On entering the arena, on time (yes, seriously), the lecture room was full with people already sitting on the aisles. There must have been 150 people there; at least double original estimates, a great sign for Irish Games Industry and a testament to Hugh. The presenters included a range of indie developers (mainly iPhone, Flash but also RPG for PC and Xbox Live) all 3 years old or younger. The talent in the room was intoxicating, and almost overcame the aroma of 150 guys in one room, me included as my lady friend not so subtly reminded me

First up were Red Wind who specialised in Trivia apps and the inquisitor engine. They now have two studios and seem very successful. They told a great tale of TUAW reviews, Bible app price sensitivity, growth of services v in-house development, role of content and how to cross Scrabble with Tetris! Like everyone that followed they were brutally honest, humble, and humorous with great insight, advice and anecdotes for the audience which devoured it all up. Straight out of the blocks they set the bar high for the rest of the night… and quite frankly scared the bayjesus out of us who had to present 30mins later!

All the presentations will be available in at least Podcast form from the DIT website so i’ll try not to spoil them. However what is abundantly clear, and which may not come across well on podcast is the level of goodwill and energy among the indie games sector. Furthermore, there appears to be a significant scale and spectrum of funding channels, office space and general support available to start-ups in Ireland

Throw in the hilarious and hard hitting comments from Paul Hayes (Games Ireland), the fact Games is specifically mentioned in Ireland’s Programme for Government and the concerted push behind games right now from every direction equates to Ireland being a scarily exciting place for games. Northern Ireland has talent, successes (e.g. Straandlooper DI Hector series) and agency support, but right now the buzz is with Dublin

Alan O’Dea CEO of Simple Life Forms went on to demonstrate the scale of their projects and their vision of playing games in real locations on any device. Never Mind Games demonstrated how to start with little money. Bubble Dreams brought the reality of Freemium to everyone’s attention, notably average iOS game cost $1.05, average value of iOS in-app purchase $14… and on a practical note keep your app below 20MB otherwise it can’t be downloaded via 3G.

Digital Arrow, were truly an international effort behind a new game “inMomentum” for Steam. The game was based on the unreal engine and looked great. They commented on the problems of working together and the key collaboration tools they used (Red Mine (bugs), Google Docs & Skype). Notably, they also commented on how long it takes to get tech people to speak with each other, so agree, have you ever tried to get a techie/developer to answer calls on their mobile??? Digital Arrow described using the unreal engine as ‘mysterious, exciting and being in an ocean of code with only a life vest and a whistle’… certainly a creative mind, who topped it off with mention of a games company with the second coolest name (uh hum), “Rock, Scissors, Paper, Shotgun”

Zinc Software design hardware as well as software. They combine gamification, iPhone and medical recording to create among other things, Zen Games. Zen Games are aimed at controlling someone’s breathing through playing games where the heart rate is a key control aspect in the game. This is aimed at reducing stress through preventative health care. Zinc seem a really high calibre team who will be releasing their SDK soon and a new breed of games, including possibly Poker, where you could see each of your opponents heart rate in real time on your iPhone, Lady Gaga will need a new song!

BitSmith Games are a small but ambitious team that grew out of the Masters course. They are working on a role playing game, based on the Unity Engine. At times they wish they would have tried to make a smaller game first (I hear you brother!), and Eoin reflected on the conversion from making games to becoming a studio “spend a lot of time not making games” by which he was referring to the amount of time talking, administration, emails and being a general business. He reflected many of the previous speakers in stating the amount of things you should aim to get for free, by being crafty (‘Cheeky’) and by speaking with other indie game developers. Importantly they acknowledged that applications were a pain but they taught you much and brought prospect of potential funds.

