6 th IMGA ANNUAL REPORT
INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS
6 TH INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS Dear Friends, The 6th IMGA ended with a successful Awards Ceremony at GSMA’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 15 February, 2010. This year the awards were held in the middle of App Planet, the Congress’ dedicated area for developers of mobile games and applications. The 6th IMGA would not have been possible without the support of Euroméditerranée, ARM, Texas Instruments, Motorola, Navteq and GetJar. By supporting the IMGA, these companies have shown their commitment to mobile games as the driving force behind innovation and business in the global mobile content industry. This Annual Report contains the highlights of this 6th edition and we have also included a report of our activities over the past year. You will find a brief overview of 2009 from an industry standpoint and a call for a developer centric initiative that the IMGA would like to help launch. We think it is time for developers to play an active role in the fragmentation discussion, now that this discussion is getting fragmented! The IMGA has always been very active in Asia and this year we have established an operational partnership with KOCCA in South Korea and the Mobile Content Forum in Japan. The IMGA will support their events and awards and they will in turn help us promote the IMGA in their countries. We are of course very pleased that 3 of the 8 IMGA winners are from Korea and Japan. In China, the IMGA has been studying the possibilities for a China focused award and industry event. We have visited China and met with the main stakeholders. Our propositions are now being considered and we hope to be able to report on progress soon. In a brief report, written by IMGA’s Haosu Wang, we share some of our insights into the fast growing Chinese mobile games market and the opportunities for non-Chinese developers. I hope you will enjoy reading our report. With kind regards
Maarten Noyons Founder and CEO of IMGA
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
— The Winners — Grand Prix: Labyrinth 2, Illusion labs, Sweden
Maarten Noyons, Hampus Jakobsson, Jean-François Royer
People’s Choice Award:
;**%3$#,@/+/#&-,8*0:E&,9*?/7&&/#-,9$*#a=%*#b/"&,T/+$% Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Digital Legends Ent. / India Games, Spain / India
Maarten Noyons, Liam Patton, Samir Bangara, Sean Malatesta, Simon Lee
Operators’ Choice Award: ;**%3$#,@/+/#&-,Z"*0,V*]/#-,>*0"%,<*#2*%*-,>$*#, Krazy Kart Racing, Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, Japan
;*4*3$&3*-,,>"0/#,Z$$
^( P:$%*3/%&,LR/"C$,H)*%F .%*_+,.*%3,T*C"#2,-,./#*0",1"2"3*4,5#3$%3*"#0$#3,6078-,,, 9*:*#
Mia Babilon, Florian Stronk, Maarten Noyons
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
Best casual game: Wireway, Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, Japan
Mia Babilon, Florian Stronk, Maarten Noyons
Excellence in Game play: Mini squadron, Studio Fung Fung, United Kingdom
Mia Babilon, AIllio Zani, Anna Bayona Font, Maarten Noyons
Excellence in ConnecTIvity: Sniper vs Sniper: Online, Com2uS, Korea
Ameet Suri, Mia Babilon, Joony Koo, Maarten Noyons
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ANNUAL REPORT
Excellence in Design: Ancient Frog Jr., Ancient workshop, New Zealand
James Brown
Best Real World Game: Ulrike and Eamon Compliant, Blast Theory, United Kingdom
Mia Babilon, Pia Vuohelainen, John Hunter, Maarten Noyons
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ANNUAL REPORT
— 2009 — Marketing and promotion The IMGA has set up an e-mail campaign, a telemarketing campaign and presented the Awards at the world’s most important Trade Shows such as: Game Developers Conference, San Francisco • MIPTV, Cannes • ELBES and Nordic games Summit, Malmö, Sweden • Mobile Entertainment Market, • Global Mobile Awards, Seoul • X Media lab, • CTIA, San Diego • MIPCOM, • Nokia World, Stuttgart • The 7th Digi China, Beijing • Mobile Content Forum, Seoul •
In 2009 and 2010 Maarten Noyons has spoken at various international events such as: Mobile World Congress in Barcelona • ELBES and Nordic Games Summit, Malmö • Global Mobile Awards, Seoul • The 7th Digi China, Beijing • Mobile Games Forum, London • Game developers Conference, San Francisco •
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
2009 Results: High quality games and fierce competition Over the last six years, the IMGA has reviewed more than 1,200 games originating from over 52 countries including the USA, Ukraine, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, China, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Belgium. Participants include PhD students, researchers, artists, individual developers and the top 10 leading mobile games publishers and developers in the world. The IMGA is now considered to be one of the most important competitions in the Mobile Entertainment Industry. The IMGA’s mission is to reward and recognize the best innovators and the most creative developers of mobile games in the world. The 6th IMGA appreciates the support received from Motorola, ARM, Texas Instruments, Navteq, Euroméditerranée and Getjar. With their help, the IMGA was able to make a maximum impact at this year’s Mobile World Congress.
