PocketGamer.biz

For Immediate Release

London, UK – 6th January 2009 – Gameloft has emerged as the best mobile games publisher in 2008 in terms of game quality, according to research conducted by industry website PocketGamer.biz.

Its PocketGamer.biz Quality Index tracks review scores across the most popular mobile games websites, and found that Gameloft scored an average of 7.95 out of 10 from 145 reviews of its titles. EA Mobile took second place with an average of 7.68 from 102 reviews, with RealArcade, Digital Chocolate and I-play making up the rest of the top five publishers.

The Quality Index also tracked the best and worst mobile games of 2008 using the same data. The best game of the year was Rally Master Pro by Fishlabs, which scored an average of 9.43 out of 10 in reviews.

Other top titles included Playman Summer Games 3 by RealArcade, Snowboard Hero by Fishlabs, Townsmen 5 by Disney Mobile, and Tetris Pop by EA Mobile. The top publisher and games charts are in full at the bottom of this press release

“Mobile games have received a bad press for their quality, but our research shows there were plenty of excellent titles available in 2008,” says Stuart Dredge, editor of PocketGamer.biz. “Gameloft’s high average score shows the company’s commitment to quality, but it’s just as encouraging to see the high average ratings of other publishers too. Anyone who’s cynical about mobile games should give some of the top titles in our chart a try – they might just change their minds!”

However, the mobile games industry continues to suffer from poor-quality branded titles, with the bottom five games in the Quality Index for 2008 all being movie licences.

“Many mobile users are cautious about paying for games, because they worry they’ll be wasting their money,” says Dredge. “It’s a shame that publishers are still making poor-quality branded games, and that operators are still promoting them. The industry needs more repeat purchases from consumers, and disappointing games won’t help.”

The PocketGamer.biz Quality Index tracks reviews of Java and BREW mobile games only – it doesn’t cover iPhone, N-Gage or Android titles. Sites tracked include Pocket Gamer, IGN Wireless, AirGamer, Mobile Game FAQs, Handy-Player, JeuxPo and MobileXP.

CONTACT

For more information, contact Stuart Dredge ( stuart@pocketgamer.co.uk)

ABRIDGED CHARTS

Note, the full publishers chart and games can be found at http://www.pocketgamer.biz

Top 10 Mobile Games Publishers for 2008 (with average rating)

1 Gameloft 7.95

2 EA Mobile 7.68

3 RealArcade 7.63

4 Digital Chocolate 7.60

5 I-play 7.52

6 Player One 7.47

7 Glu Mobile 7.43

8 HandyGames 7.41

9 Disney Mobile 7.40

10 Vivendi Games Mobile 7.17

Top 10 Mobile Games for 2008 (with publisher and average rating)

1 Rally Master Pro Fishlabs 9.43

2 Playman Summer Games 3 RealArcade 8.97

3= Snowboard Hero Fishlabs 8.83

3= Townsmen 5 Disney Mobile 8.83

5 Tetris Pop EA Mobile 8.77

6= Far Cry 2 Gameloft 8.67

6= Peggle PopCap Games 8.67

8 Soul of Darkness Gameloft 8.65

9 Castle of Magic Gameloft 8.62

10 Tower Bloxx Deluxe Digital Chocolate 8.60

Bottom Mobile Games for 2008 (with publisher and average rating)

186 The Chronicles of Narnia Disney Mobile 5.83

187 Wanted I-play 5.70

188 The Incredible Hulk Hands-On Mobile 5.53

189 Rambo Forever In-Fusio 5.50

190 Iron Man Hands-On Mobile 4.13

Notes to editors

About PocketGamer.biz

PocketGamer.biz is the UK’s mobile game industry-focused site from the highly experienced team behind PocketGamer.co.uk. It aims to cover the issues affecting the sector by providing the insightful news, features and opinion that it deserves, while working to help push this multi-billion industry forward. www.pocketgamer.biz

About the Pocket Gamer network

PocketGamer.co.uk is the UK’s most popular destination website for mobile and handheld gaming news, previews and reviews. The site was established by Steel Media in March 2006 and now reaches an audience of over 400K readers per month, generating over 1.5 million page views online, plus an additional audience via our wap and iPhone editions. www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Steel Media also publish a bi-monthly Pocket Gamer mobile games magazine in association with leading mobile operators in the UK which is distributed in-store and online with a readership of c.200K.

In addition Pocket Gamer reviews and content appear on the wap portals of leading UK operators and handset manufacturers, providing a total estimated audience in excess of 4 million each month.

Launched in July 2008, sister site PocketGamer.biz has already grown to become the industry's leading mobile games b2b resource providing news, features, opinion and data on the industry. www.pocketgamer.biz

About Steel Media

Steel Media is a leading mobile consumer technology publisher based in the UK. Headed up by Chris James and with a team boasting over 50 years of experience in consumer and contract publishing, the company currently publishes mobile and handheld gaming websites PocketGamer.co.uk and PocketGamer.fr, industry focused site PocketGamer.biz and consumer friendly mobile entertainment site PocketPicks.co.uk. Steel Media also supplies mobile gaming news and other contract services to a number of third-party publishers and brands.

For further information the Pocket Gamer network or Steel Media, contact Chris James: chris@pocketgamer.co.uk

Media Contact

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Phone: 07834 020460

Email: chris@xl-comms.com