Mobile Games Market Has ‘Flatlined’ - Experts

Now hang on a minute. It doesn’t seem like five minutes since some gaggle of market pundits were proclaiming that the iPhone had turned the mobile games market inside out and pointing at developers rolling around in pits of cash like Scrooge McDuck.


Well, that’s all well and good, but a different gaggle of experts (Juniper Research, this time) are casting worried glances at the non-iPhone end of the market. Apparently Java game development has “flatlined across North America and Western Europe,” although the quoted jump from $US5.4 billion in 2008 to more than $US10 billion by 2013 doesn’t sound that flatliney.

Ironically, it could be the iPhone’s fault. “The revenue share offered by Apple to games publishers is incredibly attractive,” said the report, “The danger is that if operators do not respond with a similar business model, publishers faced with low margins may simply exit Java completely”

Sales of mobile games have “flatlined” - report [GamesIndustry.biz]

Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)

  • kablammyman

    im a cell phone porting engineer. I deal with this bullshit all day long.

    cell phone gaming can sux...but there are some gems too. The thing is, the iphone business model is MUCH better than what any other carriers are doing...and if they dont follow suit, then the iphone will be the only game playing phone.

    oh yeah, playing with a phones limited screen sizes, 1 button press at a time, akward button layouts, and crappy game ideas kind of hurt this industry too...

    kablammyman

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  • Polite Society

    @Polite Society: I should probably add that I do buy mobile games. Though I usually research them first to find out if they are any good. Most of my risk and see purchases have ended badly.

    Polite Society

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    @Polite Society: ooh! ooh! and puzzle quest on mobile was awesome.

    Polite Society

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