PocketGamer.biz Top 50 Developer 2013

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The mobile movers & shakers of the last 12 months

Top 50 Developer 2013

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About… From breaking industry stories and in-depth interviews with key executives to updates on industry events and detailed analysis of mobile games metrics, PocketGamer.biz is the first port of call for mobile game developers, publishers, operators, handset manufacturers, investors and service providers.

www.pocketgamer.biz

Jon Jordan | Editor Garrick Webster | Production Jez Bridgeman | Creative Director Paul Summers-Edwards | Senior Designer Ella Ward | Designer ©2013 Steel Media Ltd

This publication and its contents are the copyright of Steel Media Ltd and may not be distributed, copied or reproduced without permission.

Welcome… If nothing else, our fourth annual PocketGamer.biz Top 50 Developer list demonstrates that this $10 billion industry shows no signs of settling down. It’s exciting to reveal our ranking, which shows that the sector continues to innovate and progress, but also that this market isn’t for the feint of heart. There are 19 new entries – compared to 23 last year – although one or two appear here under new branding. What’s particularly significant, however, is that as business models have shifted substantially, four new developers have hit the top 10. We’ve witnessed the rise of free-to-play franchises worth $100 million or more in the shape of developer Supercell’s Clash of Clans, and Gungho Online’s Puzzle & Dragons, in Japan. Other changes include the arrival of companies that previously focused on web and Facebook gaming – like Kabam, King.com and Wooga. With app stores and service providers like GREE and DeNA getting in on the action, the industry has seen further global integration. Unsurprisingly, the US is best represented with 17 entries, followed by Europe at 15 and Japan with seven. Four are based in the UK, and four in Korea, with three each from emerging markets such as Russia and China. Read on to find out more…

www.steelmedia.co.uk All statistics in this publication are for informational purposes only and are correct at time of going to press to the best of our knowledge. Steel Media can accept no responsibility for inaccuracies that occur but where mistakes are discovered we will correct any oversight.

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Top 50 Developer 2013

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Go East. Embrace the rising Droid Lei Zhang, General Manager, Chukong/CocoaChina USA

It’s old news that China’s mobile market is growing at a staggering pace. In June 2012, Flurry Analytics reported that China had surpassed the US in iOS and Android device activation, and had become the fastest growing smart device market worldwide. But while the rest of the mobile gaming world is entranced by Apple's iOS as the main driving force for revenue, China’s mobile market is forging a different path. To be successful in China, game developers will have to learn to embrace the Droid. Sheer market size and the pace of change in China make it difficult to track numbers. You can dispute exactly what sort of lead Android has, but it’s clear that this platform’s market share is huge, and still growing. The prevalence of thirdparty Android stores demonstrates Android’s market dominance, and 70 per

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cent of the 200 million downloads of CocoaChina's Fishing Joy games have been to Android devices. Undoubtedly, iOS apps reach higher value consumers – the iPhone is a status symbol. However Android devices are snapping up market share from the bottom up, with price being the key driver. You might take it with a grain of salt that certain research shows that iPhones account for less than 10 per cent of the devices used in China but, in contrast, Apple’s bitter rival Samsung accounts for 20 per cent of the market, and it is just one of many Android suppliers.

Show me the money For games developers, it boils down to ‘show me the money’. In the West, iOS has been the main platform for mobile games. In the first quarter of 2012, 84 per cent of mobile gaming revenue came from users of Apple’s flagship devices – and a staggering 94 per cent in the UK. This situation did not shift significantly for the rest of the year. Industry analysts, including our internal analytics team, used to think


About Chukong /Cocoa China

that the fragmentation of the Android market in China meant in-game advertising would be the key source of revenue. However new figures suggest otherwise. The Fishing Joy franchise is currently generating $6 million in revenue a month, mainly driven by in-app purchases on Android devices, helped by ultra-broad coverage and carrier billing. Other developers in China report that games from different genres are seeing a similar trend

Android's supremacy As goes the platform, so goes the app market. Driven by cheap, available handsets, and the commitment of Chinese carriers to fuelling the Android ecosystem, Android titles are expected to seize an estimated 80 per cent of Chinese mobile game revenue in 2013. When you consider that the smart device gaming market is expected to be worth $793 million for the region, it’s clear how lucrative developing games for Android devices can be. Publishing for China is not without its challenges. Developers must get to grips with the large number of Android

Top 50 Developer 2013

Also known as Chukong Technologies, CocoaChina is a leading global game developer and publisher, and has China’s largest mobile gaming platform. Based in Beijing, it has subsidiaries in the US, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Its flagship mobile franchise, Fishing Joy, has had over 200 million downloads. In the Greater China region Fishing Joy has been a pioneer in terms of monetisation in that market. As a trusted publishing partner, CocoaChina helps global companies like Disney, Z2Live, Konami and Nexon achieve success in the Chinese mobile gaming market. The company also supports the Cocos2d-x open source game engine, currently used by developers around the world including the likes of Handy Games, Gamevil, and Playfirst.

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app stores and payment options, as well as the problems of copycat games and unlicensed distribution. Western games can be successful in China, but practical concerns mean that a trustworthy and qualified local partner is a necessity – one who can help you monetise and will aggressively protect your IP. A local partner can also drive marketplace inclusion, localisation, and integration with mobile carriers for payment. As a trusted publishing partner to some of the most successful international mobile gaming companies, we look forward to being able to assist as you begin exploring the fast-growing Chinese marketplace, and embrace the Droid.

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50 Change from last year

www.spacetimestudios.com

Spacetime Studios Formats:

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Android

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Softography

Dark Legends Pocket Legends Arcane Legends Star Legends

49 Change from last year

New Entry

While other MMOG developers struggle to make headway on mobile devices, Spacetime Studios merely builds on its now three year history. Its 2011 debut Pocket Legends has been joined by Dark Legends (horror), Arcane Legends (fantasy) and Star Legends (sci-fi). These themed siblings are all serviced using the company’s proprietary Spacetime engine, enabling play across mobile, PC and browser platforms. It’s this flexibility that’s boosted downloads to over 10 million and average player sessions to 25 hours per month. And, in turn, this has seen the 40-strong company rewarded with the Top Developer gong on Google Play.

Animoca Formats:

Android

Despite being based in Hong Kong, Animoca is clear about its business model: it’s focused on launching games and entertainment apps into Western markets for Android devices. Gaining its first VC round from big hitters such as Intel Capital, IDG and Accel, its 300-odd releases have racked up more than 115 million downloads, so it’s certainly fulfilling the brief. Top titles include the Pretty Pet series of games and the Star Girl fashion game, while Animoca has recently closed a deal to make games using the Mr Bean and Ultraman franchises – cultural characters for UK and Japanese audiences respectively.

