What a Gameloft Store Means for Carriers
Gameloft offers a customizable game distribution platform that gives end users access to gaming content via carriers.
As an old player in the mobile gaming business, Gameloft has been involved with carriers for a long time. However, what may be surprising is how Gameloft has continued creating profitable relationships with carriers even after the App Store explosion.
“Gameloft has always been good about adapting to different countries and end users expectations and that’s probably why we are still in the carrier business while most of our competitors have left.”
— Yann Fourneau, Worldwide Carriers Relations
The carrier billing business model may have lost some of its flame as the App Store and Google Play took over the market, but it never disappeared.
Carriers will always have a place in mobile gaming.
The role of carriers may not be felt much in North America and Europe, but they continue to be the main content providers in many emerging markets.
In many of the countries around the world end users skipped over the App Store and Google Play due in large part to a lack of credit card adoption. In these markets, carrier billing offers a unique opportunity to access a huge population that is looking for fun and engaging content.
“As long as everything is based on credit cards there are a lot of countries that will never have access to the services that require them.”
— Yann Fourneau, Worldwide Carriers Relations
The unique position of carriers puts them in a good place to provide content to an entire generation of mobile users. In order to ease the process, Gameloft offers a huge catalogue of games, including both Gameloft games and games from other studios, to carriers willing to adopt its store.
“Mobile Gaming Netflix”
Gameloft is ready to provide both the content and the platform for carriers.
Carriers have been working to get video and music content back into their ecosystem, but games are still something of a mystery. How to use gaming in a way that isn’t just a marketing tool to attract users, but an easy way to generate revenue is still largely unknown or simply not understood.
Fortunately, Gameloft has developed a store specifically with carriers in mind. Users can click on an app and have access to a huge catalogue of games. It’s similar to how Netflix works for films and TV, but with games instead.
This Netflix model for gaming is something Gameloft has successfully built and implemented for carriers around the world, giving them a way to generate revenue with games.
What having content ready to distribute means for carriers:
- No cost
- No production
- No logistics
The stores are preloaded on phones and allow users to download or buy a full catalogue of games. The billing is then done directly through the carrier.
Carrier Billing Advantage
“Without content there’s a risk that operators will become a simple commodity. Once they are a simple commodity they will have no choice but to lower the price of data. That’s what’s happening in Europe and North America.”
— Yann Fourneau, Worldwide Carriers Relations
The issue with becoming a simple commodity is it turns carriers into something like a pipe or a highway. They would be the infrastructure for all the data.
When all carriers are competing in the same space and offering the same infrastructure, the only way to increase the user base is by lowering the price.
One way that carriers have been fighting against the inevitable fight to the bottom is by bundling all their services into one package to increase the value of their offer. The idea is to bundle together mobile plans with a cable subscription, internet, and fixed telephone lines as well.
The other less explored option is to increase their value by providing content that can take advantage of the carrier billing system.
The Gameloft Store offers just that.
The Gameloft Store gives carriers control over the content operation and allows them to leverage their advantages in the market by integrating everything into their billing systems.
“Carriers still have the billing method, and it will always be the superior billing method because it’s connected to the SIM.”
— Yann Fourneau, Worldwide Carriers Relations
There are many users that are willing to pay for the apps they want with the carrier billing system. This translates into a huge market for carriers if they provide the content users want.
Adaptable Gameloft Offer
Gameloft has custom gaming app stores ready for carriers.
Gameloft stores can be completely adapted to a carrier’s needs. It’s a fully adaptable solution for carriers that want to give their users a fully functioning gaming app store.
The idea is to provide a store that is both useful and full of content. The fact that the store comes with access to Gameloft games means there will always be a large catalogue ready for end users.
All the Games are fully adapted to every phone in the market.
A lot of work goes into testing every version of every game on every phone to ensure the quality of the gaming experience. A part of that process includes taking steps to reduce the overall size of the game to make it easier to manage for carriers and to allow users to have more games on their phones.
Gameloft does all this without taking anything away from the experience of the game.
“There would be no kind of gaming on the mobile platform without carriers, so they should be there. The thing is how are they going to be there and how will their role be defined.”
— Yann Fourneau, Worldwide Carriers Relations
In today’s mobile world where more and more people are using their phones for daily tasks, the role of carriers as more than the infrastructure behind phones needs to be addressed. Having content ready and integrated into the carrier billing system is one of the best ways to address the issue, but it can be hard to have engaging content that end users want.
Gameloft stands out by having a real store filled with high quality games ready to offer carriers from day one.