The 6th IMGA saw an important increase in quality, but a decrease in quantity; 157 entries (from 36 countries), compared to the 200 entries of the previous year. This result reflects the trend in the industry; studios are tending to focus on fewer, higher quality titles in a market mainly driven by Smartphones. Every entry has been checked for eligibility: games needed to be unpublished and made for mobile. Compared to last year, only a few of the entries that were disqualified were entries that were not complete (6%) or entries that had similarities with published games (20%), the other disqualified entries could not be considered as mobile games (PSP, Pocket PC, non-game applications, etc.). Entrants who had not completed their submission or had sent in an already published game received at least 5 reminders by e-mail and telephone from our team. Most of these entrants corrected their submission in time (96%). All entries were submitied via www.imgawards. com with an interactive, password protected and user-friendly interface, allowing entrants to update their entries as many times as they wished up to the deadline date.
In 2009 we no longer saw a predominant number of entries from Europe (40.1%, compared to 50.1% in 2008), entries from North America are catching up (37%, compared to 7.8% in 2008). An exceptional number of entries came in from China this year (10%). It will be a challenge for us to keep working to reach all the studios, wherever they are. 2009 was the second year with a significant number of iPhone games, there was a spectacular increase from 14% in 2008 to 60% in 2009. There were a few Android entries. We expect this trend to continue in the coming years. “Clearly 2010 has been the year in which to celebrate the creativity of iPhone developers, and we look forward to seeing how the market for innovative gaming will expand in the future“ says the IMGA’s presenter, Pocket Gamer’s Chris James.
Jury comment: “The 6th IMGA challenged the jury with many excellent games: outstanding graphics, great technology and exceptional game design. This year, the Real World Game category showed some very inspiring and innovative concepts. We expect this category to grow in years to come.”
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
Platforms : spectacular decrease of Java and growth of OS X Windows Mobile
Brew
Windows Mobile Brew
Symbian
Doja
N-gage
Doja
Symbian
Flash Mac os
N-gage
Flash
Java
Java
2007
2008
Android Flash
Symbian Windows Mobile
Java
Linux
Maemo
Mac os
2009
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
— 2009 — A year of fragmentaTIon and divergence. You cannot review 2009 without mentioning the iPhone and the success of its App Store. However, walking around GSMA’s Mobile World Congress it was as if Apple didn’t exist. And where was market leader Nokia? Apple’s official absence at events is a known phenomenon, but Nokia’s side-stepping is new. Despite the absence of these key players, the Mobile World Congress was more than worthwhile, thanks to the presence of the Joint Innovation Lab, the Wholesale Applications Community, the LiMo Foundation, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Samsung, Motorola and Google, who all showed their good intentions towards game and application developers. Not only were the handset manufacturers showing mobile games on their newly launched handsets but Adobe, ARM, Imagination Technologies, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments invited mobile games studios to their booths to present their work. Mobile games were everywhere. For the first time, the GSMA opened its doors wide to mobile developers; they had decided to allow platform owners to create seminars and workshops inside the Mobile World Congress in a dedicated area, called App Planet. Four days of developer focused seminars plus the exhibition incited a lot of developers to come to Barcelona. What was interesting to see was that the already very fragmented mobile games and applications market was fragmenting even further. Nokia and Intel launched a new Operating System, Meego and Samsung launched Bada, which brings the total number of significant Operating Systems to 12. The individual handsets and operators further fragment each of these operating systems.
