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Com2uS USA's Don Lim talks about the Korean publisher's great success
Com2uS established itself as a mobile-first developer with a fifteen-year history, achieving significant growth in 2012 by transitioning its business model from paid applications to a free-to-play strategy.
- Com2uS achieved significant growth in 2012 by pivoting its business model from paid applications to a free-to-play strategy, anchored by the success of the social title Tiny Farm.
- The integration of KakaoTalk as a gaming platform was a critical driver for developer success in 2012, utilizing social features like friend invitations and gifting to boost virality and engagement.
- Widespread Android adoption in the Korean market during 2012 served as a foundational catalyst for the company's expansion by facilitating broader Google Play distribution and revenue.
GameGenetics' CEO Alexander Piutti talks user acquisition
GameGenetics operates as a specialized distribution marketplace for free-to-play games, connecting developers with targeted audiences across browser, client-based, and mobile platforms.
- GameGenetics operates a specialized distribution marketplace that delivers approximately 23 billion gaming-specific ad impressions per month across 174 countries.
- The company focuses exclusively on high-quality, non-incentivized traffic, utilizing closed-loop tracking to convert acquired users into active or paying players.
- The business model centers on building white-label game channels for major partners like Microsoft and Dell while purchasing traffic from large-scale platforms including Facebook and Google.
SlipShift's MD Philipp Willers talks about its mobile games
SlipShift, a Berlin-based developer traditionally focused on the hardcore browser gaming market, is actively diversifying its portfolio by expanding into the mobile sector.
- Berlin-based developer SlipShift is pivoting from its core hardcore browser gaming market to the mobile sector to diversify its portfolio and foster creative experimentation.
- The studio is currently using casual titles as a testing ground for mobile-specific design, including the released puzzle game Chocolate Raiders and the adventure prototype Eternal Well.
- SlipShift plans to evolve its mobile strategy by leveraging its technical background in browser-based development to create sophisticated, cross-platform experiences for iOS.
CEO of Aeria Games Europe Pascal Zuta explains why mobile is important
Aeria Games is strategically pivoting from its established foundation in client-based PC and browser gaming toward a robust expansion into the mobile market.
- Aeria Games is shifting its strategic focus from client-based PC and browser gaming to mobile expansion to overcome market saturation and stagnant revenue growth in the traditional PC sector.
- The company leverages a global workforce of over 600 employees across five international offices, supported by a merger with Japanese firm Gamepot to facilitate its mobile transition.
- Aeria Games maintains a competitive advantage by applying its expertise in localizing Asian-developed titles for Western markets, focusing on specific adjustments to artwork, in-game events, and item economies.
Head of mobile Manuel Figeac explains the Aeria Games' philosophy
Aeria Games Europe is prioritizing a localized live operations strategy to expand its mobile gaming footprint across European territories throughout 2013.
- Aeria Games Europe is prioritizing a localized live operations strategy throughout 2013, treating each regional version as a unique product rather than relying on simple linguistic translation.
- The company maintains separate teams for different languages to tailor in-game events, schedules, and community management to specific cultural preferences in markets like France and Germany.
- The card game 'Monster Paradise' achieved top 20 grossing status in France by utilizing deep localization, outperforming its English-language counterpart in that region.
The Game Bakers' Emeric Thoa on its social beat-'em up Combo Crew
Combo Crew represents a strategic effort by the French indie studio The Game Bakers to adapt the traditional beat-'em-up genre for mobile devices.
- The Game Bakers developed Combo Crew to adapt traditional arcade beat-'em-up mechanics for mobile by replacing complex button inputs with a simplified four-directional swipe system.
- The game utilizes an asynchronous multiplayer model that allows players to join friends' sessions to clear levels and restore health, mimicking the cooperative experience of classic couch co-op titles.
- Core gameplay progression is driven by tactical customization, where players select specific move sets to balance between high-speed, multi-hit combos and slower, high-damage strikes.
AdTruth's James Lamberti on the challenges of privacy while tracking mobile users
The digital advertising industry faces a significant challenge in balancing the need for effective audience identification with the growing demand for consumer privacy.
- The digital advertising industry is shifting from persistent device identifiers like UDIDs and Android IDs to probabilistic identification to better balance marketing intelligence with consumer privacy.
- Probabilistic identification maintains ad functionality by aggregating anonymous data points such as language settings, time zones, and operating system versions to identify user segments without tracking specific individuals.
- This approach enables essential advertising functions like reach and frequency management, which prevents the negative user experience of repetitive ad exposure.
Mozilla talks up its HTML5-based Firefox OS
Firefox OS represents a strategic effort to expand smartphone accessibility by targeting feature phone users transitioning to mobile internet for the first time.
- Firefox OS utilizes open web standards and HTML5 to target feature phone users transitioning to smartphones, aiming to lower development and consumer barriers.
- The operating system extends standard HTML5 capabilities to grant web applications hardware-level access to features like Bluetooth and local storage.
- Firefox OS replaces traditional app store dependency with a content-first search model that dynamically surfaces web-based applications directly from the home screen.
Appsfire CEO Ouriel Ohayon tells us about why he's focused on iOS
Appsfire functions as an application discovery and promotion service designed to accelerate growth for mobile developers through daily curated recommendations.
- Appsfire prioritizes the iOS ecosystem over Android because of significantly higher monetization potential, which enables developers to reinvest more aggressively in user acquisition.
- The platform has surpassed 10 million downloads and functions as a marketing channel that drives distribution by highlighting one curated application per day.
- The company maintains a lean team of 20 employees, necessitating a strategic focus on the most profitable market segments to ensure sustainable growth.
AppGratis CEO Simon Dawlat on building the best app distribution channel
AppGratis functions as a global app discovery and distribution channel, connecting mobile users with curated daily promotions for free or discounted applications.
- AppGratis operates a discovery platform that generates up to 1.5 million app installs per day for developers.
- The company maintains a user base of 10 million total members, including 3 million daily active users.
- The business model focuses exclusively on non-incentivized downloads to ensure long-term sustainability and avoid artificial inflation of metrics.
Distimo's Vincent Hoogsteder on the battle for the #3 mobile OS spot
The mobile application market is currently defined by a significant barrier to entry, as new publishers and developers face increasing difficulty in securing traction regarding download volumes and revenue generation.
- The mobile application market is increasingly difficult for new developers to enter, as securing significant download volumes and revenue on dominant iOS and Android platforms becomes more challenging.
- The industry's most critical trend is the competitive battle for the third-place mobile OS position, currently contested by BlackBerry 10, Windows 8, Amazon, and Firefox OS.
- Amazon is a top-tier competitor in the gaming sector, with data showing that developers often achieve higher monetization rates on the Amazon Appstore than on the standard Google Play store.
Antix Labs' CEO Francis Charig explains its cross platform gaming service
Antix Labs provides a high-definition, cross-platform gaming service designed to function across a diverse ecosystem of hardware, including smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, PCs, and smart TVs.
- Antix Labs provides a cross-platform gaming service that supports diverse hardware architectures including Intel, MIPS, and ARM across smartphones, tablets, PCs, and smart TVs.
- The platform utilizes a single-binary distribution model to ensure performance and visual consistency, explicitly rejecting game streaming due to economic and technological constraints.
- The service enables offline content sharing and progress synchronization via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct, allowing for gameplay in regions with limited network infrastructure.