A new organization, the Nevada Esports Alliance (NVEA) is aiming to make Nevada the premiere location for esports in the world. The organization officially debuted on February 9 with the singular goal of advancing the development of Nevada as a global esports hub.
Vungle, the leading performance marketing platform for in-app video ads, recently released an in-depth mobile advertising benchmark report for 2017, providing insights for how advertisers and marketers can engage with their most valuable mobile consumers and increase their mobile return on investment (ROI).
Here are a few of the key takeaways from the report.
This is part of a series on the convergence of video games and the casino industry and opportunities for non-casino game developers. Part 1 focused on mobile games. Part 2 focused on skill-based games. This is the final article in the series and focuses on esports and virtual reality.
Esports and virtual reality are coming to casinos. At the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas, esports have already arrived and at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) esports and virtual reality were on display in major ways. Multiple panels were dedicated to the topic of esports and Gamblit Gaming showcased the possible future of VR and esports on casino floors with their G-Sports station and Virtual Reality Cube (VRC).
This is part of a series on the convergence of video games and the casino industry and opportunities for non-casino game developers. This article focuses on skill-based games. Part 1 focuses on mobile games. Part 3 focuses on spectator events such as esports and virtual reality.
At the recent Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, panels and attractions with companies such as Caesars, IGT, Gamblit Gaming, GameCo and Competition Interactive made one thing abundantly clear: The video game and casino industries are converging. This promises not only new sources of revenue for casinos, but new opportunities for game developers outside the casino industry as well.
This is Part 1 in a series on the convergence of the games and casino industries and how non-casino game developers can get involved in emerging areas of the casino industry. This article focuses on mobile gaming. Part 2 focuses on skill-based games. Part 3 covers esports and virtual reality.
The casino industry is undergoing a bit of a renaissance. With demographics in casino patrons rapidly changing, casinos are looking at ways to engage with younger audiences through the things they love as well as keep older patrons engaged even away from their properties. As a result the industry is starting to see more innovation than it has in years.
Games have long helped people on a personal level by providing entertainment, mental exercises, exposure to different ideas, and even new connections. But as social consciousness grows across the world, some are looking to the unique interaction games offer to build awareness, activism, and relationships on a variety of issues.
Among those who are attempting to use games for more altruistic ends are studios like Bandura Games, Moocho Brain Interactive and Neopix. While they hail from different parts of the world and have different goals, all three are seeking to use games to improve the world around them in significant ways.
The social casino gaming track at Casual Connect Europe brought together big-name leaders and independent innovators for a focused look on how the social casino industry can continue thriving.
Playtika SVP Elad Kushnir’s fireside chat with GamesBeat reporter Jeff Grubb set an introspective tone for the track. The two discussed multiple challenges that the social casino market faces and how they might be overcome — including overall growth, different platforms, foreign markets and the top-heavy nature of the sector.
One Third of Gamers Say De-Stressing Element of Games Positively Impacts Job, Relationships, Parenting or Schoolwork
App Annie has just released its second quarter market index report, the most complete and accurate analysis available of the global app market. The report shows the macro trends that are emerging in the app ecosystem across countries, stores, and categories. Sourced from App Annie’s platform, App Annie Intelligence, the data represents more than 150 countries across Google Play and the iOS App Store.
App Annie CEO Bertrand Schmitt says, “One of the most striking trends from this quarter’s report is the skyrocketing growth across Asia in both Google Play and iOS. Japan and China continue to thrive, but the growth in India – where only 10 percent of the population is smartphone-enabled – is hugely significant for publishers as they look for new markets to explore.”
Emerging markets are clearly becoming a tremendous significance to app publishers. Growth in India, Brazil, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam, along with other Asian markets is the driving force behind the trends in the app ecosystem.
The iOS App Store leads the way in revenue generated during the quarter, with 80 percent more revenue than than Google Play. China and Japan continue to be the main drivers of revenue growth; Japan is the leading country in combined Google Play and App Store revenue, with new games as the primary factor. And iOS revenue is continuing a strong upward movement, increasing 20 percent over the first quarter of 2014, reaching a record high revenue of almost $10 billion. Taiwan, Kuwait and Turkey also contributed significantly to iOS App Store revenue; each of these countries showed growth of 30 percent, quarter-over-quarter.