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www.animoca.com/en

Softography

Pretty Pet Salon Pretty Pet Tycoon Pet Cafe Star Girl


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Change from last year

www.playfirst.com

PlayFirst Formats:

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Android

Once PlayFirst was a PC casual games company, but after 12 November 2012, it became a family-focused purely mobile player with over 10 million daily active users, mainly thanks to its massively successful Dash games. In that context, as well as ditching PC games, 2012 was significant for the company as it finally moved onto Android via the Amazon ecosystem, with Diner Dash released in October, followed by Cooking Dash which appeared in December.

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Diner Dash Cooking Dash Hotel Dash

The company now plans to release a new title for Amazon devices every month, with Google Play activity also pencilled in at some point in 2013.

47 Change from last year

Wedding Dash Hotel Transylvania Dash

www.chairentertainmentgroup.com

Chair Entertainment (Epic) Formats:

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iOS

While the Infinity Blade titles remain some of the best examples of consolequality gaming applied to touchscreen devices, the past months have been an underwhelming time for Epic-owned Chair Entertainment.

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Softography

Infinity Blade Infinity Blade II Vote!

Top 50 Developer 2013

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The company has continued to update its iOS-only titles – and Infinity Blade II still sits in the top 100 grossing titles in the US – but the company’s only new title in 2012 was the odd US election-themed game, Vote! Similarly strange was news that Epic had parted company with the retrospectively well-named Impossible Studios, postponing (perhaps forever) the release of Infinity Blade: Dungeons in the process.

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46 Change from last year

www.redrobotlabs.com

Red Robot Labs Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Location-based persistent world mobile publisher Red Robot Labs had a busy year. It raised $5 million for Asian expansion and opened up its R2 platform for selected mobile developers. The first release on the platform was the Android version of ShortRound’s Global Outbreak, a topdown shooter.

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Life is Magic Global Outbreak Life is Crime

45 Change from last year

New Entry

In the meantime, its signature title Life is Crime continues to rack up the downloads – 4 million to date – with the live team running regular events based on gang activity to grow the community. It also recently launched Life is Magic on iOS and Android, which uses the company’s proprietary map data to render the earth but for a fantasy setting.

WeMade Formats:

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Best known as the creator of online PC games such as the Legend of Mir series, WeMade is now rapidly expanding its mobile operations, under the label weme. Indeed, 40 per cent of the revenue it generated in Korea during Q4 came from mobile games – around $9 million. The reason is two-fold. Titles such as Viking Island, Candy Pang and WindRunner are proving popular. Released in January, the latter already has 4.2 million daily active users. And more generally, the Korean market is booming thanks to KakaoTalk. Eight of WeMade’s games integrate the messaging service. Indeed, WeMade owns 3.8 per cent of Kakao.

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www.wemade.net

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Wind Runner Heavy Mach Viking Island Chaos & Defense Candy Pang


44 Change from last year

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www.nimblebit.com

NimbleBit Formats:

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Android

Game-making twins Ian and David Marsh (aka NimbleBit) are perhaps the closest thing the industry has to successful sibling film-making auteurs. Maybe you could think of them as our equivalent of the Coens, or the Polish brothers? And they certainly demonstrated their pixel-arty credentials again with Pocket Planes, which was released on iOS in June, and via Mobage on Android. Of course, as the very top of the top grossing charts have become more aggressive territory, it wasn’t a particularly lucrative game financially, but with new title Nimble Quest inbound, their vision – and fan base – remains strong as ever.

43 Change from last year

Softography

Pocket Planes Pocket Frogs Tiny Tower

www.tinyco.com

TinyCo Formats:

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Tiny Monsters Tiny Village Tiny Nightclub Super Slots Guess!

Like many of the first generation of social mobile companies, TinyCo has had to show nimble feet to stay relevant. Its portfolio of Tiny-label casual games continues to perform, particularly on Android where the company has Top Developer status on Google Play. It’s also been loud in its praise of monetisation levels via the Amazon Appstore. Thanks to its $5 million TinyFund for sourcing third-party content, TinyCo is now looking to new genres. Its first midcore title is card battler Spellstorm, while Super Slots is a casino game, and Guess! a nod towards Zynga’s With Friends market.

Spellstorm

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Miniclip Formats:

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8 Ball Pool Hambo Monster Island Gravity Guy iStunt 2

Change from last year

New Entry

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Windows Phone

As part of its transformation from popular Flash games portal to crossplatform gaming company, Miniclip continued to build out its mobile presence in 2012. The year saw the announcement of over 100 million lifetime downloads on iOS and Android, something backed by the company’s X-Port Genie engine, which enables it to develop titles for both Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 as well.

Change from last year

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www.miniclip.com

Miniclip successfully published Ndemic’s Plague Inc. on Android, while rolling out its popular multiplayer Flash game 8 Ball Pool on iOS and Android. This runs seamlessly across mobile and web platforms, underlining the company’s ultimate goal.

www.maginteractive.se

Mag Interactive Formats:

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Ruzzle wasn’t the first project from Swedish start-up Mag Interactive. It’s been doing work-for-hire projects since 2009. Instead, it labels the word game, that has over 30 million players and has generated three billion rounds since its April 2012 release, the ‘first launch from its own product development’. Of course, the majority of downloads have been of the free version, but the introduction of a single $2.99 in-app purchase in January saw Ruzzle rise into the top 10 grossing games in the US, which is just one of 39 countries where that happened. The game’s even done half a million paid sales on Android.

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Ruzzle


40 Change from last year

New Entry

www.ndemiccreations.com

Ndemic Creations Formats:

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Android

Inspired by Dark Realm’s Flash title Pandemic 2, Plague Inc. demonstrates the mobile ecosystem still holds potential for one-man indie publishers. Together with some outsourced help, James Vaughn saw his 99c game hit the iOS number one paid slot in both the UK and US. It was then published by Miniclip on Android, gaining millions more downloads, though it was free on that platform. To date, 200 million game sessions have been played, with Vaughn cautiously hiring some staff to make Ndemic Creations a ‘proper’ developer and build on his success with follow-up and new titles in 2013.

Softography

Plague Inc.

