Contact:
Julian Mattocks
Phone: +43-1-81140-308
E-Mail: mattocks@pressetext.com
| Pressbox | 
|
London (pte058/20.04.2005/17:15) - Classic computer game Tetris has ruled the mobile gaming charts over the last 12 months, according to Mobile Games Analyst. As the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk reports, the game catapults iFone straight to the top of the UK mobile games publisher rankings, according to the performance of its games in the charts. Tetris was the top game for eight months. Other successes included Namco's Pac-Man and Iomo's Pub Pool. The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association compiled mobile game data for the first time from 2004. It produces the official video and computer games charts across all formats weekly. Elspa collated figures for mobiles, collected from the major mobile operators, for the first time in the 12 months between March 2004 and February 2005.
The research showed tat consoles games which have been turned into mobile versions may not be what the mobile gamer wants. Digital Bridges' FIFA Football and Tiger Woods 2004, and Gameloft's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow performed well, the research found. However, others, such as Wonderphone's Crash Nitro Kart and Sorrent's Driv3r, spent just one month in the chart. "It's no surprise that accessible, easy-to-play games have considerable appeal for UK mobile users," said Stuart Dredge from Mobile Games Analyst, published by Informa Telecoms and Media. "However, what's really encouraging is the fact that the Elspa chart has been a mixture of branded and original titles, showing the diversity and creativity that exist within the mobile games market." Major publishers in the traditional games markets, such as Electronic Arts, have also started to push into mobile gaming more in the last year, setting up dedicated mobile games publishing divisions. EA recently joined forces with Scottish mobile entertainment firm Digital Bridges to make more of its games available for mobiles.
Mobile gaming is expected to explode, with analysts predicting that 220 million will be playing games on mobile phones by 2009. According to analysts, mobile games appeal more to the "casual gamer", who is looking to play for short periods of time, than to dedicated gamers. Console titles tend to require more time commitment because of the type of game play they offer. Major investment has been pumped into mobile gaming recently, a Screen Digest report found earlier in April. Between 2002 and 2004, mobile game company fund-raising rose from 23 million euros to 184 million euros.
(end)
|
|
