What Companies Must Know About Branded Mobile Games

Companies have many compelling reasons to release their own mobile game. We can group them in terms of audience, revenue, and brand equity.

Audience
The recent stats on gamers show just how large an audience they can reach:

• Over 3 billion active video game players globally, and growing every year
• 58% of gamers are under 35 years old
• Males and females play video games at nearly equal rates (53%/46%)

Read More: Why Brands Can't Afford to Overlook Female Gamers

In short, nearly half the world plays video games. Brands can always reach their target audience by connecting with them through their favorite pastime.

Revenue
The video game market has revenues of $282 billion USD. For comparison, the cinema market is projected to reach only $79 billion in 2024, and video streaming revenue (e.g. Netflix, Hulu, etc.) is expected to reach $43 billion in 2024.

One successful mobile game generates a fountain of revenue streams including: advertising, in-game purchases, and licensing of beloved characters.
A company with its own branded mobile game can see incremental growth in earnings by maintaining and properly treating its core players.

Brand Equity
One of the greatest benefits of a popular branded mobile game is improving brand image. With 20% of gamers under 18 years old, positive connections can lead to lifelong customers. Providing entertainment and enjoyment leads directly to positive brand affinity, so creating a mobile game is a brilliant long-term investment strategy.

Brand equity also goes beyond the direct players of the game. Pop culture strongly revolves around video games, including professional gamers, streamers, YouTubers, and news reporters. Viral games get free marketing because everybody wants to talk about them and share the gaming experience with their fans.

As great as the benefits are of a successful mobile game, actually achieving viral and/or long-term popularity requires tremendous effort. Brands need to know what’s really involved so they can decide if it’s worth the effort. Here are some of the most important considerations:

Engaging Gameplay Mechanics
The most important rule of game design is: if it’s not fun, people won’t play it. Everything is secondary to engaging gameplay. Many brands have tried to make their own game, thinking that their branding will be enough. And while it’s easy to look at Pokemon GO for its popularity, it’s also just as easy to look at Pepsiman and Superman 64 as colossal failures.

In fact, all the iconic characters in video games are original creations. The factor that made them iconic was that the games were so fun and engaging. So companies must recognize that failure is guaranteed without engaging game mechanics.

Updates and Support
When people finish playing a game, they usually put it away and never play it again. They have so many options for entertainment that there’s no need or desire to replay games. So what makes a game popular year after year? Regular updates and new content for players:

• New costumes or cosmetic features
• New characters
• New equipment
• New chapters to the story
• New gameplay modes

Once players have downloaded the app, it’s easier to keep updating that game than to get them to download a new game. So long-term retention requires continuous output. If a game becomes stale or gets abandoned by the developers, the players will abandon it too.

One example of great success is Nekki’s game series Shadow Fight. They currently have 4 different games available for download, and all of them are actively played. Players haven’t given up on Shadow Fight 2 because the game still gets regular content updates and special events. The more recent titles offer unique experiences, and none of them are boring. The series is proof that great game mechanics plus regular updates create timeless experiences.

Assembling a Dev Team
Once you have a great idea for a game and plans to keep it fresh over time, you still need people to build it. This is several hurdles all in one.

It’s difficult to go to an existing studio and hire them to build a game for your brand. If they come up with engaging game mechanics, then they don’t need to be associated with your brand in order to be successful. Generally, studios would rather be in full control of their own creations, and create their own IP that they can make popular. Although these negotiations aren’t impossible, a brand would really need to bring something interesting to the table.

If a brand owner decides to make their own in-house team, that’s a major undertaking. It’s a lot of time and investment to find all the people necessary, bring them together as a team, purchase all of the infrastructure needed to produce and host a game. The project leader must be familiar with mobile game production in order to hire the right people and avoid major setbacks.

Marketing
Like with all projects, success depends on awareness. Mobile games need a combination of quality and luck to become famous or go viral. The sensational hit “Among Us” was out on the market for several years before it got discovered. It was due to popular livestreamers discovering and sharing the game that caused the masses to become aware of it.

Brands who want to see their game make a meaningful impact need to invest in marketing. That can involve traditional media sources, but also getting influencers on board. One magical moment with a streamer can create more buzz than a hundred articles on news sites.

Brands and retailers have found the sweet spot of success through partnerships with popular, time-tested mobile games. Collaboration campaigns offer the benefits of a branded mobile game without the risks or costs associated with creating a game of your own.

Brand Collaboration Layout
There are several ways that businesses collaborate with mobile games. Some methods are more common within certain industries.

Product Manufacturers – Manufacturers can add promo codes to their products that customers redeem for premium in-game items. This bonus incentivizes players to buy the product and get introduced to the brand. By offering this valuable gift, it also creates positive brand affinity, and increases brand loyalty over time.

Retail Business – Retailers can offer mobile game promo codes through their loyalty program. Shoppers can redeem their reward points for premium in-game items, thus making everything in their store more valuable. Gamers will want to do their shopping at the store over its competitors, and will be more actively engaged in the loyalty program.

In addition to promo codes, brands can advertise their collaboration inside the game itself. Sponsoring an in-game event, new unique items, or even new branded content can make a permanent and meaningful impact on the game and its players. Thus, companies can drive players to their brand through mobile games at a fraction of the cost of making their own.

Even without making their own game, companies need to identify the ideal partner for brand collaborations. Some key factors include:

• Games popular in your target region
• Core playerbase that matches your target demographic
• Game genre that aligns with your brand image

Read More: How to Choose an Ideal Mobile Game for Brand Collaborations
Companies can quickly find the best mobile game partner by working with an established agency like Play Management Company. Their curated collection of mobile games and direct access to studios and publishers makes for a white glove experience through a single point of contact from start to finish. Contact the team to learn how mobile game collaborations can change the trajectory of your business.