39 Change from last year

www.ubi.com

Ubisoft Formats:

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iOS

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Android

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Rayman Jungle Run Far Cry 3 Outpost Babel Rising 3D Might & Magic Clash of Heroes Nutty Fluffies Rollercoaster

Top 50 Developer 2013

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Historically restricted by its close relationship with Gameloft, it was only in 2012 that Ubisoft started to show that it was really serious about mobile gaming. The highlight was Apple crowning the excellent Rayman Jungle Run as its iPhone Game of the Year. Yet the paid title didn’t trouble the top grossing charts. With the acquisition of RedLynx, not to mention a ramp up in publishing operations, it’s clear Ubisoft will be acting aggressively in 2013, both in terms of standalone games like the GREE codeveloped Assassin’s Creed: Utopia and tie-in experiences for console titles, most notably Watch Dogs.

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38 Change from last year

www.xyrality.com

Xyrality Formats:

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Android

While many core German web and PC publishers are attempting a shift to mobile, Xyrality has already succeed. Its city-building PVP title Lords & Knights has been installed over 3.5 million times on iOS, Android and web, and was in the top five grossing titles in Germany for 2012 on iPhone and iPad.

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One reason for this success is players can access their game state on any device, ensuring much higher session frequency and retention. It’s something the 60-strong Hamburg team will be building on with the recent release of Celtic Tribes on iOS.

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Lords & Knights Celtic Tribes Crazy Tribes Scary Tribes

37 Change from last year

New Entry

www.creative-mobile.com

Creative Mobile Formats:

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Windows Phone

Estonian start-up Creative Mobile has been a quiet success story. It released the free-to-play Drag Racing game on Android and iOS (as Nitro Nation Drag Racing) back in April 2011. Since then it has racked up a download total of 100 million (91 per cent on Android) with daily active users peaking at two million. The franchise has seen expansion with a bike version, while the anticipated sequel is due soon, which will add much more content and social features using a teambased dynamic. Creative Mobile is also taking a publishing role, releasing A-Steroids’ RPG Clash of the Damned.

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Drag Racing Drag Racing: Bike Edition Basketball Shots 3D


36 Change from last year

New Entry

www.telltalegames.com

Telltale Games Formats:

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iOS

The ubiquity of iPad has provided episodic content developer Telltale Games with the opportunity to get seriously into mobile gaming. It took time to get its PC/console technology and processes working successfully for touchscreen devices, but in 2012 demonstrated how much it had learned with the success of The Walking Dead.

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The Walking Dead

This was released as a multi-platform product, in terms of content delivery and, surprisingly perhaps, pricing. This means that each of the five episodes released so far is priced as a $4.99 in-app purchase. But given the quality of the experience, it’s been a lucrative decision..

35 Change from last year

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Pocket Gems Formats:

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Back to the Future Sam & Max Puzzle Agent Law & Order: Legacies www.pocketgems.com

Android

With four titles in the 100 top grossing iOS game charts for 2012, Pocket Gems has demonstrated that its history as one of the first social mobile developers – notable for its Tap series – continues to pay dividends. However, the market is now very different to 2010, so it’s looking to evolve to continue its success story.

Softography

The big news is its decision to become a third-party publisher. The thinking is Pocket Gems applies its expertise in launching, operating and monetising to the innovative content coming from indies. Twyngo, dreamfab and WeRPlay are the first developers to sign up.

Tap Safari Tap Paradise Cove Campus Life Tap Dragon Park Tap Pet Hotel

Top 50 Developer 2013

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34 Change from last year

Zynga /

Formats:

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Horn Draw Something Words With Friends Ayakashi: Ghost Guild Poker by Zynga Slots by Zynga

33 Change from last year

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www.zynga.com

Was the decision to float a bad one? Maybe. Certainly, at $10 a share, everything the company now does is viewed in the light of its underwater stock. That’s not to say there haven’t been serious problems, both in terms of the high turnover of executives and studio restructuring. Given Zynga’s astonishing growth, however, growing pains were always likely. No matter. Annual sales in 2012 were $1.28 billion, it has $1.65 billion in cash, and 240 million monthly active users, 72 million of which are on mobile. With its publishing efforts ramping up, Zynga has everything to play for in 2013, including the US market.

www.capcommobile.com

Capcom/Beeline Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Having split its business into the Westlooking Beeline and Japan-focused Capcom Mobile, Capcom’s recent experience has been similar to other Japanese publishers. After a great start, Beeline has stuttered with new free-toplay social releases like Ghostbusters and Smurfs’ Life not matching Smurfs’ Village’s enormous success. Total downloads for the unit are 86 million. Domestically, however, games such as Minna to Monhan Card Master (on Mobage) and Resident Evil: Outbreak Survive (on GREE) pushed Capcom Mobile’s nine months sales up 115 per cent year-on-year to $89 million. It predicts revenue will rise a further 63 per cent in 2013.

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Softography

Smurfs’ Village Ghostbusters Smurfs’ Life Shrek’s Fairytale Kingdom Street Fighter X Tekken Mobile


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Change from last year

www.halfbrick.com

Halfbrick Formats:

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iOS

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Android

It has been a quiet 16 months for Australian developer Halfbrick. Obviously there’s plenty going on behind the scenes, but its last new game was the reworking of the classic Fruit Ninja gameplay for the movie Puss in Boots, in October 2011. Still, even though top grossing titles such as Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja are paid releases, their millions of fans demand updates. Halfbrick also released the Android version of Jetpack Joyride in September (for free), where it’s notched up millions more downloads. But given the company’s high standing in the mobile gaming food chain, what players really want to know is: what’s next?

31 Change from last year

Softography

JetPack Joyride Fruit Ninga Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots

www.namcobandaigames.com

Namco Bandai Formats:

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iOS

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Android

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Softography

Sky Gamblers One Piece Grand Collection Gundam Royale Pac-Man The Idol M@ster

Top 50 Developer 2013

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Windows Phone

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BB10

While its mobile operations in the West are being restructured, in Japan Namco Bandai is growing fast. Thanks to agreements with GREE and DeNA – it has a joint venture with the latter – user numbers rose from 10 million to 30 million during 2012. Key titles include One Piece Grand Collection (on Mobage) with four million users, and it has similar numbers playing its Mobile Suit Gundam games. Another strong performer is The Idol M@ster brand. These are unlikely to perform well in the West, though, where the company relies on the evergreen Pac-Man and air combat game Sky Gamblers.

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30 Change from last year

www.chukong-inc.com/en

CocoaChina/Punchbox Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Part of the Chukong Technologies group, PunchBox is the company’s publishing and advertising arm, working with external studios to release their games in China and globally, while Chukong is the internal development studio.

