Vivendi Controls 50 Percent of Gameloft

MAY 31, 2016 • Vivendi SA now controls more than 50% of mobile game publisher Gameloft SE based on results announced by French regulator AMF that 28.2 million Gameloft shares were tendered to Vivendi’s €8 per share tender offer – equaling 61.7% of share capital and 55.6% of voting rights. Until these results, Vivendi held 29.5% of Gameloft stock, and last week got the support of hedge fund Amber Capital, which owns 14.6%. The hostile takeover began in Febr.....

Mixi Monster Strike Revenue Soars

AUG. 19, 2015 • Japan’s social network operator Mixi, Inc. only has one mobile game to its credit, yet Monster Strike has been a revenue bonanza since hitting the market in October 2013. For the first fiscal year quarter ending June 30, the title generated ¥47 billion ($379 million). Although the game has been released in Taiwan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao and North America, the lion’s share of its receipts come in Japan where Monster Stri.....

Tapjoy Touts Analytics

AUG. 3, 2015 • Tapjoy, Inc. has been making some noise of late regarding their monetization SDK as the premium option for freemium mobile developers. The privately funded firm has been strong since 2007 in regards to its mobile advertising network that fed in-game ads to iOS and Android devices. But a year ago, Tapjoy acquired an analytics firm based in South Korea, 5Rocks, which opened up a whole new line of business for the company. .....

Engaging With deltaDNA

JUNE 15, 2015 • While premium mobile games are still a successful model, the content usually played on smartphones is free-to-play. Not only do freemium titles incur the same high discovery costs as their premium brethren, but higher operating and support costs, as well. That has led to a surge of analytics firms who have stepped up to assist freemium developers learn more about how players interact with their games, and equipped with that better understanding, .....

Nintendo and DeNA Partner to go Mobile

MARCH 17, 2015 • After five years of ongoing discussions, Nintendo and DeNA Co. Ltd. have agreed to launch a mobile membership service offering new games based on Nintendo IP. The gamemaker will not port existing titles and intends to utilize those of its characters and play mechanics that best translate to users of smartphones and tablets. During the press announcement in Tokyo, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said what has held the company back from mobile dev.....

Xiaomi Smartphone Sales Bests Samsung

AUG. 5, 2014 • Xiaomi Corp. is now the best selling smartphone brand in China having pushed past Samsung Electronics Co. According to research firm Canalys, Xiaomi’s sales exploded from 4.4 million units during the second quarter of 2013 to 15 million units for the same period this year. Samsung’s unit sales dropped from 15.5 million to 13.2 million year-over-year. Chinese manufacturers Lenovo, Yulong and Huawei saw modest increases, as well. Xiaomi .....