Science Cracks Viral Marketing

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Viral marketing is a fascinating process, though not one that every company can easily master. There’s so much that goes into spreading word-of-mouth about something, and doing it reliably and cost-effectively isn’t exactly a science.That may be changing, though, based on new research.

Three military scientists from the West Point Network Science Center at the US Military Academy in West Point – Paulo Shakarian, Sean Eyre and Damon Paulo, may have found a way to find the “seed groups” to help make viral marketing more of a viable process, so that the message in mind can be spread across an entire network with ease.

Their method is based around the idea that certain individuals could catch onto a message if friends are already receiving it, which they feel is a critical breakthrough in the process. From there, it’s repeated with even more friends to see who raises the most attention when spreading the message, but pruning those who have the greatest excess.

When no one is left in the network that has a greater amount than the threshold is left, the “seed group” is then nailed down, with a message sent to every member to begin spreading the message.

Said Shakarian, “We present a method guaranteed to find a set of nodes that causes the entire population to activate – but is not necessarily of minimal size.”

It’ will be interesting to see how this process is commercialized in the future. Marketers would certainly pay to know how to get solid viral marketing results with minimal cost and effort.

Source: Technology Review

Apple Raises Download Limit

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With iOS 7 successfully launching across the board for Apple devices, the company has tweaked its ability to download applications “over-the-air”, or through regular 3G/4G connection without Wi-Fi. One key category of apps likely to benefit is, of course, games. This won’t help Infinity Blade 3, which clocks in at 1.47 GB, but many games will fall under the new 100 MB limit.

Apple confirmed today that you can download apps through the store that are no greater than 100 MB to your device without the need to connect it to a computer or Wi-Fi network. Anything above that, however, will still require the connection.

This is a significant raise from the company’s previous limit of 50 MB, and you can expect some app makers to move past their data loading limits with new applications and programs in the months ahead as a result.

Source: GigaOm

‘GTA V’ Map Harbors Secrets

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Normally, when a new game comes out, players scour it for miles on end, hoping to find “Easter eggs” that give them special collectibles or abilities otherwise not available in the game. This was certainly the case with Grand Theft Auto V when it released earlier this week, though Rockstar Games had different “Easter eggs” in mind this time around.

With the Collector’s Edition of the game, you’ll find a complete unrollable map for Los Santos and its neighboring Blaine County. However, the real treat is turning off the lights and turning off a UV light. Once you do this, you’ll expose secrets and notes embedded within the map, including circled locations and messages.

One message in particular reads: “Lago Zan Cudo. Great ocean, highway north, through north chumash, 0.5 miles pas Raton Canyon. When guard rain ends, follow the dirt road down the docks. Bring $500,000 cash. Xxxxx.”

Some other messages indicate that Los Santos could be home to strange alien activity, including a picture of an alien with the words “They’re here!” underneath.

Grand Theft Auto V is available now for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Source: PSFK

Smartphone Usage Evolves

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When someone usually purchases a smartphone, it’s generally based around the idea that they want to keep in good touch with family and loved ones. However, a new study from the Pew Research Center indicates that users are making these devices work for them in other ways.

The full report released by the team this week indicates that while a whopping 81 percent of people generally use smart phones to keep in touch via text message, other features are almost as highly used. These include 60 percent of users who look things up on the Internet; 52 percent sending or receiving email; 50 percent downloading new apps to their device and 49 percent using their device to seek out directions and recommendations, based on locations.

The figures have increase over the past few years in a number of ways. Back in 2010, texting sat at around 65 percent, but has since risen to 81. Meanwhile, apps showed a tremendous increase, going from 22 percent in 2010 to 50 percent in just three’ years time.

Source: TheNextWeb

‘GTA V’ Scores $800 Million Debut

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The Grand Theft Auto series has gone through a five-year wait for the newest chapter, Grand Theft Auto V, which came out this Tuesday. However, it doesn’t look like the desire to play a new chapter in the series has waned one bit.

Take-Two Interactive Software, the publishing company that works alongside Rockstar Games, has announced that the game has sold more than $800 million worth of units in its first 24-hour period – and that’s not even including such markets as Brazil and Japan.

That translates to approximately 13 million units, which marks the highest first-day retail sales in Rockstar’s history, as well as the GTA series in itself. Grand Theft Auto IV, the previous release, sold approximately $300 million in its first day of release.

This could lead to a huge sales spike over the holiday season, and could also mean good news for other blockbusters-to-be, including Call of Duty: Ghosts and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Source: NBC News

 

 

‘Saints Row’ Trolls ‘GTA’

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s not clear if Deep Silver was flattering or just busting on Grand Theft Auto V when it started sending tweets tagged with #GATV earlier this week. If you had to read that twice, it’s understandable – it says “GAT.” The Saints Row IV publisher took advantage of internet traffic on the day of GTA V’s launch gravitating to #GTAV on Twitter. And it had the angle to do it, drawing its hashtag from Saints Row IV character Johnny Gat.

