ASIA-PAC LEADS MOBILE GAMING MARKET

Written by Adam Gosling

Monday, 20 February 2006

The APAC countries are well ahead of the European and North American markets in the adoption of both single-player and multiplayer mobile gaming, according Parks Associates. A adoption rate of almost double in the APAC countries presents a significant lead over the northern hemisphere, said the researcher. In the APAC countries surveyed, 28% of consumers play single-player mobile games on at least a weekly basis, compared to 13% in Europe and 8% in North America. Further, 7% of Asia-Pacific consumers play multiplayer mobile games on a weekly basis, versus 2% in both Europe and North America. quot;Cellular operators in North America and Europe are lagging behind their Asia-Pacific counterparts in mobile gaming, but they are starting to increase their focus on this area," said Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming at Parks Associates. "Large game publishers such as EA are also re-evaluating market opportunities and investing heavily in the space, so with wider deployments of 3G mobile networks and the continued development of feature-rich handsets with gamer-friendly designs, these regions should be able to reduce the international gaming gap." According to the Parks Associates report, "Networked Gaming: Driving the Future," 3D multiplayer gaming and casual PC-to-mobile gaming would both be good first steps in driving the mobile gaming market. The mobile gaming market could also benefit from innovations such as cross-platform designs that position a mobile phone as an extension platform to online PC and console games. Other innovations the report mentions include the integration of location-based services (LBS), social networking, and multiplayer mobile gaming. quot;Leveraging unique characteristics such as always-on connectivity and always-with-you ubiquity is extremely important to the success of mobile gaming," Cai said. "Focusing on brands and franchise licenses alone is not a sustainable model." Related news items Consumers Want FMC: Companies Don't See The Benefit -02/10/2007 Nokia Buys Map Company For US$8 Billion -02/10/2007 Nokia E51: Smarter Than It Looks -19/09/2007 First Windows 6 Palm In Australia -12/09/2007 Telstra Launches Another Coonan Attack -12/09/2007 Newer news items Google The Latest In Growing Spreadsheet List -08/06/2006 Premiere Global Services Eases TimeZone Confusion -06/06/2006 Opera Mobile Browser Out Of Beta -31/05/2006 Paparazzi Pics For Mobile Phones -30/05/2006 .mobi to launch in May -04/04/2006 Older news items Intellisync Buy Gives Nokia An Email Edge -22/11/2005 MOBILE MIDDLEWARE BOOMING -26/10/2005 FIND A FRIEND MOBILE LOCATION SERVICE -22/09/2005 PalmOS SELLS AT 83% PREMIUM -11/09/2005 BETTER SOFTPHONES FOR CENTRINO -23/08/2005 Tag This Now: