Archive for the ‘Newzoo’ tag
Apple domineert markt mobiel gamen
Het aantal mobiele gamers in Nederland is in een jaar tijd gegroeid van 3,2 miljoen naar 4,4 miljoen. Hiervan speelt 68 procent op een smartphone en 18 procent op een tablet. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van Newzoo.
Report: Number of U.S. mobile gamers reaches 100 million
A new report from international market research firm Newzoo is highlighting the ever-increasing popularity of mobile gaming. According to the Mobile Games Trend Report, the number of Americans who play video games on their smartphone, tablet, or iPod Touch has surpassed 100 million.
Newzoo says 69 percent of U.S. mobile gamers play on a smartphone, while 21 percent play on a tablet, and 18 percent play on an iPod Touch. The firm’s latest trend report claims 13 percent of all time spent on games worldwide in 2011 was on a mobile device, totaling more than 130 million hours a day.
The firm also estimates that 9 percent of total game spending last year was on mobile titles and says the free-to-play (F2P) business model is increasingly converting players into continuous payers. F2P games already account for 90 percent of mobile game spending in the U.S., Newzoo says. In February, the five top-grossing titles were all free, with Dragonvale, Smurfs’ Village, and Zynga Poker topping the charts. Paid games enter the top five at launch, Newzoo says, but drop out within a month. Newszoo says it’s proof that monetizing games as a free service can provide a more continuous and higher revenue stream.
Although smartphones and tablets are often seen as “casual” platforms, Newzoo says there is major opportunity for “core” games to be offered as full titles or game extensions, as 62 percent of core gamers in the U.S. also play on mobile devices. Developers that can combine core genres with the games-as-a-service business model on mobile platforms will be the ones that reap the most benefit from what Newzoo is dubbing “mid-core” games.
“The recent launch of the new iPad did not bring us the edgeless display and other innovations we were hoping for, but…the two main upgrades, processing power and resolution, dramatically improve the immersive experience of ‘core’ games on that platform,” said Newzoo CEO Peter Warman. ”The intuitive interface forces developers to offer more casual gameplay, ensuring the games cater to a far broader audience, including the young moms and dads who used to play core games on their PC, Xbox, or PlayStation. Immersive experience and casual gameplay combined is what ‘mid-core’ gaming is about.”
Filed under: games, mobile, VentureBeat 
Report: Sci-fi MMOs dominated by free-to-play players
As Electronic Arts prepares to release its heavily publicized, subscription-based online game Star Wars: The Old Republic, market analysis firm Newzoo has released new data showing science fiction and space-themed MMOs are dominated by free-to-play games.
Sci-fi and space massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) are played by an estimated 14 million people in the U.S., according to Newzoo’s 2011 MMO Report, but a full 68 percent say they only play free-to-play MMOs, with half of the remainder saying they play some mix of free and subscription-based games.
The ratios are similar in Europe, where 76 percent of sci-fi MMO players ignore subscription games, and in the emerging markets of Brazil, Mexico and Russia, where 80 percent of sci-fi MMO players play exclusively for free, Newzoo said. Paid subscription MMOs fare somewhat better in Asia, where 52 percent of sci-fi MMO players pay for at least one subscription.
Newzoo’s report comes as more and more MMOs transition to a free-to-play model as a way to attract players, who may eventually pay much more for in-game items. Warner Bros.’ DC Universe Online saw its revenues increase 700 percent following a recent move to a free model, and even venerable subscription-based MMO World of Warcraft recently expanded its free trial to allow unlimited free play up through level 20. Last month, Newzoo estimated total U.S. spending on all free-to-play titles has increased 24 percent in 2011.
EA is bucking this trend by charging upwards of $13 per month for access to The Old Republic, which is currently in beta and launches fully on December 20 . EA CEO John Riccitiello said in September that the game would need about half a million subscribers to break even, and the company says the beta test has currently attracted over 2 million players.
While Newzoo CEO Peter Warman said he didn’t want to use the MMO data to make any predictions about the fate of The Old Republic, he did say he was ”very curious to see how [many free-to-play] sci-fi gamers EA will be able to convert to [paid subscription] gamers.” EA could also find success by converting subscribers from successful fantasy-themed MMOs, such as World of Warcraft and Rift, Warman said.
Filed under: games 
Brazil social gaming market to hit $238 million by 2014
The market for social games in Brazil is expected to grow as large as $238 million by 2014, according to a study released by social research firm SuperData. That’s a significant increase from the $136 million the market is expected to be worth by the end of this year.
The study, which is based on the user behavior of 2,414 users in the region also concluded that in that same time frame the size of the social gaming userbase in Brazil will grow to 52.3 million. Currently Brazil accounts for 35 percent of the Latin American social gaming market, which itself makes up five percent of the worldwide market.
A similar study released last month by Amsterdam-based research firm Newzoo revealed that the current userbase of social gamers in Brazil is around 35 million. Earlier this year SuperData released a study showing that virtual goods revenues across all of Latin America are expected to rise to $517 million by next year, with Brazil leading the way, followed by Colombia and Mexico.
Currently the average revenue per paying user in Brazil is $1.87, approximately $0.50 less than in North America. The most popular form of payment is local electronic wallet solutions, such as Payseguro. The largest social network in Brazil is Orkut, which boasts 66 million active users, nearly 60 percent of which hail from Brazil. Games based on platforms other than Facebook, such as Orkut, are expected to reach $5.6 billion in revenue by 2014.
“With social game revenue growing more than 36 percent over the past year alone, there are real opportunities to capture market share and make the most of this first-mover advantage,” Janelle Benjamin, SuperData’s Director of Research, said in a statement.
Newzoo: Free-to-play MMO spending increases 24 percent in U.S.
Americans are spending 24 percent more on free-to-play massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) this year than they did in 2010, according to a new market report from Newzoo.
Consumers spent a total of $4.9 billion on free-to-play (F2P) MMO games across thirteen key Western, Asian and emerging markets in 2011, with 47 percent ($1.2 billion) of all MMO spending coming from the United States, according to the 2011 MMO Games Market Report. This is significantly higher than the 39 percent spent in 2010, but is still lower than spending in European (53 percent), Asian (51 percent) and Emerging (59 percent) markets.
The report also found that consumer preferences differ significantly across regions and countries when it comes to business models and genres, or whether players prefer browser or client-based games. Twenty-four percent of Asian MMO players prefer only client-based games, a figure that drops to 15 percent in Emerging markets, for example. In all regions, Newzoo says approximately one-third of gamers play both browser and client-based MMOs, but the fastest growing F2P games widely vary across countries. According to iQU tracking data of 80 million online gamers around the world, Wargaming’s World of Tanks tops the charts in Europe including Russia, Riot Games’ League of Legends is number one in the U.S. and AeriaGames’ Shaiya leads in Latin America.
Despite growth in the MMO market, however, the report finds individual games and publishers are struggling to grow or maintain revenue level and market share, especially in Western markets. Due to the number of high-quality MMO games now available to consumers, Newzoo predicts 2012 will be a year of consolidation, where the increasing number of Asian online game companies seeking expansion outside the continent could play a key role.
“The MMO games market is rapidly turning global. It has become increasingly important for MMO developers and publishers think carefully about which titles to publish in what territories and how to adapt the games according to local preferences, including monetization models that work best,” said Peter Warman, Newzoo CEO and co-author of the 2011 MMO Games Market Report.
Warman said that rRecent layoffs and the sudden death of Lego Universe are serious warnings for the MMO games industry. He said that success will also strongly depend on “how MMO companies extend their unique gameplay and intellectual property across other game platforms, specifically mobile.”
Filed under: games 