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
But the most stunning fragmentation is that of the large consortiums who ostensibly plan to fight fragmentation: JIL, the Wholesale Application Community, the Open Mobile Alliance, LiMo foundation and GSMA’s initiative One API. Why do we need all these organizations? Wouldn’t one be enough? What these large consortiums or industry bodies have in common is the lack of clarity as to whether or not they are serving the same interests as the developers and publishers of mobile games, mobile media and mobile applications. It is also unsure whether they understand content providers, so very essential in the value chain. Remember what Rupert Murdoch said: “Cell phones do not run on batteries, they run on content“. For this reason I think it is time for a joint initiative between mobile developers and publishers. A very useful first step could be a white paper, signed by a large group of developers, accompanied by an open letter. The next step could be the setting up of an industry body, but that would maybe fragment things even further, the last thing we need is another organization to fight fragmentation! IMGA will be taking an initiative in this direction, so expect to hear from us soon. Marseille, March 2009
CATEGORY: Best real world game Best casual game
Excellence in gameplay
Excellence in connectivity Excellence in design
PROVENANCE OF ENTRIES 2007, 2008, 2009: ROW North America
Asia
Europe
2007 ROW Asia
North America
Regions During the IMGAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 6 years, European entries have always dominated entries from the other continents. However, since 2007, games from North America have challenged those from Europe. In 2009, with the rise of the iPhone, North American developers came out in force and we have reason to believe that in the near future we will see an equal number of American and European developers participating. Meanwhile, Asian entries have kept and will keep their important position in the IMGA. This year, instead of Japan and Korea, China became the biggest mobile game producer among Asian countries.
European entries vs North American entries(2007-2009 IMGA) Europe
2008
60
Europe
North America
2008
2009
45
ROW Asia
30
North America 15
Europe
2009 6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ANNUAL REPORT
2007
Grand Prix Winners Every year, the IMGA’s most important award is the Grand Prix. Since the 1st competition, we have handed out 6 Grand Prix. Sweden is the only country to win two grand prix: one in 2005 and one in 2009.
Category winners (including Operators’ Choice and People’s Choice) The 1st IMGA had only one winner. Six years aver our foundation, we have 8 categories. In total, there are 34 winners. Let’s have a look at where these winners come from: Country
Number
Country
Australia
3
Firemint with Mega Monster won Excellence in 3D in the 3rd IMGA / Firemint with WRC won the People’s Choice Award in the 4th IMGA / Firemint with Real Racing Excellence in Connectivity in the 5th IMGA
France
3
Exkee with BURT Grand Prix of the 1st IMGA / MobiGame with Edge won the Excellence in Gameplay and Operators’ Choice Award in the 5th IMGA
Finland
4
Secret Exit with Zen Bound won Excellence in 3D at the 5th IMGA / Nokia with Dirk Spammer and the Fallen Idol won the Excellence in Gameplay Award in the 4th IMGA / Nokia with One won Excellence in 3D at the 4th IMGA / Real Arcade with Tropical Towers won the best Casual Game in the 5th IMGA
Germany
1
Urban Team with Fast Foot Challenge won the Real World Game Award in the 5th IMGA
Hong Kong
1
Vaka Technologies with 3D World Warriors won the Best Art Award in the 2nd IMGA
India
1
India Games with Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior won the People’s Choice Award in the 6th IMGA
4
Konami with Metal Gear Solid won the Operators’ Choice Award and the Grand Prix Konami with Wire Way won the Best casual Game and the Operators’ Choice Award with Krazy Kart Racing in the 6th IMGA
Korea
1
Com2Us with Sniper vs Sniper: Online won the Excellence in Connectivity Award in the 6th IMGA
Netherlands
2
TNO with Triangler won the Most Innovative Game Award and the Grand Prix in the 3rd IMGA
Japan
Number
New Zealand
1
Hit Lab with AR Tennis won The technical Achievement Award and the Grand Prix at the 2nd IMGA / Ancient Workshop with Ancient Frog Jr. won the Excellence in Design Award at the 6th IMGA
Poland
2
Tequila Mobile with Treasure Arm won the Best Casual Game Award at the 4th IMGA IKS mobile with Crazy Matches won the Best Use of Flash Award at the 3rd IMGA.