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Softography

Fishing Joy Camp Magic Monster Kingdom Tribal Wars

Its most successful title is the Fishing Joy franchise, which has been downloaded over 200 million times since its iOS release in 2011, and generates around $6 million a month. Most of the 10 million daily active players of the free-to-play arcade fishcatching game are in China, but it has also been released globally and more recently on Android.

3 Kingdoms

29 Change from last year

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www.madfingergames.com

Madfinger Games Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Thanks to its technical expertise, and the support of companies such as Unity and Nvidia, Madfinger is now one of the developers that gamers look to for the best graphics on mobile devices. With its Shadowrun and Dead Trigger franchises, the Czech studio has cornered the market in third- and first-person perspective shooters, respectively. Sure, they’re not the most popular genres on touchscreen devices, especially given the blood and gore brought to the mix, but download numbers in the tens of millions demonstrate that, if nothing else, Madfinger is fulfilling the itchy thumbs of console gamers on the go.

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Softography

Dead Trigger Shadowgun


28 Change from last year

New Entry

www.nexon.net/mobile

Nexon Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Until its $470 million acquisition of Japanese mobile developer gloops (from ‘global loops’) in October, Korean outfit Nexon was a bit player when it came to mobile games. It had released versions of its big online titles, but the likes of MapleStory Live or Combat Arms: Zombies just hadn’t made their mark.

Softography

MapleStory Live

Now, however, Nexon has itself an established studio it expects to generate at least $85 million in annual sales thanks to core Japanese titles like Japan Pro Baseball Card Battle and Warriors of Odin. The combination of the two will be fascinating to see, especially in terms of their releases through Mobage and GREE.

27 Change from last year

Japan Pro Baseball Card Battle Combat Arms: Zombies Sengoku Battle Warriors of Odin www.zeptolab.com

Zeptolab Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Russian developer Zeptolab made its name with Om Nom and the colourful world-of-candy puzzler, Cut the Rope, an ongoing mobile and web franchise with 250 million downloads. The first release since that success was the similarly sweet puzzler Pudding Monsters.

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Softography

Pudding Monsters Cut the Rope Experiments

Out simultaneously for iOS and Android (including Amazon and Nook), its more thoughtful approach hasn’t captured the imagination like Cut the Rope. The lack of free content on iOS may also have something to do with this. Still, Zeptolab has plenty more cooking for 2013. If nothing else, we’ve haven’t seen the last of Om Nom.

Cut the Rope

Top 50 Developer 2013

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26 Change from last year

Digital Cloud Formats:

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iOS

Chengdu-based Digital Cloud is primarily focused on the Chinese and Asian iOS market, and it’s been mighty successful in that business. Released in July, its turn-based free-to-play MMORPG DragonForce (Dragon Bane in the West) has been among the top grossing iPhone and iPad games ever since. It’s also performed well in Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia

New Entry

Softography

Dragon Bane Three Kingdoms Online

25 Change from last year

Digital Cloud isn’t a one-trick pony, however. Its has three Three Kingdomsthemed strategy games, which have also spent many weeks among the top earners in China’s app charts.

Konami Formats:

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iOS

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www.konami.com

Android

Like many of the big Japanese publishers, Konami has a significant mobile games business – if only in Japan. With an audience of 34 million monthly active users, the division posted nine months revenues of $250 million in 2012, albeit down nine per cent year-on-year. This was generated by titles such as Dragon Collection (on GREE) and Sengoku Collection (on Mobage), which have been top grossing games for years. In Western markets, Konami’s attempts to rework its console brands onto mobile have yet to find much success, although that may change with the release of Metal Gear Solid Social Ops on GREE.

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df.ppgame.com

Softography

Dragon Collection Sengoku Collection Professional Baseball Dream Nine Lord of Heroes Ash II: Shadows


24 Change from last year

product.gree.net/us/en

GREE Formats:

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Android

2012 was an annus horribilis for social gaming network giant GREE. While Japanese arch rival DeNA saw its sales and share price soar, GREE still hasn’t had the breakout hits in the West it so desires. For much of the year revenues declined quarter-on-quarter, resulting in a downgrade of its FY13 forecast by 17 per cent. It also had to apologise for failing to properly implement spending limits on children using the service.

Softography

Monster Quest Modern War

Still, this is a company with annual sales of $1.6 billion, and $480 million in cash, so its importance in the global industry is hard to overstate. 2013 can only get better.

Crime City Zombie Jombie Knights & Dragons

23 Change from last year

www.wooga.com

Wooga Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Facebook might not be the gaming cash cow it once was, but it’s still important, even for mobile success. Just ask Wooga. It leveraged its strength on the social network to make mobile a key part of its business. Indeed, the iOS version of Diamond Dash is said to have the highest percentage of Facebook Connect users of any iOS title – over 60 per cent.

New Entry

Softography

Diamond Dash

So with only two releases, mobile now accounts for half of Wooga’s revenues, up from zero 15 months ago. The publisher currently has four games in development for 2013, ranging from casual to midcore PVP titles.

Bubble Island

Top 50 Developer 2013

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22 Change from last year

www.glu.com

Glu Mobile Formats:

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iOS

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Android

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Windows Phone

As seems to be the way with Glu Mobile, there’s good and there’s less good. 2012 sales were up 32 per cent to $87.5 million, but losses increased to $22.1 million. One reason was more Apple restrictions on incentivised downloads, but a strategic rethink delayed the release of some titles.

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Gun Bros. Stardom Contract Killer Eternity Warriors Deer Hunter 3D

The bottom line is the charts are getting more competitive and that’s driving up expected quality. Glu is looking to overcome this by opening up its third-party publishing. It’s hopeful about the potential of casino games too, thanks to investment in start-up Bee Cave, and a hook-up with real money specialist Probability.

Blood & Glory: Legends

21 Change from last year

G5 Entertainment Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Bringing its experience from the publishing of casual PC games to mobile, Swedish-headquartered and Russianoperated G5 Entertainment continued its momentum in 2012. Annual sales were up 74 per cent to almost $13 million. Its long term goal is $45 million in revenue and it’s raised $6 million to enable further expansion in 2013. That target will take some doing but G5 has deals with 80 third-party studios and is ramping up its Android activity. Internally developed titles such as the free-to-play Virtual City Playground have provided a foundation for growth as well. It accounted for 30 per cent of Q3 sales.

