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Documents about Memo
An Epic Court Battle: Video Games Industry Memo
The legal conflict between Epic Games and Google serves as a focal point for analyzing the shifting power dynamics within the global mobile gaming industry.
- The Epic Games versus Google litigation challenges the industry-standard 30% revenue commission and restrictive policies on third-party payment systems and alternative app stores.
- Global regulatory bodies in South Korea, India, and the Netherlands have already mandated concessions, including reduced fees and the adoption of alternative payment methods.
- The European Union’s Digital Markets Act is expected to further erode platform control by facilitating the sideloading of content.
EA Sports FC Sheds FIFA Name: Video Games Industry Memo, 28/09/2023
The transition of Electronic Arts’ flagship football franchise from the FIFA brand to EA Sports FC marks a significant shift in the power dynamics between video game publishers and external intellectual property holders.
- Electronic Arts ended its three-decade partnership with FIFA after the governing body demanded a $300 million increase in licensing fees.
- The rebrand to EA Sports FC demonstrates that Electronic Arts prioritizes control over its internal ecosystem and flagship Ultimate Team mode over the external FIFA brand.
- The transition signals a shift in industry power dynamics, where major publishers no longer view external IP holders as essential for market dominance.
Video Games Industry Memo: Explaining Games
The Video Games Industry Memo serves as a weekly newsletter designed to bridge the gap between specialized industry insiders and a broader, non-specialist audience.
- The Video Games Industry Memo is a weekly newsletter authored by George E. Osborn that analyzes the business and political mechanics of the global gaming sector.
- The publication targets a market void by providing accessible, non-technical analysis for government officials, charities, and corporate stakeholders who require industry literacy.
- Content strategy centers on a weekly deep-dive analysis supplemented by curated news, professional development resources, and game release summaries.
Play Time Isn’t Over in China: Video Games Industry Memo
Recent academic research indicates that government-mandated play time limits in China have failed to curb gaming among minors.
- A study of 2.4 billion players by the University of York found that China’s government-mandated playtime limits failed to reduce gaming among minors.
- Playtime among heavy users, defined as those playing more than four hours per day, remained stable or increased slightly in the year following the implementation of regulations.
- Regulatory efficacy was undermined because restrictions primarily targeted major companies like Tencent, while a vast ecosystem of independent developers remained largely ungoverned.
Mobile Market Monthly
Mobile Market Monthly represents a strategic collaboration between Mobile Dev Memo and Deconstructor of Fun, established to provide ongoing analytical insights into the mobile gaming industry.
- Mobile Dev Memo and Deconstructor of Fun launched a collaborative monthly research product titled Mobile Market Monthly in Q1 2020.
- The partnership aims to provide recurring market analysis and research insights specifically focused on the mobile gaming industry.
The Best of QuantMar in 2019
QuantMar was established in June 2019 as a specialized educational platform designed to address the scarcity of high-quality, technical resources for performance marketing and user acquisition.
- QuantMar was launched in June 2019 as a knowledge-sharing platform to address the scarcity of high-quality, non-vendor-biased resources for performance marketing and user acquisition.
- The platform was created to bridge the gap in professional development for quantitative marketing, a field that lacks formal university training and suffers from a talent shortage in the consumer tech sector.
- QuantMar experienced rapid growth in its first six months, eventually generating more organic traffic than the established Mobile Dev Memo site.
The Best of MDM in 2019
The primary purpose of this summary is to highlight the most impactful content published by Mobile Dev Memo during the 2019 calendar year.
- Mobile Dev Memo reached a projected 1.5 million pageviews in 2019, representing a 50% increase over the 1 million pageviews recorded in 2018.
- The most popular content of 2019 focused on the operational mechanics of mobile advertising, specifically the production and deployment of ad creative at scale.
- Debates surrounding the efficacy of the Lifetime Value (LTV) metric were a primary interest for readers, with two of the top ten articles dedicated to the controversy of whether the metric should be retired or maintained.
Mobile Dev Memo Workshops: San Francisco, February 2017
The Mobile Dev Memo workshops, held in San Francisco in February 2017, were designed to provide specialized professional development for small- to medium-sized mobile app developers.
- Eric Benjamin Seufert organized two independent, GDC-adjacent professional workshops in San Francisco on February 27 and 28, 2017, focusing on mobile user acquisition and mobile product analytics.
- Each workshop was limited to 6 participants to ensure a focused, small-group environment, with a registration fee of $1,200 per person.
- The Mobile User Acquisition workshop covered strategic topics such as team composition, budget allocation, LTV estimation, and workflow optimization rather than tactical campaign management.
Top Mobile Dev Memo Posts of 2016
The top-performing content from Mobile Dev Memo in 2016 reflects the industry’s intense focus on data-driven decision-making, user acquisition strategies, and the evolving technical landscape of mobile advertising.
- Apple’s introduction of 'IDFA zeroing' in iOS 10 created a significant, industry-wide disruption in mobile marketing data durability that many adtech providers initially failed to acknowledge.
- Supercell’s market dominance is attributed to a combination of superior game craftsmanship and a highly effective, sophisticated marketing program.
- Mobile marketing teams frequently fail due to poor performance, an inability to scale products, or high turnover rates among team members.