#2014trends

2. Free to Play vs. Premium

Free to Play games will continue ruling the mobile games market (as the top grossing charts will continue dominated by this kind of games). We may see though the emergence of Premium titles that become popular, although they won’t make the top 5 in the grossing charts. As the mobile games industry matures, the users are also maturing and some of the gamers will progressively get tired of free games that are clones and demand more quality and innovating games, even though it’s paying. That will be the opportunity for indie developers to survive and success. As the mobile games market becomes more and more saturated with all kinds of titles, indie game studios will have the opportunity to shine as they have the potential to create innovative, original and high quality games that they can’t afford to give away for free.

3. Publishers

Publishers will become more important. As the app markets become more and more saturated with apps, it has become really difficult for small companies to make their title visible in the huge app stores. That's why indie developers will seek out larger companies to assist them. Those big companies have the experience, the resources and the know-how in how to be discovered. We already have seen Rovio, Halfbrick or Kabam publishing thirdparty-developed games.

4. Platforms

Developers will continue supporting Apple first, as they make more money in the App Store with less development effort. But Android will continue to gather momentum as an important platform for a games success. iOS will continue being the top revenue platform, but Android will continue being the top platform in terms of number of users. We also will see how the Windows Phone slowly exerts its influence in the marketplace, with more developers producing apps for them, however they will remain far behind from iOS and Android numbers.

5. Emerging Markets

As we said in our 2013 Recap in the Mobile Games Industry (I), Asian markets are the ones driving the mobile games industry forward, with their players generating half of the global revenue. That growth is lead by Korea, Japan and China. South Korea’s app market grew 759% in 2013, China 280% and Japan 245% (according to Distimo).  We think this year China will be at the forefront of that growth. With a population of 1,3 billion people and over 250 million active smartphone install base, that market it seems is going to become the new El Dorado for the lucky mobile games company who get there at the right time. We may also see a lot of opportunities for mobile developers in other emerging markets like South East Asia, Brazil, the Middle East or northern Africa.

6. Messaging apps