Gameloft full year revenue up 11%

Gameloft has announced full year sales of €122 million ($170.5m / £106m) for 2009, a year-on-year increase of 11 per cent.

Mobile games accounted for 94 per cent of sales and that segment of the business grew 12 per cent over the year. iPhone revenue reached €17.6m ($24.6m / £15.3m) - an increase of 231 per cent. In the last quarter of the year, iPhone sales increased by 115 per cent - significantly exceeding the company's expectations.

Despite a buoyant end to the year for its iPhone product however, the fourth quarter was the only quarter to see a sales decline for Gameloft of 6 per cent.

The decline, said the company, was due to its withdrawal from boxed games in January 2009 and also to a drop in the value of the dollar. On a like-for-like basis, sales for the quarter were up 7 per cent.

Europe represented 39 per cent of total sales, North America 32 per cent and the rest of the world 29 per cent.

On the basis of its full year results, the company said it expected further growth in 2010 in terms of revenue and profitability. It added that it was in the "ideal position" to benefit from the emergence of digitally distributed games on phone, tablets and consoles, from companies such as Apple, Palm, Nokia and Google.

Gameloft has already signalled its intention to develop games for the new Apple iPad, with the company showing off a version of Nova for the device when it was unveiled by Steve Jobs at the end of last month.