In a way, Deep Silver is flattering GTA’s dominance of gamer mindshare when it comes to open world action games. It’s a category where Deep Silver is now competing after acquiring Saints Row from THQ. As a testament to just how big a blip the GTA V launch was on everyone’s radar yesterday, Ubisoft tried its own stunt on social sites, where it gave the game a nod while reminding people about its own next-gen open world game, Watch Dogs.

Deep Silver’s social stunt falls in line with what it has said about marketing Saints Row and how it wants to put its own stamp on the franchise by really drilling down on its zaniness. Yesterday’s #GATV madness started with a series of promoted tweets, including posts from Deep Silver head of marketing and PR, Aubrey Norris:

Plenty of people were calling Deep Silver’s tweets one of the most genius trolling moves ever.

One person on the thread shared this point of view:

Truth or troll, it’s hard to tell. That went for a lot of the thread, where tweets like these next two made you wonder just how much of what was going on was tongue in cheek, real typos, or just the diehard Saints Row community trolling the rest of us.

More TV For Xbox One

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In an effort to get the jump on its competition – namely secondary viewing apps and Sony’s PlayStation 4 – Microsoft has announced that it’s reviewing hundreds of various options for original programming for the Xbox One service. While no official programming has been confirmed yet – outside of the Halo series that is being produced by Steven Spielberg – Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer indicated that the sky is the limit when it comes to choices.

“They have literally hundreds of ideas that they are incubating right now,” he stated talking with Bloomberg. “We will have some new announcement for TV shows coming pretty soon.”

The company already announced a deal with the National Football League for exclusive viewing and interaction options with the Xbox One, but other international sports could be involved as well. “We believe sports is a very interesting category globally.”

Look for more announcements of services in the months ahead.

Source: Bloomberg

‘Skylanders’ Soars To $1.5 Billion

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Activision expected big things from its Skylanders franchise when it initially launched in 2011 – but little did it realize just how colossal it would become. (That’s not a pun meant for Giants.)

The franchise has managed to make more than $1.5 billion since its launch two years ago. In addition, Skylanders Giants, last year’s release, played a huge part in that with 500,000 units sold within the first two weeks of release – an unprecedented number considering that it sold with a portal and three figures for a higher-than-retail price. Not surprisingly, this news comes right after Disney announced it sold 294,000 copies of Disney Infinity in the first two weeks.

“We’ve accomplished this unmatched level of success by consistently delivering magic to our passionate, young fans,” said Activision CEO Eric Hirschberg in a statement. “And the best is yet to come.”

That “best” that Hirshberg refers to is Skylanders: Swap Force, which will release next month for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and other platforms. With new character switching abilities and fresh new gameplay techniques – like the ability to jump, at last! – it should have no problem becoming a best seller this holiday season.

Source: GamesIndustry International

YouTube To Roll Out Offline Viewing

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Hearing the cries of various users of its applications, YouTube has announced that it will update them with offline viewing options starting this November, enabling viewers to see their favorite videos through storage for up to 48 hours time. Smartphone and tablet users can look forward to more YouTube viewing outside of WiFi range and without exceeding their mobile bandwidth caps.

In the creators’ blog posted earlier this week, the post indicates, “This upcoming feature will allow people to add videos to their device to watch for a short period when an Internet connection is unavailable. So your’ fans ability to enjoy your videos no longer has to be interrupted by something as commonplace as a morning commute.”

Creators don’t necessarily have to enable offline viewing if they don’t want to, but it’s nice to have the option open.

Source: GigaOm

 

Japan IPhone Game Spending Surpasses US

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Fresh August data on global mobile game revenues reveals several changes that illustrate the global battle that Apple, Google and other digital giants are fighting to gain mobile market share and accelerate growth. For the first time since the launch of the iPhone back in 2007, the US is no longer the top grossing country for iPhone’s most popular content: games. Japan, with a history of spending billions on mobile games before the arrival of smartphones and tablets, is taking the lead in the app stores of Google and Apple big time.

Considering the explosive growth over the last months, we anticipate iPhone game revenues in Japan to exceed $1 billion this year. In August, Google Play game revenues were slightly higher than those of iOS, securing Japans’ position as the world leader in Google Play game spending. Korea is the only other large country where Google Play beats iOS game revenues. In the US and most European countries (except for Germany and Spain) iOS enjoys a comfortable lead. That will probably see Google Play generate more revenues than iOS by the end of the year.

China is a key country for Apple, and not just because of its size. As alternative Android markets flourish, Google will struggle to get serious revenues from China. Already China takes second place behind the US on iPad game revenues. On the iPhone it only leaves Japan and the US in front. Still, overall iOS revenues are less than a quarter of that in the US.

