Today at E3, App Annie released a new report titled, Games and Hollywood: The Perks and Pitfalls of Transmedia Development, which among other things, outlined the increased success that TV/Movie game tie-ins are seeing through mobile apps. Anyone who opens …
Today at E3, App Annie released a new report titled, Games and Hollywood: The Perks and Pitfalls of Transmedia Development, which among other things, outlined the increased success that TV/Movie game tie-ins are seeing through mobile apps. Anyone who opens the Android or iOS app stores will see that mobile games based on popular TV and Movie franchises are some of the highest-grossing and most downloaded titles. According to the report, between the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014 consumer spending on games in app stores increased by 2.7 times in the Google Play store, and 1.7 times in the iOS App Store. Many of the highest grossing games were franchise tie-in games from Gameloft, Kabam, Rovio, and Disney. Unsurprisingly, many of these titles fall into the endless-runner, city-builder, or puzzle genres, as these were the three most popular game genres last year.
The report makes it clear that mobile games are a successful way to keep a franchise relevant and profitable. Just look at Jurassic Park Builder. It has been thirteen years since a Jurassic Park movie last released, yet the game managed to achieve a spot in the top fifteen most downloaded Android and iOS games of last year, as well as a spot within the top ten highest grossing Android and iOS games during that same period of time.
More surprising than anything else is the realization that movie/TV tie-in games are getting to the point where they’re not complete money-grabs like they have previously been known. Sure they follow popular trends and usually fall into the previously mentioned three most popular genres. But, they’re not bad.
Our review of Jurassic Park Builder, for example, spoke favorably of the game and awarded it four out of five stars. Of the top five highest grossing games mentioned in the report, our average score for them was four out of five stars. Clearly these are above average gaming experiences, and support the App Annie findings.
Check out the full report on the App Annie website.