Open Emotion brought the house down with their final presentation, wit and one-liners… once he got his Mac working! Paddy described the knack of “how to pretend we’re doing really well” and the two key success factors for an indie “Passion for games and being able to talk for Ireland”, both of which he has in aplomb. Their first flash game took 2 weeks to develop and secured 2 million plays which derived just $400. They have learned and progressed amazingly to a stage where they have 2 studios (Dublin and Limerick), 12 staff and have just won a £250k contract. Typically they have the story of living on coke (coca-cola) in their first year, bootstrapping, marketing and all without money. From humble beginnings, Paddy was in a soul destroying job managing a Game store but he even he was “trumped by a co-founder working in a curtain shop”

A panel discussion followed, were Josh Holmes from Microsoft summed up the two things every indie needs: to take advantage of the help out there and be a ‘cheeky bastard’, by which he meant be proactive, go out there and network and follow examples of many of the speakers. Importantly he said there should be no Plan B, and that we should “Open up to the Opportunity of Success”.

Paul (Marketing), who managed to sum up Angry Birds brilliantly J mentioned the financial support out there and the degree to which the Irish Government is behind the games industry. Alongside seed funds, VC funds, Enda Kenny is behind games having “killed zombies in Dublin and M***** F****n Storm Troopers in Galway”. Games Ireland wants to not only support indigenous companies but attract thousands of developers to Ireland by being “better than Canada”.

Other panellists reaffirmed indies to avoid saying “I’ve a great idea but I can’t tell anyone” and outlined a number of national and international events coming up in the next 6 months. Of particular interest was the success that Open Emotion had with PSP Minis. Josh outlined a point for the audience by saying whatever you do, publish your game. Just by publishing you will be among the top % of game developers, and that in publishing you learn an awful lot and get feedback. Josh is running an XMA Gamer Conference in the Spring and only those who have published a game can get an invite.

Finally, the crowd moved on to a local bar, where even two upper floors was barely sufficient for the crowd! We had to leave after party early, but we met many great people, listened to some amazing presentations and would love to be involved next year… based on Friday’s performance the party is only just getting started for the Irish Games Industry, watch this space!  

[images & feedback welcome to improve article]

Top 10 Tips, so far!

1. Learn from others, you've one launch and little money - make the most of both. No one's going to market the game for you...

2. Spend time, engage with players/buyers - giving them something they can't get easily elsewhere. Allowing players to talk to developers, learn more about the background and with the potential to influence future updates is something the big publishers can't do

3. Everyone says "Social Media", but be realistic about what you can manage and how effective it is as a forum

4. If paying for adverts, pay for targeted gamer audience, and animate your ad (also know about and compare metrics/analytics/site statistics & audience before buying)

5. When contacting reviewers, if you don't know them already consider third party applications that allow you to contact multiple reviewers. If you do know reveiwers, before releasing consider offering exclusives that will encourage them to feature you (can't do it afterwards)

6. Use all your contacts, if you've used sound, animation, 3rd party software providers ask them to help show off your game (they'll be helping to show off their own work as well!), call in all the favours.

7. Realise that your game/app can remain on the app-store for a long time, and it may take time for you to get a lucky break or mention, keep at it!

8. Consider working with third parties (e.g. publishers, entertainment companies, other app-stores, promo sites), approach them first. Also talk to marketing/ad companies, they may be able to help and if not you might get 1 or 2 ideas off them and at least they'll know about you after

9. Consider putting app on various app-stores, porting it to different platforms or licencing it to third parties, you have the content, maximise it

10. Price - you have the opportunity to change the price, offer promo codes, make it free and use ads, consider freemium, you have an awful lot of power as a developer

Some great links, especially the last one!

We've also come across some great links:

Three key factors when marketing an app

Want to work with other Self-Publishers (Over 350)

How to tell the world about your game (HogRocket)

Quick tips (ignore book, scan to bottom of page)

Brilliant 5-Step Guide to Marketing an App/Game (Must Read!)

Help us out... let us know your thoughts and experience

Our marketing plan will be finalised soon, we'll know a lot more - good and bad - after Galactic Racer has been released for 2 months. We've made a few mistakes to date, but we promise to keep you posted. We'd love your feedback and any tips, thoughts or links you may have. Give us a shout via the blog or contact us details

I converted from a Computer Science course at Queen’s University Belfast to a game specific one (one of the first as it was a while back) and found it excellent. The big difference was that you were always working on things you were interested in rather than “other” things.