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www.g5e.com

Softography

Virtual City Playground Mystery of the Crystal Portal Stand O’Food Virtual City Build-a-lot


20 Change from last year

15

Game Insight Formats:

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iOS

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www.game-insight.com

Android

Founded in 2010, Russian outfit Game Insight hit the ground running. Consisting of a dozen studios – its headcount is now over 500 – it was quick into free-to-play mobile games, especially on Android. Game Insight’s focus is casual sim and city-building games, set in exotic locations, while a keen understanding of monetisation has ensured over 140 million downloads have converted into strong revenue numbers. For example, Airport City has generated over $19 million, and Paradise Island over $23 million. Annual sales are rumoured to be over $50 million, with more fuel for expansion provided by a recent $25 million venture capital round.

19 Change from last year

Softography

The Tribez Paradise Island Airport City Rule the Kingdom Mystery Manor www.mojang.com

Mojang Formats:

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iOS

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Android

Is Mojang a core mobile developer? No. Minecraft was originally a PC phenomenon before user demand brought it to iOS and Android in the cutdown form of Minecraft – Pocket Edition. But despite its $6.99 price tag, it continues to sell strongly with 5.9 million downloads during 2012. That’s a cool $29 million in net revenue.

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Softography

Minecraft – Pocket Edition

Top 50 Developer 2013

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So maybe not core, but Mojang is certainly a key mobile player. It’s found itself a special niche on the platform, just as it has on PC. Whether it can repeat the experience in 2013 with the multiplatform collectible card game Scrolls, remains to be seen.

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18 Change from last year

www.bigfishgames.com

Big Fish Games Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

One of the heavyweights of the PC casual space, Big Fish had already moved to mobile with success – especially on iPad – although its hidden object games were premium experiences. Even if you downloaded them for free, you paid to unlock the majority of the content.

5

Softography

Big Fish Casino Fairway Solitaire Found

17

Change from last year

The big change in 2012 saw the company embrace free-to-play titles. It’s only released three so far – Big Fish Casino, Found and the excellent Fairway Solitaire – but they’re generating around $4 million per month, a number we expect to increase substantially. Plus, there’s the potential of its tablet streaming game service Big Fish Unlimited to consider.

Kiloo Games Formats:

New Entry

/

iOS

/

Android

One of the veterans of mobile game development, Danish studio Kiloo surprised everyone when it released Subway Surfers’ usage figures. Coproduced with fellow Danish outfit Sybo, it’s been downloaded over 130 million times on iOS and Android, racking up a massive 25 million daily active users. That’s Angry Birds-style popularity. When it comes to monetisation, the game has taken longer to get up to speed. Kiloo says it prefers to focus on retention. Still, now comfortably in the US top 20 gross revenue charts, this should provide a good foundation for the five new titles Kiloo has in co-production.

22

www.kiloo.com

Softography

Subway Surfers Bullet Time Frisbee Forever


16 Change from last year

www.backflipstudios.com

Backflip Studios Formats:

11

/

iOS

/

Android

Backflip released its signature game DragonVale in October 2011, and ever since the dragon breeding/nurturing title has sat strong in the top 20 of the gross revenue charts for iOS in the US, typically in a top five position. Last year also saw the release of Android versions for Amazon and Google Play. No numbers have been formally released but if it’s not already, surely soon Backflip will rank as a $100 million franchise.

Softography

DragonVale Gizmonauts

It’s a remarkable demonstration of the power of a new theme within a wellunderstood genre when backed by a laser-focus on running a service. In this case, that’s a big monthly update.

15

Ragdoll Blaster 3 Paper Toss Friends Band Together www.storm8.com

Storm8 Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

Change from last year

Softography

Dragon Story Slots City Story Metro Bubble Mania

Top 50 Developer 2013

in association with

One of the original social mobile games success stories from 2009, Storm8 recently announced some big numbers: 400 million downloads, 200 million players, and 10 million daily active users across its large portfolio of casual, core and casino games. Indeed, it remains hard to keep track of everything the 175-strong outfit is up to given the different labels it releases under: Storm8 for midcore; TeamLava for femalecasual; Shark Party for social casino; and FireMocha for hardcore. But tying everything together is its own integrated social network, which provides cheap user acquisition via cross promotion, enabling its games to reach critical mass very quickly.

and

23


14

Change from last year

Gameloft Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

/

Windows Phone

7

Modern Combat 4 World at Arms The Dark Knight Rises Heroes of Order & Chaos

New Entry

BB10

What’s significant about its operations, however, is that unlike most other companies on this list, it doesn’t appear to have any key top grossing titles. Social free-to-play game Ice Age Village was the only one of its titles that featured in Apple’s top grossing charts for 2012, for example.

Ice Age Village

Change from last year

/

2012 saw another strong financial performance by French publisher Gameloft. Sales were up 27 per cent to $275 million; higher than the $260 million it originally predicted.

Softography

13

www.gameloft.com

Instead, Gameloft continues with a volume-and-scale approach to the market, with Java game sales in emerging markets remaining a surprisingly important component of its revenue.

www.imangistudios.com

Imangi Studios Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

/

Windows Phone

Things just continue to get better for Temple Run creator Imangi. Having announced the original free-to-play title was downloaded over 100 million times in August, it continued to prove that indies can prosper on the App Store. The sequel blasted out of the blocks in January, out-scoring Angry Birds Space with 50 million downloads in 13 days. In addition to working on their own games, the husband-and-wife team (now plus three staff) also found the time to help out Disney as it used the addictive nature of the endless running gameplay to promote movies like Brave and Oz.

Softography

Temple Run 2 Temple Run: Brave Temple Run: Oz

24


12

Change from last year

www.gamevil.com

Gamevil Formats:

1

/

iOS

/

Android

Building on its strong 2011 performance, Korean publisher Gamevil boomed in 2012. On the back of the fast-growing domestic market, sales were up 64 per cent to $66 million. The company predicts this will be $94 million in 2013 – no wonder its share price has risen over 50 per cent in the past 12 months, valuing Gamevil at over $500 million. Top performing titles included free-to-play social games such as Fishing Superstars and Punch Hero, which combined with the continuing expansion of its third-party publishing operations saw Gamevil sail past 200 million downloads in December.

11

Change from last year

Softography

Baseball Superstars Fishing Superstars Freekick Battle Punch Hero Battle Line Zenonia 5 www.cyberagent.info

CyberAgent (Applibot/Cygames) Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

While it operates Japanese social mobile network Ameba, among other internet properties, web giant CyberAgent’s high ranking on the 2013 list comes thanks to its subsidiaries Cygames and Applibot.