Philippines
1
Anino Mobile with Anima Wars won the Best Use of Connectivity Award at the 3rd IMGA
3
Digital Legends with Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior won the People’s Choice Award in the 6th IMGA Digital Legends with Kroll won the People’s Choice Award in the 5th IMGA / Lemon Quest with Furby Island won the Best Licensed IPbased Game in the 4th IMGA
4
NVIS Lab with AR Tennis won the Technical Achievement Award and the Grand Prix at the 2nd IMGA / Illusion Labs with Labyrinth 2 won the Grand Prix at the 6th IMGA / Jadestone with Kodo Evolved won the Special Innovation Prize at the 5th IMGA
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom 2 1
USA
Paul Carruthers with Monkey Pole Climb won Excellence in Gameplay at the 2nd IMGA Studio FungFung with Mini Squadron won the Excellence in Gameplay Award at the 6th IMGA Blast Theory with Ulrike and Eamon Compliant won the Best Real World Game Award in the 6th IMGA SuperHappyFunFun with 3D Tilt a World won the Best Interactive Experience Award at the 3rd IMGA.
Nominees Out of the more than 1200 games only a few are nominated for prizes. have alook at their provenance in the table below. Country
Number
Country
Australia
5
Hong Kong
1
Scotland
3
Canada
2
India
6
Singapore
1
China
5
Israel
1
Spain
6
Czech rep.
1
Japan
7
Sweden
6
Denmark
1
Korea
7
Switzerland
1
Estonia
1
Netherland
2
Thailand
1
Finland
8
New Zealand
2
United Kingdom
5
France
6
Poland
5
USA
10
Germany
6
Philippines
3
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
Number
Country
Number
Chinese mobile games market — 2009 — A brief overview of the Chinese mobile games market 2009
In the second half of 2009, China Unicom and Apple launched the iPhone in China.
Three major events impacted the Chinese mobile entertainment industry in 2009: the 3G roll-out, the launch of the iPhone with a Chinese App store by China Unicom and the introduction of China Mobile’s answer to the iPhone: the OPhone.
Meanwhile, China Mobile launched their dedicated gaming department “Game Base”, HTC joined the LiMo platform, Sony Ericsson launched Web SDK, and Nokia Ovi.
2009 was a big year for the Chinese mobile game market. Let’s take a look at a few highlights of the Chinese mobile game market in 2009: 7 January, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology authorized the three Chinese Mobile Network Operators – China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom - to roll out a 3G network. At that point operators and other players in the market rediscovered the Chinese mobile game industry and acknowledged its importance. 15 May, the “2009 Chinese Mobile Gaming Conference” took place in Tianjing. Organized by Gamegroup.cn and CSDN.net and sponsored by Sony Ericsson, this event was the first conference in China to specialize in mobile games. It was a success and attracted many big companies. June, the leading Chinese Internet Service Provider, Kong.net, purchased the mobile game company Simlife for 3 million US$. From 24 July to 26 July, the Chinese Game Developer Conference (CGDC) was held in Shanghai. For the first time, Mobile Gaming was one of the most important topics to be discussed at the conference. 31 August, China Mobile officially launched their OPhone platform with the Open Mobile System (OMS) SDK. Handset manufacturers, ZTE and Lenovo have announced that they will start producing OPhones. China Mobile’s Open Mobile System was followed by the launch of other platforms and SDK’s such as Nokia (Ovi), HTC (LiMO) and Sony Ericsson (Web SDK).
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
The Chinese mobile game market facts and figures: In 2009, there were 720 million mobile users in China; 120 million of them access the internet frequently. In the second trimester of 2009, the total consumer spending for mobile games in China reached 71 million US$. Compared to the first trimester, China Mobile’s game service increased by 32.37% in the second trimester. During the second trimester, the revenue of China Mobile’s game service was 31.4 million US$. By the end of 2009, the revenue of the whole Chinese mobile game market was 367.7 million US$ An increase of 97.5% over 2008. As we have seen, the Chinese market is attractive in size and has a strong potential for further growth. But it’s not easy to enter. How are the top international mobile game companies doing in China? Not too well. EA, Glu and Gameloft have all had their own studios and offices in China for several years. EA has its own division in Shanghai, Glu purchased the Chinese mobile game company Air-Mig and Gamelov has 3 divisions in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. Why can’t they bring their international successes to the Chinese market? The key is the Chinese consumers’ behaviour. Do they really want to spend 3 Euros to download a casual game, like Western consumers do, when they can download free or extremely cheap ones? They can get a package of 15-20 games for 50 Euro cents from China Mobile’s game service.
