Game Developers Find Treasure in GameStop Earnings
Game developers looking to strike it rich with their apps would be wise to take a look at GameStop's first quarter financial results. The game retailer posted a 12 percent drop in its first quarter revenues, due to lackluster sales of new hardware and software. But, there's a gold nugget of information in GameStop's crappy earnings. It's digital receipts, aka digital goods, soared 23 percent in the quarter over last year. And the takeaway? Spend as much time, if not more, on developing digital goods for your games than potentially the games themselves. One of the latest trends in mobile games, for example, is developing free-to-play games that allow users to pay a premium for digital goods, rather than relying on advertising to carry the day for the free game, says Pepe Agell, head of business development for mobile game advertising platform Chartboost. He noted that game developers are increasingly trying this tactic and stepping away from designing two games - a free, advertising supported game and a premium version of the game. Game on. How are you going to play it?
