Mobile Gaming Taking Off in 2006

According to Telephia Mobile Game Report, mobile game sales increased during the first quarter of 2006, with wireless users buying more than 8.2 million games for their cellphones in March, up 53 percent from since January 2006. The number of unique mobile game buyers also increased, up 44 percent from nearly 3.5 million in January to five million in March.

The Telephia Mobile Game Report shows that EA Mobile, I-Play, Gameloft, Namco, Hands-On Mobile, Glu Mobile, THQ Wireless, Oasys Mobile, Sony Pictures Mobile, and Mobliss were the top 10 revenue generators, accounting for 75 percent of mobile game industry revenue.

A full 12 percent of game downloads were free during the first quarter, so the measurement of performance (revenue) was determined by data collected from the telephone bills of an opt-in panel of 35,000 cell phone users.

The top five mobile game titles In terms of revenue share:

• Tetris (5.2 percent)
• Tetris Deluxe (3.6 percent)
• Bejeweled (2.6 percent)
• JAMDAT Mahjong (2.2 percent)
• Ms. Pac-Man (2.0 percent)

Why is this important to advertising? Stay tuned.

Tags: mobile gaming, 8.2 million games downloaded in March, Telephia Mobile Game Report