Do they really like the same strategy and puzzle games as Westerners? The best selling games in China mainland are action games. Is the Western game content and look really attractive to them?
Piracy? “We’ve lost 150 million Euros on our games due to piracy” the president of a leading Chinese mobile game company told us. But he didn’t really seem to care. Chinese companies have their own ways of dealing with this problem. They offer low price games, produced at almost no cost or they produce games that generate online traffic. With this traffic they receive a share of the data traffic revenues from operators and service providers. Or the Chinese mobile game publishers offer the player virtual items to purchase. Western specialists often criticize the quality of Chinese games. But given the piracy situation today, large production budgets and investment in quality don’t pay off, so Chinese developers are producing cheap games. They cannot afford to produce costly, high quality games. Who is playing mobile games in China and why? The biggest mobile game user group in China (20% of all gamers) is composed of university students. The second largest group is made up of company employees (white collar workers,17%). Why do they play mobile games? TV consoles (Playstation, Xbox, Wii) aren’t as widespread as in Western countries, therefore mobile games are a good option for them. The key to the success of a Chinese mobile game company is that they keep the mobile gamer playing for 2-3 hours per day on online games. The Chinese mobile game industry has two types of distribution; pay-per-download and free games with virtual item buying and revenue sharing of online traffic. The price of a game is normally 3 Euros. Due to their relatively low income, students can’t spend a lot of money on mobile games. According to Other, Chinese consumers don’t really have the time to play a complicated game even if it’s well produced. What kind of handsets are they using? Everybody
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
talks about the dominance of the iPhone and the App Store. The iPhone is available in China, but have a look at its price and compare it with the average Chinese salary and you will understand that most Chinese simply can’t afford it. The same thing goes for the other Smartphones. Most mobile users in China are still using the last generaKon of simple handsets. This means that J2ME is still predominant in China. Is the mobile infrastructure in China mature enough? According to our survey, by the end of 2009, China Mobile had 2.74 million 3G subscribers. The 3G roll-out is a huge challenge and is not perceived as a vital investment by most consumers. So 3G still has a long road ahead. For the Chinese mobile content providers, the Chinese 3G service isn’t good enough and they can’t see a big difference between 2.5G (edge) and 3G. In China, China Mobile has 700 million users; only 20 million of them are regular mobile game buyers (figs. end 2009). In 2011, we estimate that the Chinese mobile games market will reach 400 million Euros (186 million Euros in 2009). With such impressive growth, every company in this industry wants to get into the Chinese market. In order to be successful, Western companies need to understand the business models and the idiosyncrasies of doing business in China. We intend to extend our network in China and learn more about the mobile games business. We will certainly keep you posted over the coming months, when we will also be launching the 7th IMGA in the Year of the Tiger. Marseille, March, Haosu Wang
Selected Press Coverage in 2009: 1
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/02/23/international-mobile-gaming-awards-clearly-showapples-dominance-in-the-pocket-gaming-arena.html
2
http://softtalkblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/mobile-world-congress-international-mobilegaming-awards-2010-the-winners/
3
http://nn4d.blogspot.com/2010/02/winners-of-6th-annual-international.html
4
http://friskymongoose.com/international-mobile-gaming-awards-announces-nominees/
5
http://www.mcvuk.com/press-releases/55051/International-Mobile-Gaming-Awards-2009
6
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/IMGA+Awards+2010/news.asp?c=17694
7
http://mikevallely.com/2010/01/24/mike-v-do-or-die-nominated-at-the-international-mobilegaming-awards/
8
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/IMGA+Awards+2010/news.asp?c=18186
9
http://tweetmeme.com/story/619312521/international-mobile-gaming-awards-clearly-showapple-s-dominance-in-the-pocket-gaming-arena
10
http://your-cell-phone.net/international_mobile_gaming_awards_clearly_appearance_ apple_8217_s_laterality_in_the_pouch_gambling_arena.htm
