Gaming

Thunderbite broadens its distributional footprint via ITP

Published

2 years ago

July 14, 2022

Reading Time: 3 minutes

F2P leader enters into a strategic collaboration with Inside The Pocket’s leading agnostic platform to grow its global scope

Thunderbite, a leading free-to-play (F2P) games provider, has entered into a strategic partnership with Inside The Pocket (ITP) the pre-eminent free-to-play aggregation platform, to broaden its distributional scope.

The deal sees Thunderbite deliver its comprehensive F2P product portfolio to a new network of operators via the ITP platform, an industry-first aggregation model for the free-to-play sector. In turn, Thunderbite’s array of sports and non-sports content will help diversify ITP’s offering and deliver varied gamification options which track player proclivities across igaming with other games that reside outside F2P’s traditional sports-betting domain.

ITP’s ground-breaking marketplace now affords a host of innovative suppliers a simple route to market which, in turn, offers worldwide operators a wealth of value-creation opportunities across a broad spectrum of content from one seamless integration.

Thunderbite already offers in excess of 25 games across 30 countries and in 25 languages (via multilingual API) in Europe and the Americas. In fact, over the past 12 months, the F2P supplier has rolled out around 10 new games.

More broadly, Thunderbite allows its partners to launch a wide range of F2P prediction, jackpot and more hyper-casual game formats with seamless speed across any language or territory.

It’s the latest tactical move from Thunderbite after a series of key alliances which have seen the F2P-games expert deepen its offering by providing real-time rewards and incentives based on specific campaign triggers, allowing Thunderbite to drive player engagement via highly personalised communications with cross-sell capacity across both acquisition and retention strategies.

ITP’s proven international scope and flair for localization promises to drive diversified fan engagement around targeted free-to-play games. Thanks to its open-aggregation approach, Inside The Pocket already offers the broadest and best-curated mix of games available, with one platform integration acting as a gateway to virtually unlimited content.

ITP provides the most modular and democratised strategic F2P platform around, assembling the best minds and models for a new era in fan engagement, localized to specific global markets. When you’re signed up individually to one or more developers, you can end up with a set of expensive integrations or all your eggs in one basket. Instead, ITP’s open-aggregation platform takes the sting out of such outmoded deals by providing the requisite flexibility for maturing markets.

Inside The Pocket’s technical know-how sets it apart in the crucial F2P domains of game development, player management and, above all, multi-level data. Its dashboards provide clients with the full picture on player activity, thanks to aggregated cross-network player data (e.g. from individual customer journeys to in-play data, and other shared insights on player segments).

John Smith, Co-Founder at Thunderbite, said: “ITP’s simple-yet-transformative pitch of ‘one single integration unlocking the gateway to the entire F2P marketplace’ positively delineates them for operators. And regardless of Thunderbite’s relentless recent growth, you should never rest on your laurels in this industry. That is why this third-party collaboration with an aggregator as well-positioned and unique as ITP made such strategic sense.

“Operators worldwide can now effortlessly expand their portfolio through ITP, with this sports betting content aggregation platform affording easy access to the best products on the market, featuring F2P and other agile content solutions. So, we can’t wait to expand our worldwide footprint and observe how our localised games perform in diverse territories which, in some instances, represent new ground for us.”

Hussain Naqi, Founder and CEO of Inside The Pocket, said: “This collaboration is the absolute embodiment of mutually beneficial. For ITP, it provides us with more fantastic content and engagement tools for our burgeoning book or customers. While, for Thunderbite’s sales and outreach teams, we make their jobs easier, streamlining the process and its efficacy by removing impediments to the decision-making process.

“Further, this this partnership has deepened and diversified our offering to broaden ITP’s scope into igaming and wider non-sports content. As markets crystallise and new regulations coalesce, the best and most flexible portfolio will always prevail. And this partnership is an excellent way of framing and delivering these strong products to the end user. It’s all about the agility this offers for both of our customers and future prospects.

“As a market leader in the dynamic, evolving F2P vertical, Thunderbite was a logical choice as an ITP partner. They deliver a myriad of F2P games for assorted operators, from traditional jackpot and attainable-prize games for retention and responsible play, right through to light-touch and casual games. ITP’s multifaceted assets are already revenue-generating for our operators, so we’re thrilled with the early international reception from our growing global association of betting partners.

“We’re perfectly placed to leverage this opportunity because we can diversify content, leverage consumer data and segment it for our partners as the evolving landscape unfolds, particularly in the crystallising North American space. Harte Hanks, the world’s leading consumer-data provider, also affords us unique consumer insights that will allow us to hyper-segment our audience communication over time – from this summer’s sporting jamboree to the T20 World Cup cricket and the World Cup 2022 football later this year.”

Gaming

Mobile Games Index: Analysis of 95M Game Interactions Reveals Shifting Engagement Trends, Available Now

Published

1 day ago

May 7, 2024

George Miller

mobile-games-index:-analysis-of-95m-game-interactions-reveals-shifting-engagement-trends,-available-now

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The anticipated fourth edition of the annual Mobile Games Index, powered by adjoe and Statista, is now available.

