1 - Carrier Game Business

- Verizon's business was great for just about everybody as their technology platform works well and they have made some minor investments to improve merchandising, etc.
-AT&T was generally flat from 2006 to 2007 because, although their subscriber base increased significantly, their technology infrastructure is inferior and they had a whole bunch of new customers who love to play games but couldn't buy anything (iPhone).

-T-Mobile continues to plug away but they experienced significant organizational restructuring which caused different issues for publishers.

-Sprint is cratering; they are losing subscribers and employees by the minute and no one's paying attention to the store. I heard one significant publisher say: "Focusing on Sprint right now would be a waste of resources".

So, what does all this carrier info mean? Well, if you have a good relationship with Verizon you probably did OK in 2007. In fact, someone told me that Gameloft generated 50% of their US revenue from Verizon.

Point #2 Cutting the number of partners

All of the 4 major operators in the US made significant cuts to the number of direct partners they would work with moving forward. Rumor has it that AT&T went from 25 or 30 direct partners to 6 "premier partners" and 6 additional partners. This means that roughly 20 companies lost their direct relationship with AT&T. Ouch. This does not mean that their games won't show up on-deck but the path to that deck just got more complicated and more expensive.

If you don't have a direct deal with the carrier, your new process for getting your game carried means working through one of the direct publisher partners or one of the certified aggregators. Both of these routes create issues for the non-direct publishers.

- Aggregators: these are intermediate third party companies that sit between the game publishers and the carriers. Their job is to "pitch" the game concept to the carrier and then run interference between the carrier and the publishers for accepted games. They generally make 15% of the revenue for their efforts. The potential value of these aggregators is understood. Carriers can't manage hundreds of independent partners; they simply aren't resourced appropriately. The aggregator can take on a lot of the operational tasks and filter out the lousy developers. Unfortunately, at least what I hear, is that none of the publishers like the current aggregators. I'm sure there is a certain amount of sour grapes here but hearing the stories of failures in what I would call basic tasks is brutal. Furthermore, the aggregators are providing very little value (technical or sales) to justify their 15%. Bottom line: if you're a publisher who used to work direct, but now works through an aggregator, your revenue just got cut by 15%, while your costs stayed the same and your control is diminished significantly.

- Other Publishers: Mobile game publishers like iPlay have now gotten into the business of aggregating games from other publishers. If you have even half a brain you can probably quickly understand the challenges with this model. Although the game publishers are most likely way better operationally than the aggregators and their knowledge and ability to sell into carriers is superior, you have a major conflict of interest here. Let's say iPlay is going to release 12-15 games this year. Their primary focus is to get these games placed on deck and get these games sold. That in itself is no easy challenge, and now they are going to effectively get other publisher s games highlighted as well? Not to mention the fact that now one of your competitors has access to your sales reports? Sounds risky to me.

Now, most game publishers have no choice. If they want to stay in business and not completely bleed cash, they will determine which path to the carrier deck makes the most sense and work that channel to keep the lights on. But, in parallel, all of these companies are either already investing in alternative distribution or are actively investigating their options. In a later post I will discuss the off-deck distribution options for mobile game publishers in more detail but here are some of the quotes we heard from publishers this week:

1. "Our focus in 2008 is on direct-to-consumer. We know this business is small today but we have to start investing today to be ready when this market matures."

2. "Our focus in 2008 is to broaden our distribution by making web based versions of our mobile games. By making web based versions, people can play our games online, and then we can provide a path to purchase the game for their phones."

3. "Our focus in 2008 is moving from a mobile game publisher to a digital lifestyle brand. Mobile will continue to play a big role but the broader web is critical to achieve the growth we need."

Furthermore, Movaya measures the growth of the off-deck business by watching the number of content developers and merchants who sign up to our service and are seeing very strong growth month-to-month here. (We'll have more to report on this soon as well.)

If we did miss you at GDC, please drop us a line or we can plan to get together at the next tradeshow - CTIA Wireless (Las Vegas, April 1-3, 2008).