New Entry

Softography

Rage of Bahamut Legend of the Cryptids The Idol Master Galaxy Saga

Top 50 Developer 2013

in association with

The former is famous for card battler Rage of Bahamut. Published on DeNA’s Mobage platform (DeNA has equity in Cygames), the title has been downloaded more than 10 million times globally and has ranked top 20 in the iOS and Android charts for gross revenue since launch. Similarly, Applibot’s Legend of the Cryptids has been very successful on both platforms. The result is CyberAgent’s mobile game revenues in 2012 were $290 million.

and

25


TV Ratings For Mobile Games:

Introducing the Index The standard measure of success in mobile games In an industry that’s growing at a lightning pace, it’s important to provide context. Context for what success means, top charts for the top games and publishers, and insights into how that success is reshaping the mobile gaming industry. The App Annie IndexTM utilises our proprietary App Annie Intelligence market data to rank the top publishers, top apps and top games every month by their success in generating downloads and revenues from the world’s app store consumers, on iOS and Google Play. Whereas app store rankings are a great way to organise content for consumers to peruse, the App Annie Index is the only indicator available to mobile game and

app publishers that measures and defines commercial success.

The latest App Annie Index: games that are rocking the charts Since it’s GDC time, we decided to bring you the games section of the latest App Annie Index, published last month on the App Annie Blog. With notable successes for games like Temple Run 2, Puzzle & Dragons and Subway Surfers, it was definitely a month when game publishers decided to promote their new releases.

Who is App Annie? App Annie is the leader in app store analytics and market intelligence for the global app store economy. More than 80 per cent of the Top 100 iOS publishers rely on us to inform their businesses including EA, GREE, Storm8, Microsoft and Nokia. Start using App Annie free and learn more about our products at www.appannie.com


iOS top games by monthly downloads Game

Rank change vs Dec 2012

Publisher

Headquarters

Subcategory

1

Temple Run 2

New

Imangi Studios

USA

Adventure

2

Ruzzle

41

MAG Interactive

Sweden

Board

3

Subway Surfers

2

Kiloo

Denmark

Arcade

4

Candy Crush Saga

1

King.com

UK

Arcade

5

Fun Run

6

dirtyBit

Norway

Racing

6

Flow Free

2

Big Duck Games

USA

Puzzle

7

Icon Pop Quiz

10

Alegrium

Indonesia

Trivia

8

Rail Rush

1171

Miniclip.com

Switzerland

Arcade

9

Angry Birds Rio

682

Rovio

Finland

Arcade

10

The Blockheads

Majic Jungle

New Zealand

Adventure

Subway Surfers took the top spot in January with a six place jump from its December ranking. The fact that this and Temple Run were both in the top five shows how much 3D running games resonate with audiences. Temple Run 2 was released on Google Play on 24 January 2013 but did not make this month’s top ten. After it was released, rankings for the original began to decline. Candy Crush Saga continued to replicate the success it had in the iOS App Store, on Google Play. It moved up 14 spots to make its first appearance in this top ten listing.

New

This month sees quite a shake-up among iOS games, with seven of these ten games not having been on this list last month and two newly released games debuting in the Top 10. Temple Run 2 by Imangi Studio’s took the number one spot, propelled by 50 million downloads across all their platforms in under two weeks, setting a new record for the fastest-growing mobile game app.

Google Play top games by monthly downloads Rank change vs Dec 2012

Game

Publisher

Headquarters

Subcategory

1

Subway Surfers

6

Kiloo Games

Denmark

Arcade & Action

2

Fruit Ninja Free

3

Halfbrick Studios

Australia

Arcade & Action

3

Angry Birds

1

Rovio

Finland

Arcade & Action

4

Temple Run

Imangi Studios

USA

Arcade & Action

5

Hill Climb Racing

2

Fingersoft

Finland

Racing

6

Trial Xtreme 3

414

Deemedya

Israel

Racing

7

Angry Birds Star Wars

6

Rovio

Finland

Arcade & Action

8

Pou

2

Zakeh

Lebanon

Casual

9

다함께 차차차 for Kakao

CL E&M

South Korea

Casual

10

Candy Crush Saga

King.com

UK

Casual

-

New 14

SOURCE: App Annie Index™ – to access the Index for free visit www.appannie.com/index


10 Change from last year

Com2uS Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

6

Softography

Homerun King for Kakao Homerun Battle Burst for Line Derby Days Tiny Farm

28

www.com2us.com

Over the past couple of years, Com2uS has demonstrated in positive and negative fashion how quickly the mobile games market can change. The larger of the two big Korean publishers (Gamevil is the other, see page 25), it was slow to transition from the sale of Java games to target the more complex international smartphone market. The result was that sales dropped 12 per cent in 2010. Com2uS turned this around with typically core Korean fare such as RPG Inotia and its baseball franchise 9 Innings, as well as expanding its third-party publishing efforts. It released 43 games in 2012, compared to 18 iOS games in 2011. But it wasn’t just quantity which pushed Com2uS’ sales up 112 per cent in 2012 to $72 million. Its decision to target the casual free-to-play market with games such as Tiny Farm coincided with the incredible growth of the KakaoTalk messaging service in Korea. When it started supporting games in the summer of 2012, Com2uS was quickly on hand to rework existing titles to support the new viral discovery channels. It’s followed this up with titles for the Japanese messaging service Line, and it’s these new channels, combined with 50 planned releases that Com2uS hopes will boost sales to over $90 million in 2013.


9

Change from last year

www.mobage.com

DeNA Formats:

16

/

iOS

/

Android

When it comes to the global expansion of social gaming networks, 2012 saw Japanese giant DeNA demonstrate that it’s not about the network per se, it’s about the games on the network. Hence, given the vast majority of its revenue continues to come from Japan, the overseas success of card-battling title Rage of Bahamut, especially in North America, provided strong evidence it was on the right track. DeNA backed up that success on its Mobage network with similar hardcore games such as the RPG Blood Brothers, while also releasing more card battlers based on Western licences such as Marvel and Transformers. The result was nine month sales grew 44 per cent to around $1.6 billion, while its share price rose 42 per cent during 2012.

Softography

Rage of Bahamut Blood Brothers Marvel War of Heroes Transformer Legends

And it’s got plenty more planned in 2013. Most anticipated is The Drowning, a free-to-play shooter from its Swedish studio, which looks to combine console-quality graphics with novel monetisation and gameplay loops. It continues to sign up third-party studios to use Mobage, as well as doing deals with companies such as Renren and Mixi too. Perhaps most strategically, DeNA is reacting to the growth of messaging services such as Line and KakaoTalk with its own Comm service.