The latest report offers a clear look into the current state of the mobile gaming sector, analyzing the past 12 months of the first-party data from 95 million app interactions across 27 million users. The MGI 2024 reveals what people choose to play on their mobile devices, filling the gap in industry knowledge and enabling game developers and user acquisition specialists to benchmark their products and ultimately target the right audiences with the right content.

Moving forward, it is up to the industry decision-makers to analyze the findings and promptly adapt to the newly-emerged engagement trends from MGI 2024, effectively engaging desired audiences.

A Peek at Shifting Engagement Trends to Capitalize on

Based on predictions from Statista, the overarching trend in the market is its robust growth with a forecasted expansion from $166.1 billion in 2024 to $227 billion by 2028.

Remarkably, Card games are expected to grow the most dramatically at 13.8% a year, nearly doubling their global revenue by 2028. Judging from the engagement charts of MGI 2024, the main driver of growth in this category is Solitaire games. The audience is showing a clear preference for Solitaire – these games hold 7 out of 10 positions in the top list of card games worldwide by time spent with titles from MobilityWare, Gimica, Scopely, and Playvalve, among others.

What allows the market to show revenue growth is the positive changes in global daily time spent. After the dip in engagement highlighted by the last year’s Index, adjoe confirms that average daily sessions have rebounded to 21.5 minutes from 17.3 minutes reported last year, marking a 22% increase.

The most engaged demographic of mobile gamers globally is the 40-49 age group, which has experienced a remarkable 33% increase in daily gaming time, now at 23 minutes daily. The strategies targeted at older demographics over the past 12 months can be deemed successful. However, this has led to a loss of focus on engaging Gen-Z, which has shown only modest growth in time spent.

The MGI also reveals that women are outpacing men in daily gaming time across most genres – as reported for the 4th edition in a row. This consistent and high performance makes the female audience a continuously safer bet when it comes to user targeting.

Another continued trend is the dominance of top publishers such as Supercell, Garena, King, and Playrix, while there’s still space to occupy for smaller publishers. For instance, ForgeGames tops the engagement charts with their game Special Forces Group 2 – capturing over 43 minutes of average daily engagement.

The insights continue in the MGI 2024, going granular to segment and visualize global mobile game engagement data from adjoe by genre, region, and demographic. At the same time, Statista’s extensive market research provides a macro-view of the current and future industry, offering figures for global downloads and revenues with forecasts extending to 2028.

Mobile Games Index 2024 Is Available in Open Access

The MGI 2024 goes deep below the surface of market data and creates a comprehensive snapshot of the mobile gaming industry today. Inside are

For developers and marketers, this report is the green light to benchmark performance against industry leaders and align their products with the rising expectations of mobile gamers. This comprehensive tool is now available for free to inform decision-making and help optimize strategies for short- and long-term actions.

The post Mobile Games Index: Analysis of 95M Game Interactions Reveals Shifting Engagement Trends, Available Now appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Gaming

The German Games Industry Association congratulates all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024

Published

2 weeks ago

April 22, 2024

George Miller

the-german-games-industry-association-congratulates-all-winners-of-the-german-computer-game-awards-2024

Reading Time: 3 minutes

• “EVERSPACE 2” by ROCKFISH Games is ‘Best German Game’ 2024
• Pixel Maniacs from Nuremberg wins in the ‘Studio of the Year’ category
• ‘Best International Game’ is Baldur’s Gate 3
• ‘Player of the Year’ is Maurice Weber

High-quality games, great entertainment and many well-known personalities from the games industry and the cultural, societal and political spheres – the German Computer Game Awards 2024 (DCP), presented this evening in Munich, featured all that and more. Numerous guests celebrated the best games from Germany and the creative minds behind them in person at Eisbach Studios in Munich. The award show, which was hosted by Katrin Bauerfeind and Uke Bosse, was additionally followed by hundreds of thousands of viewers via live stream. A total of 800,000 euros was awarded in cash prizes. “EVERSPACE 2” by ROCKFISH Games was chosen ‘Best German Game’. The ‘Studio of the Year’ award went to Pixel Maniacs from Nuremberg, which has made a name for itself with successful games like the party racing game “Can’t Drive This”, its multifaceted involvement in the game industry and its promotion of young talent, as well as with its innovations in the area of marketing. The ‘Special Jury Prize’ was awarded to the project “Gaming ohne Grenzen” (Gaming without Borders), an initiative that enables young people with disabilities to participate actively in game culture – for example, by assessing in inclusive game testing groups the accessibility of various games as well as the ability of certain technologies to help overcome barriers in video games. In voting by the community and the jury, Maurice Weber was selected ‘Player of the Year’. The games editor and Twitch streamer regularly analyses current developments in the games industry and takes a critical look at them, while at the same time formulating a clear stance for more diversity and against extremism in games and society.