Movaya Launches Free Trial Download Service for Mobile Games

Movaya TryNBuy to allow consumers to play mobile phone games before purchasing

Seattle, WA, February 07, 2008 -- Movaya, a mobile content distribution and services company, announced today the BETA launch of Movaya TryNBuy, the first off-deck, cross-carrier, try-before-you-buy system for mobile game sales in the US.

Over 30 mobile game publishers are taking part in the BETA launch, including top game publisher Com2uS. As a leading developer and publisher of original mobile games, Com2uS is always looking for new ways to reach mobile consumers," said Don Lim, general manager of Com2uS America. "With Movaya's TryNBuy, we know that once people are able to try out titles like the award-winning Tower Defense or our addictive stick-figure phenomenon, Super Action Hero, we'll be creating a whole new group of Com2uS fans."

TryNBuy is a patent-pending licensing system that allows consumers to download games over-the-air to their mobile phones and try games on their handset. Upon purchase, the games are ‘unlocked’ for unlimited use. TryNBuy is configurable on multiple levels including length of play, number of plays, and more.

“There has been widespread commentary on the factors holding back the growth of mobile games in the US. With our PlugNPlay launch last year, Movaya solved one of the major issues, which is to increase points of distribution. And now with TryNBuy, Movaya has solved the last remaining issue, which is the risk-free download for consumers. Try-before-you-buy was a major driver in the huge growth of casual games on the desktop and now Movaya is bringing this to the mobile marketplace.” says Movaya CEO Phil Yerkes. (see info below from Juniper)

To check out Movaya TryNBuy BETA, please visit www.bustedthumbs.com on your PC or www.bustedthumbs.mobi on your mobile phone. BustedThumbs is a direct to consumer merchant of mobile games and content.

About Movaya
Movaya (www.movaya.com) is a Seattle-based technology company, whose mobile-content management and distribution software system allows mobile content publishers and online retailers to effortlessly extend their businesses to the growing off-deck mobile content marketplace. Movaya PlugNPlay is the company’s flagship product, which brings together Mobile Game and Application Publishers, Online Retailers and consumers in one marketplace for Mobile goods. Movaya is powering the off-deck, mobile industry.

From MobileCrunch:

Juniper Research released a report this week that predicts mobile gaming revenues in North America will increase from less than $800 million to over $3 billion by 2012. (Incidentally, 2012 is the year the Mayan colander ends. I’m hoping they just ran out of rock to chisel on and weren’t predicting the end of the world.) 18 million Americans download or rent mobile games a least once per year, but Juniper predicts that as user interfaces improve and business models change, the number of mobile gamers will greatly increase. Juniper predicts that in-game advertising, free trial periods and better marketing will all come together to make mobile gaming a billion dollar industry in North America.

2008 - The Year of the Mobile Game

The Mobile Phone Blog, powered by Movaya, predicts 2008 will be the Year of the Mobile Game.

Here at the MPB, we pay close attention to the daily barrage of blog posts, industry analysis, insider rumors, and of course to our business at Movaya. And everything we know adds up to 2008 being the year that the Mobile Game busts out of the shadows and into the hand of the average American.

Some of the reasons why:

• Mobile gaming growth rate stronger than console (XBOX, PS, Wii) and handheld (think portable playstation) games; trails only casual games today (MobileIndustry article)
• Mobile game publishers are embracing off-deck solutions, as witnessed by the GLU financial statements, EA's quarterly statements and the general traction Movaya is getting from game publisher sign ups (including Capcom, Com2uS, Machineworks Northwest, PlayerX, Superscape and more).
  
• Verizon opens up: Introduces 'Any app, Any Device'. No off-deck yet, but it is on the way, and Verizon is clearly starting to think outside 'the walls'. Read more here
  
• iPhone users are proving that games matter, since 6 out of the top 10 applications used today are games (Apple iPhone Apps Countdown) - this says a lot about the usefulness of advanced devices and their ability to play games.
  