Top 50 Developer 2013

in association with

and

29


8

Change from last year

Disney Mobile Formats:

2

/

iOS

/

Android

/

Windows Phone

Despite being a tiny element in the Disney media empire, its mobile division continues to shine. Kickstarted by the acquisition of Tapulous in 2010, Disney Mobile is demonstrating it can successfully walk the line that joins great games and leveraging Disney’s classic and emerging character set. Just think what it’s planning for the recently purchased LucasFilm IP. Where’s My Water? continues to be the jewel in the crown, with Swampy the crocodile now an iconic character in his own right. With over 100 million iOS and Android downloads, its gameplay mechanics have found success a second time around with Perry the Platypus in the lead role for Where’s My Perry? There’s been a similar approach in terms of gameplay appropriation in the hook-up with Imangi Studios, which has seen the Temple Run formula successfully rolled out for the films Brave and Oz. Meanwhile, older franchises have been supported with titles such as Toy Story: Smash It! and Monsters Inc Run, a themed version of Mega Run. However, perhaps the most significant aspect of Disney Mobile’s success is its ability to mix free-to-play releases with paid plus in-app purchase games. In this case, the brand really is demonstrating brand value.

30

www.disney.go.com

Softography

Temple Run: Brave Toy Story: Smash It! Where’s My Water? Where’s My Perry? Monsters Inc Run


7

Change from last year

www.king.com

King.com Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

New Entry

Softography

Bubble Witch Saga Candy Crush Saga

Having created and incubated hundreds of casual games within its own portal for a decade, 2011 saw King.com deploy its expert knowledge onto Facebook’s then-stagnating games platform. The result is the London-headquartered, Swedish-operated company is now second only to Zynga on the social network. That experience was then redeployed in 2012 as it opened up the gates for its mobile assault. This saw King.com successfully launch its two top brands, Bubble Witch Saga and Candy Crush Saga onto iOS and Android. What really made the match-three and bubble-popper games successful was King.com’s determination to sync Facebook and mobile sessions so players can access their accounts – game state, power ups, friends, leaderboards, etc – no matter what platform they’re using. It’s something casual players have quickly come to expect as standard and helped propel Candy Crush Saga to the number two top grossing spot on the US iPhone chart, where it’s been for the past couple of months. It’s no surprise then that App Annie ranked King.com third among top grossing iOS game publishers during January. We expect more of the same in 2013.

Top 50 Developer 2013

in association with

and

31


6

Change from last year

Kabam Formats:

/

iOS

/

www.kabam.com

Android

The most significant trend in our 2013 top developers list is the influx of wellestablished companies from Facebook and online gaming. With 600 staff and a lifetime $100 million franchise in the shape of PVP city-builder Kingdoms of Camelot, midcore publisher Kabam ranks highest among that cohort. The reason goes beyond those bare facts, however.

New Entry

Softography

Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North Arcane Empires The Hobbit

The company’s obvious first step when coming to mobile was to re-imagine Camelot for the iOS and Android, which resulted in the standalone title Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North, released in February. It was the top grossing iPhone game in the US during 2012. A timely reskinning when the company acquired the licence to The Hobbit film trilogy saw the release of The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth. But it was Arcane Empires, the publisher’s debut mobile-first title that proved most interesting. Either way, all three games have been successful, with Kabam generating around 60 per cent of its FY12 $180 million sales from those mobile titles. As for the future, the iOS version of sci-fi defence strategy game Edgeworld is in testing, while Kabam says it’s also looking beyond its midcore fan base to a more diverse audience, including casual games.

32


5

Change from last year

www.naturalmotiongames.com

NaturalMotion Games Formats:

14

/

iOS

/

Android

Demonstrating how quickly success can be redefined upwards, NaturalMotion’s CSR Racing was the exemplar everyone employed to highlight the rise of midcore free-to-play gaming – at least until Clash of Clans was released. Previously focused on paid consolequality mobile games for iOS, the company’s breakthrough in 2011 was its decision to get into free-to-play gaming early with 3D pet title My Horse. A success (for its time), this provided the foundation for the high-end drag racer, which burst onto the App Store in June following its on stage reveal at Apple’s WWDC event. In August, NaturalMotion announced the Boss Alien-developed title had generated $12 million in a month – an impressive number. And it was made even more so given the company had just closed an $11 million venture capital round.

Softography

CSR Racing My Horse Backbreaker Icebreaker Hockey Jenga

Since then, CSR Racing has remained in the top 25 in the US charts for gross revenue, generating tens of millions of dollars more for NaturalMotion; something it’s used to tidy up its business, buying Boss Alien. The UK-based outfits have also been hiring aggressively, with various projects – midcore and casual – in development, although news about technical demo Clumsy Ninja has gone quiet.

Top 50 Developer 2013

in association with

and

33


4

Change from last year

GungHo Online Formats:

New Entry

/

iOS

/

Android

In terms of recent app store performance, it’s tempting to view GungHo Online as the Japanese equivalent of Supercell (see page 37). That would be wrong, however. It’s been around much, much longer (since 1998) and is a substantial entity consisting of half a dozen studios making games for console, online, handheld and mobile devices, as well as being floated on the JASDAQ stock exchange. Yet its phenomenal success in 2012 is in some ways similar to Supercell’s, as it’s been driven by the mass market adoption of free-to-play gaming: in this case a single title, Puzzle & Dragons. The exact numbers are hard to break out from GungHo’s overall business – 2012 revenue across all divisions was $280 million – but analysts reckon Puzzle & Dragons is currently generating around $50 million a month on Android and iOS, mainly from the Japanese market, although it’s successful in Korea too. Of course, GungHo has released plenty of other mobile titles, but it is Puzzle & Dragons which, like Clash of Clans, demonstrates the winner-takes-all situation at the top of the app stores. The result is that (at time of writing) GungHo is worth $4 billion – more than Zynga, GREE or DeNA.

34

www.gungho.co.jp

Softography

Puzzle & Dragons


3

www.eamobile.com

EA Mobile Formats:

/

iOS

/

Android

/

Windows Phone

/

BB10

Change from last year

Softography

The Simpsons: Tapped Out Real Racing 3 FIFA 13 Bejeweled Blitz

While its parent is blown this way and that by the decline of retail and the ongoing console transition, EA Mobile continues to shine. It generated $269 million in FY12 sales, up 17 per cent year-on-year, and will likely beat that substantially in FY13. Nine months sales are $230 million, thanks in part to the ongoing contribution from PopCap’s mobile business. Indeed, demonstrating a ‘sum of the parts’ ethos, there’s a new confidence about EA’s mobile output, whether it’s the growing revenue from mainstays like FIFA and Madden as part of the connected Origin platform play, or the surprise success of the free-to-play The Simpsons: Tapped Out. Launched, and pulled from app stores in April because of server issues (and more), The Simpsons returned in October to generate $23 million in Q3. Combined with high-end free-to-play titles such as Real Racing 3, and the reworking of brands such as Tetris and The Sims, EA looks likely to continue to battle with Supercell for the number one top grossing publisher slot on iOS, even if it still occasionally drops the ball, as with the canned mobile release of Battlefield 3.