To illustrate the fact that there is major money going around in Chinese mobile gaming outside the reach of Apple and Google, consider the following acquisition that occurred this August. Chinese search giant Baidu acquired mobile app marketplace 91 Wireless from Netdragon for $1.85 billion. The company operates two app store market places that combined have seen over 10 billion downloads since it launch in 2007.

Apple’s new 5c and 5s iPhones will not lead to a significant change in market share for iOS versus Android. These devices will ensure Apple returns to growth figures needed to keep ahead of Google Play and other Android stores, though. In spring this year Google Play game revenues were at a level of about 35 percent of that generated via iOS. Less than half a year later, that figure has surpassed the 50 percent mark.

There is no question that Google Play game revenues are currently growing faster compared to iOS. Apple’s uptake in China with their cheaper devices and the rumored China Mobile deal should get them back on pace. Still, iOS is facing a different challenge in maintaining its lead over Google Play and Amazon in the US and Western Europe. The launch of the 5s and 5c will help this in the short term, but not solve the bigger issue of maintaining Apple’s appeal to the early adopters.

One of Apple’s biggest assets is Supercell. Their Clash of Clans and Hayday are continuously in the top 5 grossing games but are not available in Google Play. If Supercell decides to launch on Google Play the effect will be significant to say the least. Reportedly Supercell is considering this move, but there is no official word as yet.

The numbers show that so-called mid-core games are improving in their market share, and casual games losing some of their grip on the top ten. The top 20 grossing rankings are now dominated by mid-core games and social casino style apps, Candy Crush being the obvious exception to the rule. It took a while, but game enthusiasts and even the majority of core gamers are playing on mobile devices, specifically tablets. And these consumers are used to spending good money on games.

While the gender divide for mobile gamers is equal, the majority of paying mobile gamers is male. Russia (which surpassed Germany in iPad game spending a couple months ago) has not one casual game in the top 10, only mid-core games. If you have a mid-core iPad game, localize in Russian first, then German!

Machine Zone’s Game of War has been tested over the last months in countries including France, Singapore, Australia and Mexico and launched globally end of July. It illustrates the eagerness of core gamers to try out new high quality games on their tablets and smartphones. Machine Zone has taken a close look at monetization of other mid-core games, because it is bringing in serious cash from the start. The coming three months will learn if their business model and game quality is so well balanced that they will stick around the highest rankings.

iOS Publishers

The top 3 iOS publishers remained unchanged in August, with Supercell still claiming the number one spot with just two games. The Finish publisher is followed by King.com and EA. Naver is now the top performing Asian publisher, climbing 2 places to number 4. SEGA Corporation has entered the charts at number 13, with Chain Chronicle as their best performing game. PopCap has re-entered the charts this month thanks to the huge success of the newly released Plants vs. Zombies 2. There are 6 Asian publishers in this month’s top 20, a relatively high amount for a usually Western dominated list.

Source: Newzoo and Distimo. Rankings based on gross sales.

iOS Games

Clash of Clans from Supercell has reclaimed the top spot from King.com’s Candy Crush Saga, while Hay Day, also from Supercell, remains at number 3. The Simpsons Tapped Out from EA has jumped 5 spots to number 6 in the charts, followed by Pet Rescue Saga which climbed an impressive 9 places. Big Fish Casino continues its descent down the charts now sitting at number 15. Game of War from Machine Zone Inc has debuted at number 9, with LINE Pokopang also entering high at number 12.

Source: Newzoo and Distimo. Rankings based on gross sales.

Google Play Store Publishers

LINE Corporation and CJ E&M Corp remain on top of the top 20 list. Mobage however has fallen from number 3 to 6, as GungHoOnline Entertainment climbs to take their position. The rest of the top 20 is almost unchanged, except for Namco Bandai’s ascent to number 9, which pushed GREE to 11. SEGA Corporation is debuting at position 11, having also entered the iOS charts at number 13. Gamevil has lost the most revenues this month, falling 5 places to number 19. Social Quantum re-entered the charts at number 20 with their hit game Megapolis.

Source: Newzoo and Distimo. Rankings based on gross sales.

Google Play Store Games

Candy Crush is still the number one game followed by Puzzle & Dragons. LINE Pokopang is now number three, having climbed 4 places. This leaves Everybody’s Marble for Kakao and LINE Wind Runner at positions 4 and 5 respectively. Wind Runner for Kakao , LINE POP and Marvel: War of Heroes all fell down the charts and now sit at positions 12, 13 and 17. Pet Rescue Saga from the number 5 publisher, King.com, debuted at number 16 while Keri-Hime Sweets from Gungho Entertainment entered at bottom place. Of the top Playstore games, 16 of them are from Asian publishers, compared to just 3 in the top 20 iOS games.

Source: Newzoo and Distimo. Rankings based on gross sales.

For full reports, visit Newzoo Global Game Markets Reports.