• Google releases Android, the open-source mobile OS, suggesting a future of customer-centric devices made for advanced gaming
• Overall, the mobile-game market in the United States is worth more than $675 million a year - and has grown 24 percent in the past 12 months, according to Nielsen Media Research. Some analysts expect it to double in revenue next year, thanks to shows like Top Chef Challenge that target new demographics.
• The international market is also projected to double - topping $10 billion by the end of next year, with 920 million mobile users downloading games, according to a report issued last month by Jupiter Research, a global leader in high-tech communications research.

Help Movaya make 2008 a great year in Mobile Gaming and Applications, and let us help you by making our platform better, send us your ideas for the new year: Email the team

Happy New Year Everyone.

LimeLife Releases Top Chef Challenge

Mobile content publisher LimeLife announced the launch of Top Chef Challenge, a new mobile game inspired by cable network Bravo's reality series Top Chef. Set behind-the-scenes of a fictional new restaurant, Top Chef Challenge enables players to customize their own characters--beginning as an entry-level dishwasher, they advance to chef status via a series of mini-games and kitchen drama test reflexes. Bravo will debut the mobile game tonight (9/8c), in conjunction with its Top Chef Holiday Special broadcast.

This is the first we've heard from Limelife in awhile - they bill themselves as the only company which specializes in publishing mobile content for women. They have put out some decent titles in the past including Girls Night Out Blackjack, but they haven't made much noise in the mobile gaming space recently. More pointedly, we are anxious for them to commit to the off-deck marketplace. There certainly is an audience wating for their games in places they may not have considered (womengamers.com and grrlgamer.com come to mind).

We (Movaya) will try to find some time to play Top Chef Challenge, which certainly is targeting a solid genre of mobile gaming. Game play is similar to Diner Dash and CakeMania, both of which have done well in mobile, and I imagine this was very intentional. Stay tuned, if the game blows us away we will report back. Hopefully I won't get fired for publishing an average review if it is called for :)

Hottest Casual Games for Mobile Now Available Off-Deck from Sandlot Games

Online Store Powered by Movaya Offers Cake Mania, Slyder for Mobile

BOTHELL, Wash — November 27, 2007 — Sandlot Games® (www.sandlotgames.com), the world's premier developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games, and Movaya (www.movaya.com), a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions, today announced the availability of mobile games direct from Sandlot Games web site.

Through Sandlot Games' branded online store, powered by Movaya's mobile game e-commerce solution, consumers can now purchase popular mobile game titles including Cake Mania® and Slyder®.

"Now consumers have a very easy, instantaneous way to get the most popular Sandlot Games' on their phones," said Daniel Bernstein, founder and CEO of Sandlot Games. "Movaya's e-commerce mobile game solution is a great fit for our online store and we expect it will dramatically improve sales of our mobile titles."

In addition to powering the online store's mobile game distribution, Movaya processes mobile game order transactions, provides real-time reporting services, and offers customer support services.

"Movaya is focused on the off-deck distribution of mobile games in the U.S. via websites and WAP sites," said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. "By taking advantage of our mobile game distribution platform, Sandlot Games can expand its mobile game sales opportunities by offering customers a user-friendly experience directly from their own website."

Popular casual game titles for mobile, including Cake Mania and Slyder, are now available for purchase at www.sandlotgames.com.

About Sandlot Games
Sandlot Games Corporation, headquartered in Bothell, Washington, is the world's premier developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games. Sandlot Games boasts a captivating portfolio of popular game titles and franchises including Cake Mania®, Glyph®, Super Granny®, Tradewinds® and Westward®. Sandlot Games reaches millions of game players worldwide through a variety of distribution channels including online, PC, PDA's, handhelds, videogame consoles and mobile phones. Since 2002, over 100 million games have been downloaded by its loyal fan base. For more information or to play one of our award winning games, please visit us at www.sandlotgames.com.

