LEDBURY, United Kingdom—Cellular operators must do more to promote their gaming services or risk stunting the growth of the mobile entertainment market, according to a new study from international telecommunications consultancy BWCS.
By 2007 there will be more than 200 million mobile subscribers regularly playing games on their handsets, generating annual revenues of some $7.8 billion, according to “Play Away: The Future of Mobile Entertainment.” However, this huge growth in the popularity of mobile gaming can only come about if operators begin to focus more of their energies on the marketing of entertainment applications.
“A number of major developers that BWCS has spoken with have complained of a lack of promotion of mobile gaming services by network and portal operators,” said BWCS consultant and report co-author Arthur Drewitt. “If service providers fail to wake up to the potential of wireless gaming then some of these new services could go virtually unnoticed by subscribers. Some of the smaller applications developers would no doubt be forced out of business if their products fail to catch on with the public.”