11
http://bx.businessweek.com/video-game-industry/international-mobile-gaming-awards-clearlyshow-apples-dominance/13869794902058447176-e002289218-f355306a224880e735819/
12
http://www.biskero.org/?p=4213
13
http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-IMGA-Announces-25-Best-Mobile-Game-Nominees133155.shtml
14
http://www.iphone-journal.com/2009/12/10/the-largest-mobile-games-competition-is-nowopen-for-entries/
15
http://www.gsmworld.com/newsroom/press-releases/2010/4597.htm
16
http://blog.mobilegamesblog.com/.m/2010/02/mwc-winners-imga-awards.html
17
http://www.villagegamer.net/2009/10/22/largest-mobile-games-competition-opens-call-for-entries/
18
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/IMGA+Awards+2010/news.asp?c=18034
19
http://icore.athabascau.ca/discover/mule2009.php
20
http://www.nujij.nl/6th-international-mobile-game-awards.7629054.lynkx
21
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/IMGA+Awards+2010/news.asp?c=18509
22
http://news.d.cn/game/20100214/news_35046.html
23
http://www.gamergroup.cn/article/news/2010/news9319.html
24
http://www.gamergroup.cn/article/news/2009/news7760.html
25
http://www.donews.com/Content/200910/7100242005454f2db4b956318f55daec.shtm
26
http://www.098899.com/a/shoujiyulexinwen/2009/1023/49.html
27
http://www.cctime.com/html/2009-10-20/20091020161415260.htm
28
http://game.zzit.com.cn/netgame/news/20091023/225367.html
29
http://www.gamelook.com.cn/?p=5681
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ANNUAL REPORT
IMGA presence all over the world IMGA has closed partnership agreements with 78 companies (http://www.imgawards.com/EN/ sponsorspartners-ms.php) These companies have published different IMGA web banners and run them during specific periods during the campaign:
Announcement of the 2008 winners, February 2009 • Launch of the competition, October, 2009 – January, 2010 • Announcement of the 25 nominees, January – February, 2010 • Announcement of the 8 winners, February 2010 •
Judging Procedure in Marseille Jury members
Company
Function
Rob Hearn
Pocket gamer
Journalist
Toni Doublet
Exkee
CEO
Lars Anderson
Nordic Game
Business Development
Thomas Richter
Fox Mobile
VP Mobile Entertaiment Fox Mobile Distribution
Alexander Ekvall
Fabrication games
COO
Pekka Kupiainen
Nokia
Producer X-media Solutions | Media & Games
Egil Strunke
Pan Vision
Business Line Director, Games
Saoud Moco
ARM
Media Processing Division
Jean-François Royer
Euroméditerranée
Business Development
Chairman: Maarten Noyons
Attendants: Haosu Wang, Mia Babilon
This year, we used an online judging session in order to bring excellent experts from all over the world to the IMGA in order to allow them to judge the games and share their unique points of view.
ONLINE JURY Jury members
Company
Function
Junhong Chen
Simlife
CEO
Yongjun Bae
Samsung
Head of Games
Joony Koo
Com2us
Senior manager of Global business development
Stuart Dredge
Independent
Journalist
Tommy Palm
Fabrication games
CEO
Judging Session in Marseille
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
NOMINEES OF THE 6 th IMGA
Homepage “Nominees Announced” www.imgawards.com
badge ”Nominees”
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
Best casual game
Labyrinth 2
Illusion Labs, Sweden Labyrinth 2 revolutionizes iPhone gaming yet again! Awe insprining game elements, level editor with instant level sharing, top lists to download and rate levels created by the community, up to four player multiplayer and awards for your achievements.
Angry Birds Rovio, Finland
Angry Birds is a simple, casual game but full of fun. You can download it from App Store. The objective of the game is to crush the pigs in their rickety fortresses in this physicsbased game of wanton destruction!
3D Roller coaster Rush Digital Chocolate, USA
Take a ride with 3D Rollercoaster Rush based on the original Rollercoaster Rush game. Play 40 different 3D action-packed rollercoaster tracks set in the Wild West in Career Mode. Challenge and overcome loop-the-loops, big jumps, tunnels and more to upgrade your amount of carts from 2 to 4!
I’m Destroyer
Colorme (Beijing) Info Tech Co., Ltd. China This is a stand–alone game. Your task is to bomb various obstacles but at the same time you should be careful not to let the small robot fall to the ground, because when he falls, it’s Game Over.
Wire Way
Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, Germany Wire Way is an exciting action-puzzle adventure in which users have to explore the world of Wiley, the alien. Wire Way offers 32 breath-taking stages in mission mode as well as 2 additional game modes providing variety and even more fun for users.
