M:Metrics analyses US mobile gaming market
EA leading the pack with market share and top titles
Mobile consumer consumption analysts M:Metrics has released the results of its latest research, detailing the most popular US mobile games for the first quarter and revealing the current market share for mobile games publishers.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, EA Mobile is the clear leader in terms of its share of the US wireless gaming market, and appears to be asserting its dominance of sector in a similar manner to that of the traditional videogames industry.
EA Mobile currently holds 28.8 per cent of the US games download market, boosted significantly by its high profile acquisition of Jamdat. Next in line is Glu Mobile, its recent acquisition of iFone pushing the company into second place with 9.9 per cent.
Paris based Gameloft is only marginally behind, with 9.1 per cent of the market, and the remainder of the game downloads are split as follows: Hands-On Mobile (7.2), I-play (7.1), Namco (5.8), Oasys (3.4), THQ (3.1), Digital Chocolate (2.3) and Konami with 2.3 per cent share.
EA were also responsible for the top two most popular titles for the first quarter, with Tetris and Bejeweled stealing the crown from Gameloft's Platinum Solitaire in third place. Hands-On Mobile came in fourth with World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em, and Namco's arcade classic Pac-Man proved to be the fifth most popular game download for the period.
Seamus McAteer, chief product architect and senior analyst, M:Metrics, commented: "For the first time, we can offer a clear perspective on the mobile games market, based on reliable, rigorous measurement methodologies and industry-validated metrics. This data finally puts an end to the vast amount of speculation about how the mobile games market stacks up."
Whilst it's no surprise to see EA storming ahead of the competition, the gap in terms of market share for game downloads is a considerable one, and publishers are really going to need to start carefully looking at new ways to encourage consumers to download their titles.
M:Metrics recently reported a stagnation of the mobile gaming sector in the UK and Europe, noting that pricing and an overwhelming abundance of available titles was putting consumers off. The report suggested that publishers and carriers both need to work harder to draw in the mobile gaming audience and convince them to return for more after the initial "trial" following a new handset purchase.