The German Computer Game Awards, which honour the year’s best German-produced games, are hosted by the German Federal Government, represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and game – The German Games Industry Association.

‘Congratulations to all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024!’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. ‘Even in these very challenging times for many German firms in the industry, German games companies have created high-quality and successful games that have deservedly been honoured on the big stage of the DCP. Around half of these outstanding games were developed with the support of federal game funding. This once again demonstrates the potential that we can leverage when the underlying policy framework for game development in Germany provides for truly predictable and internationally competitive conditions – conditions that allow games from Germany to shine even more brightly all over the world and achieve even greater success on the national as well as international stage. We must make this our goal!’

Overview of all winners:
Best International Game (not endowed)

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Best German Game (endowed with 100,000 euros)

EVERSPACE 2 (ROCKFISH Games)

The other nominees will each receive 30,000:

Atlas Fallen (Deck 13 Interactive/Focus Entertainment)
Fall of Porcupine (Critical Rabbit/Assemble Entertainment)

Best Family Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Spells & Secrets (Alchemist Interactive/rokaplay)

Newcomer Award – Best Debut (endowed with 60,000 euros)

Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)

The other nominees will receive 25,000 euros each:

Fall of Porcupine (Critical Rabbit/Assemble Entertainment)
Lose CTRL (Play From Your Heart)

Newcomer Award – Best Prototype (endowed with 50,000 euros)

Misgiven (Symmetry Break Studio)

The other nominees will receive 25,000 euros each:

Bloodletter (Katharina “Mikey” Müller, David Cafisso, Marvin Braun, Alica Schneider/Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin)
EcoGnomix (Lars Hinnerk Grevsmühl, Lars Eble, Bahy Nguyen, Marcel Zurawka, Alec Shae)
Footgun: Underground (Eduard Dobermann, Theo Lohmüller, Georg Nimke, Robert Pistea, Lukas Salewsky)
REPLICORE (Sarah Inés Roeder, Rody Nawezi, Leonhard Gläser, Maximilian Götz/ HAW Hamburg)

Best Innovation and Technology (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Marble Maze (Fox-Assembly)

Best Serious Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Friedrich Ebert – Der Weg zur Demokratie (Playing History/Stiftung Reichspräsident-Friedrich-Ebert-Gedenkstätte)

Best Audio Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)

Best Game Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Lose CTRL (Play From Your Heart)

Best Graphic Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)

The Bear – A Story from the World of Gra (Mucks! Games)

Best Mobile Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Cat Rescue Story (Tivola Games)

Best Story (endowed with 40,000 euros)

Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)

Studio of the Year (endowed with 50,000 euros)

Pixel Maniacs

Player of the Year (not endowed)

Maurice Weber

Special Jury Award (endowed with 10,000 euros)

Gaming ohne Grenzen

The post The German Games Industry Association congratulates all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Gaming

Flexion and Kabam Team Up to Bring Marvel Contest of Champions to the Alternative App Stores

Published

2 weeks ago

April 22, 2024

Niji Narayan

flexion-and-kabam-team-up-to-bring-marvel-contest-of-champions-to-the-alternative-app-stores

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Flexion, the games marketing company, and Kabam, one of the world’s leading game developers, announced a new partnership to bring Marvel Contest of Champions to alternative app stores. Flexion will distribute the game on the Amazon Appstore, Aptoide, ONE store, Samsung Galaxy Store, and Digital Turbine Hubs in 2024.

“We are excited to partner with Flexion to bring Marvel Contest of Champions to even more players. Flexion’s expertise, experience and technology make them the ideal partner for us. This collaboration will help us reach new audiences by making Marvel Contest of Champions available on even more app stores. This is especially exciting ahead of the game’s upcoming 10-year anniversary,” SeungWon Lee, CEO of Kabam, said.

“We are delighted to partner with Kabam, one of the world’s leading game developers, to bring their hit game to more players around the globe. This partnership is a win for Kabam and the app stores, which we will connect to drive audience engagement,” Jens Lauritzson, CEO of Flexion, said.

Marvel Contest of Champions is an epic fighting RPG with over 260 iconic Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains in the ultimate cosmic showdown. Players can collect and build a competitive team of Champions, compete against the world’s top Summoners, battle through an epic and deep Marvel story, and team up with powerful Summoners in alliances to become the Ultimate Marvel Champion.

“We’re delighted to add such a well-known and successful game like Marvel Contest of Champions to our portfolio. I am very positive about the growth potential of these alternative stores in 2024. There is no better time to expand to more audiences,” Jens added.

Marvel Contest of Champions will be available on the Amazon Appstore, Samsung Galaxy Store, Aptoide, and ONEstore Korea starting on April 29, 2024, with Samsung Gaming Hub, OneStore Global, and DT Games Hub following in the near future.

The post Flexion and Kabam Team Up to Bring Marvel Contest of Champions to the Alternative App Stores appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.