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
Best REAL WORLD game
Mister X Mobile
Deutsche Telekom AG, Laboratories, Germany Mister X tries once again to shake off his pursuers. This time anywhere in the world. With the most modern mobile technology the smartest brains will manage to encircle Mister X.
Gbanga Santa
Gbanga by Millform AG, Switzerland Mixed reality Advent Calendar. Players solve puzzles, find virtual presents in real world locations, collect and trade. Furthermore Gbanga provides social functions like a chat and friend-finder.
Dark Orbit Ground Forces (as a game on GPS Mission Pro) Orbster GmbH, Germany Ground Forces is the real-world extension of the blockbuster browser game Dark Orbit. The player can solve missions in 22 countries and is always connected to his account. This combination of a browser- and a location-based game is a world novelty.
Ulrike and Eamon Blast Theory, United Kingdom Ulrike and Eamon Compliant is a game that lasts for 30 minutes. Players pick up a mobile phone and choose to play as either Ulrike Meinhof or Eamon Collins. The phone is their guide as they walk around the city, receiving voice calls which give them the task that they need to achieve.
Ghost Patrol (as a game on GPS Mission Pro) Orbster GmbH, Germany Ghost Patrol is the Ghostbusters-style game in reality. In this richest location-based game so far available, the player enters the bizarre world of ghosts and tries to free the world from this invisible nuisance - the real world mind you!
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ANNUAL REPORT
EXCELLENCE IN CONNECTIVITY
Iplay Fabrication Games, Sweden Social cross-platform Casual Multiplayer. A social instrument that connects games and gamers across platforms. Games emphasize social gameplay through: online challenges and high score lists; single and multiple device multiplayer; strong social network connection.
Krazy Kart Racing Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH., Germany KKR is the most extensive kart racing game on smartphones and is also the only kart racer to offer realtime multiplayer cross-platform gaming. Supported platforms: iPhone/iPod touch, Windows Mobile, Android, Nokia Ovi (Q1/2010) and PC.
Sniper Vs. Sniper: On line Com2uS, USA Sniper Vs. Sniperâ&#x20AC;&#x2030;: Online is the ultimate network sniper game on the App Store. Simple aim and fire controls are easy to learn and fun for everyone. Loads of re-playability with 5 different game modes, 30 special missions, and 6 high quality maps.
Eliminate Pro fortyseven communications USA In Eliminate Pro, you have a futuristic weapons test combatant operating in a top secret experimental weapons facility sponsored by Arsenal Megacorp. Engage in combat against players from around the world via ngmoco Plus+ Network capabilities.
Age of Heroes Online NOMOC Publishing ltd., Ukraine Age of Heroes Online is a multiplatform online RPG-strategy based on series of mobile games.It is based on a profoundly developed fantasy world with its own unique history, geography, magic.
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ANNUAL REPORT
EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN
Castle Warriors GameResort LLC., USA Queen Mynera rules a lovely land threatened by despicable foes. Of course, you are her only hope. Castle Warriors is a tensely fought, tightly paced RTS game set in a landscape that gently tweaks all those fantasy tropes from the games of yore.
Twin Blades : The Reaping Vanguard Press Start Studio, France Twin Blades is a frantic zombie-shooter game set in a medieval era boasting unique manga-like graphics. Help the nun to defeat evil across multiple environments to purge the town of all its living-dead inhabitants. Buy new skills and powers and upgrade them as you progress day after day.
Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior Digital Legends Entertainment, Spain & India Games, India The Bruce Lee legacy comes to the iPhone in the first and only game in the App Store to bear his name. The game is a masterpiece of 3D martial arts games, developed with motion capture from top martial arts practitioners who studied the Master’s philosophy.
Mike V: Do or Die - Skateboarding Ratrod Studio Inc., Canada Mike V Do or Die will focus on Mike’s path, passions and career. It will feature an overview of his evolution as an individual and lifelong accomplishment in the history of skateboarding. Full 3D graphics, licensed brands, over 40 unique tricks, cutting edge controls, 7 skate levels, driving mode, character, board, wheels and car customization. Exclusive content and special features to be unlocked. Use your own music library.
