SAN FRANCISCO - THE annual no-holds-barred Christmas holiday slugfest between mobile game developers has a new twist this year: marketing and user-acquisition costs will likely hit an all-time high and surpass any revenue earned over the festive season.
The cost of getting new users through paid-for click-through ads on mobile phone apps and Facebook is skyrocketing.
Industry executives say there are more mobile games than ever aspiring to become the next “Candy Crush Saga” or “Clash of Clans” and developers are spending to get there.
That poses a challenge for thousands of developers ranging from San Francisco-based Glu Mobile to independent studios hoping to follow in the footsteps of outfits like Supercell and King, analysts say.
Spending peaks globally during the holidays, when developers pull out the stops to try and draw in many receiving Apple or Google Android devices on Christmas morning.
This time round, heightened competition could double or triple the amount spent on marketing cost per install or CPI, wiping out typical revenue gains of up to 200 per cent.
Developers hope to recover costs through downloads and in-game purchases of virtual goods. This year, costs per install “will be about four bucks on average and that’s twice of what the games will actually make,” said Misha Lyalin, CEO of mobile game company ZeptoLab. “It’s not like everybody is going to die, but there will be some losers.”
Industry dynamics have shifted in the past year. The emergence of a handful of dominant players like King (Candy Crush Saga) and Supercell (Clash of Clans), in which Japan’s Softbank is invested, has driven up marketing costs, said Joost van Dreunen, CEO of research firm SuperData.
Reuters
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