About Movaya
Movaya (www.movaya.com) is a Seattle-based technology company, whose mobile-content management and distribution software system allows mobile game publishers and online retailers to effortlessly extend their businesses to the growing off-deck mobile gaming marketplace. Movaya PlugNPlay is the company's flagship product, which brings together Mobile Game Publishers, Online Retailers and consumers in one marketplace for Mobile goods. Movaya is powering the off-deck, mobile gaming industry.

Contacts:
Jared Nieuwenhuis
Sandlot Games
425-486-5822 x291
jared@sandlotgames.com

Justin Hall
Voxus Inc.
253-853-5151 x234
jhall@voxuspr.com

Capcom Interactive is Revving Up Off-deck Mobile Game Sales

Capcom Interactive, the mobile division of Capcom (makers of the legendary Street Fighter series, for one), has launched an advertising campaign on IGN.com's WIRELESS section to promote it's latest mobile game blockbuster 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'.

Capcom uses the Movaya PlugNPlay service (the free mobile content distribution service our company has) to sell its game off-deck.

It is fair to say we are very excited about this campaign, as off-deck mobile games sales are a small fraction of the overall market. However, Capcom is eager to increase the volume in this channel, as are most other mobile game publishers. The fact they are launching a major campaign such as this is a big indicator of their position on whether or not off-deck matters.

Company plug: We (Movaya) are positioning ourselves to help all mobile game publishers succeed off-deck, and currently we are promoting the fact that we are here to help the entire industry move forward, which means opening up distribution for game publishers, helping merchants with the technology they need to sell games off-deck, and raise the overall awareness of the mobile gaming industry in the eyes of consumers.

Movaya Releases PlugNPlay 2.0 for Mobile Content Distribution, and Welcomes Casual Game Merchants

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 15, 2007 -- Movaya (www.movaya.com), a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions, today announces that it has released PlugNPlay 2.0, the newest edition of its Mobile Game and Application distribution and management platform.

With PlugNPlay, Movaya enables online merchants, casual game merchants and anyone with a website, blog or forum to create a store for selling mobile games, mobile applications or any type of mobile content. From the website to the sales page, everything that the customer sees can be branded with the company's logo, style and formatting.

Version 2.0 of PlugNPlay introduces three new, key components:

• Instant WAP store that allow any PlugNPlay client to have a mobile version of their store
• FLASH Interfaces provide the easiest way for clients to get online
• XML Feed for advanced programming.

"The ability to use the PlugNPlay XML Feed has allowed Capcom to build a custom web application and sell our games directly to consumers," said Matt Gillis, Senior Vice President of Publishing, Capcom Interactive, Inc. "This has created an additional revenue stream for us with little to no risk to the company."

With these new features in place, and more games in the system (currently over 400 titles from companies such as RealNetworks, Capcom, COM2US and more), Movaya readily welcomes Casual Game Merchants to use its system to add Mobile Game sales to their existing stores.

"Movaya is focused on developing the most complete, flexible, easy to use system for off-deck distribution," said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. "And this includes distribution of mobile games not only via websites but WAP sites as well. By taking advantage of the flexibility of our mobile game distribution platform, anyone can expand into mobile game and application sales."

Platinum Studios, an entertainment company that specializes in developing and adapting comics and graphic novel content to other media, has gone online with a website for mobile content sales, PT78Mobile.com. Additionally, with the new features of PlugNPlay 2.0, Platinum was able to instanly add a WAP store. Using your cell phone you can visit m.pt78mobile.com.

An example of the PlugNPlay Flash Interface can be seen at PhonePimp.com.

About Capcom
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment. Founded in 1983, the company has created world-renowned franchises including Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man®, Breath of Fire®, Devil May Cry® and the Onimusha® series. Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, the company maintains operations in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Tokyo and Hong Kong. More information about Capcom and its products can be found on the company's web site at www.capcom.com.

