Target Market and Platform Choices In Gaming Industry.
The Game industry increased its growth year by year. The Mobile sector also grew in volume with a faster acceleration thanks to its easy accessibility and mobility. We can observe that the mobile gaming industry has gained a significant pace in terms of revenue in the field of gaming by examining the data from 2021. Moreover, the number of mobile gamers and the annual revenue volume of the gaming industry is reaching $178 billion. The mobile sector’s annual growth is still increasing at 10% and above.
According to the New zoo report of the overview of the revenue volume based on device usage, 52% of the market of 178 billion dollars is mobile, 20% is PC, and 28% in console games.
In the mainstream approach, strategies are prepared by calculating revenue according to the distribution of devices. However, players make their choices based on the experience the games offer them, not on devices nor platforms. That’s why good games can be successful on any platform and always generate revenue.
For example, when a mobile game generates $100m in revenue, it also generates in other platforms as well
As Arvis games, one of our fields is Board Games. According to the market reports which has a market of $13B and %10+ YoY growth annually.
Since Board games are physical products, they are constantly in front of the eyes of the player at home, and in this way, companies can strengthen their brand perception in the long term. If you have bought a board game from a company, regardless of the platform, you probably want to follow other games that will be released. In our recent surveys, we learned that 90% of our board game audience is also interested in our digital games. It can be affected due to the type of our Board Game as it was Battle Royale.
While the games are being made, market research generally looks at the general device revenue data and determines the platform where the game will be released based on the device distribution. However, two issues are overlooked in these data. The first one is the revenue distribution of the games according to their genre, and the second is the impact of the intellectual property on the different platforms they are currently in.
Income Distribution by Game Types
Casual/Puzzle type games are highly popular in Turkey. According to the 2021 report of the “Sensor Tower” analysis site, casual games constitute 26% of the revenue distribution of the gaming industry.
When we examine the remaining revenue distribution; The mid-core segment, which includes our digital games as Arvis Games, appeals to a more experienced player base and has a 60% share, while Casino games have a 9% share, and Sports and Racing games have a 4% share.
Mid-core games, on the other hand, are divided into strategy, role-playing games, and action games according to genres. In this distribution, the biggest area is followed by role-playing games (47%) and strategy games (34%).
Impact and Revenue Distributions of Intellectual Property (IP)
Intellectual property (IP) is a product that consists of coherent universes/worlds that players or fanbases follow fondly. IPs like The Witcher, Angry birds, Marvel, and Lord of the Rings are some of the most recent examples that go beyond games.
In the process of creating a work, the conversion of an idea into an IP is possible if that idea or universe is loved by the masses. In this field, more comprehensive games of Mid-core and above are much more successful in bringing together new and loveable worlds with the players.
PUBG, Call of Duty, FIFA, Football Manager, Pokémon, Minecraft, Diablo, Warcraft, Roblox, Hearthstone and Lineage are the most known examples of IPs in the gaming industry.
The source of the success of these games in the field of mobile gaming is the recognition of the IPs they are in by the players on other devices and platforms. With the increase in the accessibility of games with mobile platforms, the IP-oriented success of these games regardless of their platforms allows them to form a significant part of mobile game revenues.
To give a more direct example of IP usage examples in mobile games, we can mention Supercell, a Mid-core and above game publisher, which sold to Tencent for $10.7 billion in the past years. Supercell managed to create its fan base with the consistent worlds created within its games and succeeded in transforming its games into IPs. With the success of these IPs, their value continues to increase day by day.
PC and console games are more likely to convert to IPs than mobile games, mainly because they are more comprehensive. Of course, this does not prevent the games developed for PC and console from generating a considerable revenue in the mobile market, as well as the fact that they are on a more accessible platform, increasing the revenue multipliers.
As a result, although the marketing and branding strategies for each studio are different, creating IP and ensuring the consistency of the games within themselves is one of the most important factors that strengthen the brand value. As Arvis Games, we move forward believing that a good gaming experience will be successful in all genres and platforms. With this belief, we aim to ensure that our mobile game “Fight Buddy”, developed as a continuation of our global IP “Board Royale” can expand this universe and our players can experience this on their mobile platforms, as well.
“Fight Buddy” is currently undergoing tests with its first soft launch attempt. We hope that our IP, which started with the “Board Royale” board game, will take its place among other successful IPs first on mobile and then on other platforms.
Atakan Cankorur / CEO of Arvis Games
