SAN FRANCISCO—The U.S. mobile gaming industry rang up $47 million in sales in the second quarter of 2006 as nearly 13.5 million wireless users downloaded at least one game, according to the latest figures from Telephia.
The market research firm said on-deck mobile game downloads have increased by 15 percent since the third quarter of 2005, while revenues jumped 63 percent. Electronic Arts Mobile continued to dominate the playing field with its Tetris franchise, which was accountable for 5.1 percent of all mobile game revenues.
Analysts say subscription sales models are largely responsible for boosting revenues substantially while downloads have seen only modest increases.
EA Mobile, which last year acquired Jamdat Mobile Inc. in a blockbuster deal, published five of the top ten money-makers in the recent quarter, Telephia said. EA Mobile consistently ranks as the leading game maker in reports from Telephia and competing market research firm M:Metrics.
“In less than a year, average monthly mobile game revenues have increased by nearly two-thirds, from $28.7 (million) to $46.9 million during the most recent quarter,” said Kanishka Agarwal, Telephia’s vice president of new products. “Backed by an increasingly growing audience, both big gaming brands and new upstarts have taken a slice of that revenue pie.”
EA hopes to build on their lead with a wireless version of its Madden NFL 07, which was released this week for Sprint Nextel Corp. subscribers. The title allows gamers to choose from more than 50 plays and features NFL-licensed teams and players.