Since its establishment in November of 2005, Capcom Interactive, Inc. has published several mobile games based on Capcom’s celebrated intellectual property, including 1942, Ghost n' Goblins, Mega Man and Resident Evil®: The Missions, to commercial and critical acclaim. For additional information on the company and its offerings, please visit www.capcommobile.com.

About Platinum Studios:
Platinum Studios is an entertainment company that specializes in developing and adapting comics and graphic novel content to feature film, television, animation, games, the Internet, and other media. Our independent library of comic characters is the largest in the world and contains more than 3,800 characters that have appeared in hundreds of millions of comics in 25 languages and more than 50 countries. Simply put, we create, produce, and distribute comic-based content, and lots of it.

About Movaya:
Movaya is a Seattle-based technology company focused on creating the premier E-Commerce Solution for Mobile Software Publishers and Online Merchants.

"Powering the Next Generation of Mobile Content Distribution"

Since its founding in 2006, Movaya has been dedicated to the development of its revolutionary mobile-content management and distribution software platform; a platform that has created a new distribution channel for mobile publishers and enables any one to sell and distribute mobile-content such has video games, applications, music and videos.

Off-Deck mobile game sales: where are they?

As reported by mocoNews, this report from Telephia itemizes the average price paid for mobile applications and the number of consumers who downloaded them during the Q2 period of 2007. moco notes that games are not mentioned.

Interesting report, but after reading it I think moco could have done a better job with its analysis. This report appears to be centered on applications not including games; basically they are ignoring games.

We (Movaya) are simply waiting for a report JUST on games, especially concerning off-deck sales. The mobile gaming industry is at a crossroads right now, with carrier sales running flat, and off-deck sales stuck in the early adopters rut. In the near future, however, off-deck game sales will explode, and this will be due to large online retailers selling games, which produces wide consumer adoption rates. That will be a nice day!

Capcom partners with Movaya to launch Off Deck game sales

Here is an old press release we need to post (note that we are promoting our relationship!). Also note that this is significant, in that a major video game publisher is taking the step to reach out to its audience directly, off -deck, and using its own marketing dollars to support this D2C effort. Another small step towards opening the garden walls of Americas carrier giants

Capcom® Interactive, Inc., a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of mobile interactive entertainment in North America, today announced the launch of a new e-commerce service on the company’s website. The new service allows customers to locate and download Capcom branded mobile games directly to their handset using a simple and intuitive web interface.

"For mobile games to expand we need to find easier ways to get interactive content into the hands of consumers," said Matt Gillis, Senior Vice-President, Publishing at Capcom Interactive, Inc. "With the launch of our new e-store, it’s our intention to give Capcom fans a quick and easy means to experience classic Capcom content on their mobile devices."

To power the e-commerce services, Capcom partnered with Movaya, a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions. Movaya will manage the online sale and Over-the-Air (OTA) delivery in addition to jointly managing the store with Capcom. In addition Movaya is providing real-time reporting services and customer service support.

"Movaya is laser focused on the Off-Deck distribution of Mobile Games in North America," said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. "By taking advantage of our mobile content distribution platform, Capcom can expand its mobile game sales opportunities and offer customers a user-friendly experience directly from their own website."

Capcom is currently made available several of its best selling titles on the online store including Mega Man II, ESPN Poker Club, Millionaire ’07 and the newly released Street Fighter II.

Capcom Mobile Store powered by Movaya

Capcom Mobile - Go Buy a Game

Capcom Interactive, the fastest growing mobile game publisher in the US, recently launched a new website which allows consumers to buy their favorite Capcom games directly from the web.

Titles include:
Lost Planet, ESPN Poker Club, Mega Man II, Street Fighter II, and my personal favorite, Millionaire 2007.

The site is extremely easy to use. Using the downloader, consumers pick their carrier and phone model and then Capcom displays compatible games. Pick a game and enter the phone number and then you receive a text message with a link to download the game over the air.

This is one of the best implementations we've seen for selling mobile games outside of the carrier stores. Click here to get started and buy a game to play the next time you have 10 minutes to kill. You might actually learn something by playing Millionaire...