Top 50 Developer 2013

in association with

and

35


2

Change from last year

Rovio

www.rovio.com

Despite releasing four games in 2012, PocketGamer.biz’s number one developer last year slips one place. Like Supercell, Rovio is based in Helsinki, Finland, and it might feel aggrieved to have lost top status to its neighbour. After all, 2012 saw it break through the one billion installed base, ending the year with 263 million monthly active users.

1

Softography

Angry Birds Star Wars Angry Birds Space Bad Piggies Amazing Alex

Combined with hundreds of millions of dollars generated from merchandising – Rovio has 25,000 official branded products in China, apparently – it’s by far the most valuable Western mobile games company, even if it now prefers to label itself an entertainment media company. Equally, during 2012, it extended the Angry Birds franchise significantly with the Star Wars and Space releases – its best games so far. Bad Piggies and Amazing Alex were also solid expansions to its portfolio. Why second place? It’s a marginal call, but for all its success, Rovio is lagging when it comes to the free-to-play curve, which is where the big monetisation is going to happen. It doesn’t need extra reach or cash now, maybe, but as it looks to an IPO in 2014, it will need to demonstrate it understands what’s driving the market.

36


1

Change from last year

www.supercell.net

Supercell Formats:

New Entry

/

iOS

Everyone loves the zero to hero narrative, but although Finnish developer Supercell didn’t feature in PocketGamer.biz’s top 50 list at all for 2012, its success story is more nuanced than you might imagine. Formed in 2011 by veterans from Digital Chocolate’s Helsinki studio, it hit the ground running thanks to a $12 million VC round. Alas, Supercell launched its midcore Facebook game Gunshine just as the Facebook market was tightening. Moving its focus to tablets, it then talked up turn-based tactical shooter Battle Buddies, which was never released.

Softography

Clash of Clans Hay Day

It wasn’t until mid-2012 that Supercell demonstrated how much it had learned, launching midcore PVP city-builder Clash of Clans, and farming 2.0 title Hay Day for iOS. The rest is history. Both have remained at the top of the gross revenue charts ever since, generating what’s estimated to be more than $200 million. Indeed, not only was Clash of Clans the top grossing iOS game during January 2013, when combined with Hay Day, Supercell is the top grossing games company on iOS, beating EA into second place, even though the latter has 10 titles in the top 200.

Top 50 Developer 2013

in association with

and

37


The Top 50 Developers 2013 – at a glance

1

Supercell Page 37

2

1

3

EA Games Page 35

Page 34

14

Natural Motion Page 33

Kabam

6

Page 32

King.com

7

Page 31

8

2

9

16

10

6

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Page 36

GungHo

4 5

Rovio

Disney Page 30

DeNA Page 29

Come2us Page 28

CyberAgent  Page 25 1

Gamevil  Page 25 Imangi Studios  Page 24

7

— 11

Gameloft  Page 24 Storm8  Page 23 Backflip Studios  Page 23 Kiloo Games  Page 22

5

Big Fish Games  Page 22

24

Mojang  Page 21

15

Game Insight  Page 21 Places up/down since 2012

38

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

New entry in 2013

12

G5 Entertainment  Page 20

5

Glu Mobile  Page 20 Wooga  Page 19

4

GREE  Page 19

11

Konami  Page 18 Digital Cloud  Page 18

18

Zeptolab  Page 17 Nexon  Page 17

3

Madfinger Games  Page 16 CocoaChina/Punchbox  Page 16 Namco Bandai  Page 15

30

Halfbrick  Page 15

20

Capcom/Beeline  Page 14

22

Zynga  Page 14

14

Pocket Gems  Page 13 Telltale Games  Page 13 Creative Mobile  Page 12 Xyrality  Page 12 Ubisoft  Page 11

8

Ndemic Creations  Page 11 Mag Interactive  Page 10 —

Miniclip  Page 10

11

TinyCo  Page 9

38

NimbleBit  Page 9 WeMade  Page 8

8

Red Robot Labs  Page 8

39

Chair Entertainment/Epic  Page 7

2

PlayFirst  Page 7 Animoca  Page 6

32

— No movement since 2012

Spacetime Studios  Page 6


is spreading it’s wings... The Asian markets, and especially China are simply too hot to ignore right now, which is why Pocket Gamer.Biz is launching a series of initiatives aimed at bringing you closer to the goings on in the Asian mobile games scene.

Top 30 Chinese Developers Launched last year, the Chinese Top 30 Developers will return in the autumn celebrating the amazing growth of the market and we can expect a few new names to appear.

PocketGamer.Biz/Asia

Guide to Developing in China

Launching in Q2 2013, this will be a dedicated section of the site focusing on developments in the far East, covering Japan, Korea and China initially. With a mix of local reporters breaking the news and homegrown talent putting it into context we hope it will become an invaluable resource.

Created in associatoon with CocoaChina, this guide is intended as a starting point of your adventures in the Chinese market.

Interested in getting involved?

contact chris@steelmedia.co.uk Top 50 Developer 2013 in association with

and

39


Leading consumer media PocketGamer.co.uk, 148apps.com, Appspy.com, Qualityindex.com, Swipe and more

smartphone

Leading App Advertising Network Promote your game on over 85 leading international sites and c.30M unique users with the highly targeted smartphone alliance advertising network. Contact: advertising@smartphonealliance.com

Pocket Gamer Network Number 1 for Mobile Games Media and Developer Outreach

Business information and consultancy

Events and Developer Outreach

The latest news, features and opinion from the mobile games business plus industry reports and a range of consultancy services.

Get in touch with the cream of the development crop at our industry-leading parties, regular mobile mixers and upcoming conference!

PR and localisation Sign up for free reports, recruitment advertising, focused opportunities, event invites and more at www.pocketgamer.biz/network

Working with our colleagues at Appromoter we can now offer a fuller range of localisation and PR promotions to ensure your apps hit their target, especially suited to the non native English speaking market.

www.steelmedia.co.uk


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