Ancient Frog Jr. James Brown, New Zealand A puzzle game set in lush natural environments, with immersive graphics and restful ambient sounds. Ancient Frog Jr. is a puzzle /experience game. Based on Ancient Frog, it is aimed at a younger audience, and focuses on the journey rather than the challenge.
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
EXCELLENCE IN GAMEPLAY
MiniSquadron Tak Fung, UK MiniSquadron is an old-school shoot-em-up for the iPhone/ iPod Touch! Get ready for the most frantic, exciting and fun game for your iPhone! MiniSquadron is a «AAA» production quality game made by a one person studio to rival the best!amount of carts from 2 to 4!
Homerun Battle 3D (Android) Com2uS, USA Homerun Battle 3D is a homerun Derby simulation where you can compete against your friends over WiFi and 3G network! It contains 4 modes: Classic, Arcade, Matchup, and Training.
Inotia 2: A Wanderer of Luone Com2uS, USA Inotia 2: A Wanderer of Luone begins another epic adventure through the vast land of Inotia ! Classic RPG style gaming with extensive hours of story mode playtime and an unlimited online mode. (Estimated over 48 hours of main quest play time) amount of carts from 2 to 4!
Ovi Maps Racing Nokia, Finland Access your location, create a track and put the pedal to the metal. Ovi Maps Racing gives racing game enthusiasts a totally unique gaming experience combining map navigation and racing.
Glyder 2 Glu Mobile, USA Eryn finds herself trapped in a foreign dimension and must unlock the mysteries of her new environment to find a way back home. Soar through the skies and swoop through tight caverns to explore throughout the land.
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
The Judges of the Barcelona Judging Session Jury members
Company
Function
Chris James
Pocket gamer
CEO
Yongjun Bae
Samsung
Head of Games
Pia Vuohelainen
Navteq
Director Developer Relations
Neil Holroyd
Orange
Head of Games Orange UK
Grzegorz Trubilowicz
IKS
CEO
Attillio Zani
GSMA
Business development Director
Jean-François Royer
Euroméditerranée
Business development Director
Ameet Suri
Texas Instruments
Strategic Marketing Manager
Judging Session in Barcelona
The jury made the following unanimous decisions: — Grand Prix — Labyrinth 2
Illusion Labs
Sweden
Konami Digital Ent. GmbH
Japan
Com2us
Korea
Ancient Workshop
New Zealand
Studio Fung Fung
United Kingdom
Blast Theory
United Kingdom
Best Casual Game
Wire way Excellence in Connectivity
Sniper Vs Sniper: Online Excellence in Design
Ancient Frog Jr. Excellence in Gameplay
Mini Squadron Best Real World Game
Ulrike and Eamon Compliant
6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT
The Operators made the following unanimous decision: Operators’ Choice Award
Krazy Kart Racing
Konami Digital Ent. GmbH
Japan
The result of online voting: People’s Choice Award
Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior
Digital Legens Ent. / India Games
Spain / India
The Awards Ceremony 2010 As the most important event of the year, the Mobile World Congress attracts the attention of the global Telecommunications industry. It is in fact the leading event for the Mobile Communications business. More than 49,000 visitors from 200 countries attended the 2010 GSMA Mobile World Congress. The four-day conference and exhibition attracted executives from the world’s largest and most influential mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, internet companies and media and entertainment organizations, as well as government delegations. This year, GSMA inaugurated the App Planet in Hall 7 which pulled together all the key players, such as Google, Motorola, Microsoft, Intel and Sony Ericsson, in one place at one time. In the heart of the App Planet, the IMGA and its guests celebrated the IMGA’s 6th birthday. The Ceremony took place in the Fira, Hall 7, App Planet, Auditorium 2, on 15 February 2010. Approximately 225 people, mostly games and application developers, sponsors and press attended the event. Bnet TV enabled a live streaming service on mobile phones and interviewed jury members and winners during both the Judging Session and the Awards Ceremony.
Pictures of Awards Ceremony
Today, after attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (www.gdconf.com) we are starting the preparations for the 7th IMGA. if you are interested in getting involved as a sponsor, partner, entrant or if you want to work for us, drop us a line or send us an email.
IMGA Tel: +33 491 31 52 17 / our mail us at: maarten.noyons@imgawards.com 6th INTERNATIONAL MOBILE GAMING AWARDS — ANNUAL REPORT