Google Play is experiencing explosive growth, especially in the emerging markets, with 60 percent more downloads than the iOS App Store. This is an increase from the first quarter of 2014, when Google Play led in downloads by 45 percent, and only one year ago, Google Play downloads were just 10 percent higher than iOS App Store downloads.
India is experiencing substantial growth in Google Play downloads, up two positions to the number three spot this quarter. This growth is attributed mainly to large numbers of consumers switching to smartphones from feature phones, although smartphones still have only 10 percent market penetration. Smartphone penetration is expected to rise, as more low-cost smartphone options reach the market.
Brazil also showed considerable growth in Google Play downloads; their market share doubled over the previous quarter in the Sports category as a result of hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The country is also of interest to Apple; February saw the opening of their first store in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil was not the only country with growth affected by the World Cup. The entire Sports category experienced 20 percent growth in the quarter, impacted by significant increases in downloads in Germany, Argentina, and the United States. And FIFA’s official app took off around the world.
Despite these advances in Asian and emerging markets, the United States remains the top ranked country in iOS downloads and revenue. It also has the top rank in Google Play downloads and second in Google Play revenue. Clearly established markets are still very important in the app ecosystem.
The Apple App Store has been with us for six years this July, and in that time, 1,601,413 apps have been released, and apps have grown to play an inimitable role in everyday life. Since 2008, the store has matured, as have the apps in it. At the same time, marketing of apps has grown in complexity, now emphasizing not only downloads, but also retention and engagement.
Now, in recognition of this milestone in the store’s history, adjust, an app analytics and attribution company, has released a report featuring insights on the life-cycle of a typical app. The data in the report comes from adjust’s apptrace.com in July 2014.
Today, there are 1,252,777 apps available in the App Store, and up to 60 thousand are added every month. Christian Henschel, CEO and co-founder of adjust, recognizes that it is becoming more and more important for marketers to look at new techniques to re-engage users and get ROI. He says, “The report we’ve released shows the development of the App Store and highlights the critical need for marketers to engage key audiences for ensuring the longevity and visibility of their app.”
Apps for iPhones are rapidly increasing, with the number of apps released in March 2014, double the number of the previous month. But growth is not evident everywhere; the number of apps for iPad only has shown a decline over the past year, as simultaneous multi-platform launches have increased.
adjust predicted new apps in 2013 would reach 435 thousand, but the actual number was 4 percent higher at 453,902. Almost 15 percent of the apps in the store were removed either from violating App Store terms and conditions or because they were voluntarily pulled by their developers. This left 396,341 apps available that were released in 2013. adjust predicts that between July 2014 and July 2015, 578 thousand new apps will enter the store. The developer of the greatest number of top-ranked apps in the App Store is Gameloft.
Of the apps that were released in the last six years, more than 350 thousand have been pulled from the store, making one out of every five no longer available. The categories of apps with the highest numbers of apps that have been removed are Books at 27 percent, Entertainment at 25 percent, and Utilities at 24.9 percent. The greatest absolute number of these Dead Apps was in Games, with 65,643 or 21.7 percent removed. But adjust reports no correlation between app crash reviews or app ranking with being removed from the store.
Zombie App, a term coined by adjust, is an app that does not attract enough measurable attention to regularly receive rankings in the Apple App Store top lists. To be considered a living app, the app had to rank on any of the 39,171 App Store top lists on two out of three days of the month.
The number of Zombie Apps has steadily increased, showing app discovery is still a tremendous issue for developers. In the month of June 2014, 79.6 percent of apps were not sufficiently visible, compared to 70.4 percent of apps in June 2013 and 75.2 percent in December 2013.
adjust provides app marketers with a comprehensive business intelligence platform, combining attribution for advertising sources with advanced analytics and store statistics such as rankings, ratings, and reviews. adjust is an official Facebook and Twitter mobile measurement partner and is integrated with over 200 other major networks worldwide.
