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Mobile games publishers sign licensing deals
Territories covered
Western Europe
Austria,
Belgium,
Denmark,
Finland,
France,
Germany,
Greece,
Ireland,
Italy,
Netherlands,
Norway,
Portugal,
Spain,
Sweden,
Switzerland,
UK,
Central and Eastern Europe
Czech Republic,
Hungary,
Poland,
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
North America
Canada,
USA,
Asia-Pacific
China,
India,
Japan,
South Korea,
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Published:
03-Jul-09
World leading mobile games publisher EA Mobile is releasing a range of titles based on popular movie franchises as part of its summer 2009 line up. Its slate includes titles based on the latest Harry Potter and G.I. Joe films, alongside the already released Star Trek and X-Men games. Second placed Gameloft has also been active in licensing intellectual property (IP) for its range of titles. The French publisher's second half 2009 slate features games based on the forthcoming Sherlock Holmes film and titles licensed from video games publisher Sega. In Q2 2009 it released ^Terminator: Salvation\ based on the film of the same name. Glu Mobile has extended its licensing deal with video games publisher Activision and has secured the mobile rights to its lucrative Guitar Hero franchise, which had previously been held by rival Hands-On Mobile.
Our take...
Games based on IP licensed from films can be a risk; the success of the game is largely dependent on the popularity of the film and sales tend to mirror that of the movie industry, with high initial sales and a quick drop off. High licence fees and revenue shares can also limit the publishers' income. New platforms and distribution channels such as the iPhone and App Store have also made licensed IP less important. They have opened the market to a wide range of publishers and developers of original titles. Digital Chocolate, which has had a string of number one iPhone games, intends to release 100 iPhone titles in 2009, largely drawn from its own IP.
The operator-distributed mobile games market will though, in the short-to-medium term, remain the big publishers' largest market. Despite the downsides, the top publishers recognise that popular licensed content is often the easiest way of securing good placement on and achieving high sales from operators portals, helping maintain their dominance of this market.
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Analyst intelligence & notices
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