More money moving to mobile gaming

April 12, 2005 - source: BWCS

Investment money is flowing into the mobile video games sector at a faster rate than ever before argues a new report from Screen Digest. Companies interested in this sector have poured around euros 327 million into during the period 1999 to the end of 2004. However, the report points out, over 50% of this total came during last year. Among the major players to receive a fillip from new investment were US companies Jamdat Mobile and Mforma Group, and French outfit In-Fusio.

During 2004, consumers spent an estimated euros 778 million globally on mobile gaming, compared to euros 380 million in 2003. As a measure of the renewed interest in this sector, Screen Digest points out that there were a reported total of 19 mergers and acquisitions among mobile gaming companies during last year, compared to only four the year before.

With investment activity increasing, the whole sector is also expected to benefit from the launch of Sony's new PlayStation Portable gaming console. While this new offering is much more sophisticated than the games on offer on the mobile handsets, its availability is expected to drive interest and enthusiasm for all handheld gaming activities. Over half a million new PSP mobile consoles were sold in its first two days on the market in the US.

At the moment, the report agrees that it is still only a small minority of mobile users who look for games on their phones and the authors believe a "cultural shift" will be needed before mobile gaming can command a massive following of users that see their phones as primarily an entertainment centre. However, with the money flowing into the gaming sector, mobile users with idle thumbs will find it increasingly easy to search out something on their handset with which to entertain themselves.