Mobile and social games are becoming increasingly important to Konami's overall games business, accounting for 49 per cent of its total games revenues in Q3 2011, slightly down on 50 per cent in Q2 2011 but significantly up on 17.8 per cent  in Q3 2010.Konami's record performance comfortably makes it the world's leading mobile games publisher by revenues. In contrast, established Western mobile games publishers such as EA Mobile and Gameloft have achieved comparatively modest growth.

Konami is the most successful but not the only Japanese videogames publisher to see impressive performance from its mobile social games. Capcom has long had mobile games operations and has seen mobile revenues grow from $8m in Q3 2010 to $17.4m in Q3 2011.

The Japanese mobile social network games business started to take off in 2008; it is streets ahead of Western markets. IHS Screen Digest examined the impact of this phenomenon in its recent report Japan sparks mobile social gaming craze in the West.

The leading Japanese mobile social network operators DeNA and Gree are increasingly looking to expand internationally. DeNA launched its Mobage Global platform (still in beta) in mid-2011 following its acquisition of leading iOS games publisher Ngmoco for $400m in 2010. Gree is expected to launch a rival international service in 2012, using its acquisition of US mobile social games community OpenFeint for $100m in April 2011.

With Facebook launching its new mobile games and app strategy in Q3 2011, the Western mobile social networks games business is set for growth in 2012. However, IHS Screen Digest does not expect Western services to match the success of their Japanese counterparts in the short-to-medium term.

IHS Screen Digest will provide further analysis of the mobile and mobile social network games market in its forthcoming Mobile Games Market Monitor Q3 2011 report.