Unfortunately I can’t recommend you anything now as the courses have changed so much over the last decade. However, Wee Man Studios has worked with and spoken to students on the game course at Queen’s and they regard it very highly.

Before embarking on any course, you should:

• Find out where did the students go after graduation? i.e. how many went into industry?
• Examine CV’s of course lecturers to make sure they have the experience to teach the course (ie have they worked for a games company, what games did they work on?)

A lot of courses are conversions of existing computer science courses and as a result are taught by lecturers who have little interest and experience in the field. You may want to avoid them.

As for the curriculum, given the amount of middleware solutions now available, most programmers spend a lot of their time on gameplay and special fx (vfx) programming. Maths is always good to have (essential really) however I would look for a course with some art modules, for example the history of CGI and using photoshop/max etc. You may not need to use them on the job but it always helps to know how they work. In addition having an artists’ eye will benefit any effects programming you may do.

Regarding how enjoyable the job is....

There’s a question. It can be incredibly rewarding however it can also be very challenging when compared to other professions. Even within Computer Science it's not very well paid and there’s little job security. Plus a lot of industry people burn out by their 30s and feel they no longer can do it with families and other responsibilities. It’s certainly not the job to take if you aren’t passionate about what you are doing.

Finally if you are more interested in designing and making games - rather than programming - then you should get into the production side of things as quickly as possible. In most cases they’re the ones in control of the overall game design. They also manage the projects, speak to the press etc. An analogy would be that producers are the video game equivalent of directors in the movies whilst programmers are more like the camera men.

Good luck in your exams and with whatever choice you make.

[Editor Comment: I would also urge you to check out the NESTA report into the UK Games Industry and to check out the Games Industry websites, forums, publishers, developers and associations. Also try and get experience (eg student placement, internships, developing your own game, etc) as early as possible, as it will give you an idea of the different roles available and help you to get a job at a later date.]

Come along, see Galactic Racer, find out about the creative industries and say hello!

1. What is the object of the game and what scale will it be (can you storyboard an outline of the game)
2. What is the game play (and game genre)
3. What format will the game be on (online, mobile, console, etc) 
4. How will people play the game (and what will make them keep playing the game)
5. What artwork will be required
6. What menus, transition and non-game screens will be required
7. What is the simplest form the game can take (and what are possible additional features)
8. What will the game be called
9. How much will the game be (will it be free)
10. How will the game generate revenue (ads, virtual goods, sponsorship, promotion, price etc)
11. Is the game stand alone or associated with something else
12. What else is out there (market research)
13. Who is the target audience (core and/or casual gamers, age, etc)
14. How will the game be distributed (e.g. App-Store, GetJar, PSP Mini, online, etc)
15. How will the game be marketed
16. How will the game be protected
17. Who will develop the game
18. Who will publish the game
19. How will you pay the costs of developing the game
20. Be patient and persevere!  

If you consider the above questions and can answer them, then you will be far better prepared to deal with developers. No matter what the plan is you will learn much as you go along and will face obstacles. Whoever you use make sure you have a contract in place and that you have the full copyright to the work. You also need to consider how you going to pay for it (upfront, ongoing payment or revenue share) and get a fixed price with a large retention/final payment due on completion to ensure work is done.

It depends on the scope of the game but there are many game developers in Ireland (including ourselves) who could do something if it was simple.... many projects though turn out to be more complicated than initially imagined. Many small developers can use off the shelf engines to help design the game and will know people who can do the artwork (games require coding and artwork). My advice would be to spec it out as much as you can, and then email a few Irish developers and get an idea of costs, timeframes and previous portfolios (ensure they can do the scale of game you are looking) and if you’re not happy go to elance etc... Many good developers will probably be busy so you may have to wait, then again if it is simple and similar to what they do they might be able to do it in a few weeks

During our games testing for Galactic Racer it became clear that our game had a steep learning curve, however the reactions to this where very different. If you had played games before - a 'gamer' - you could get to grips fairly quickly and enjoyed the fact that you had to spend some time to hone your skills. In fact this enticed you to play the game longer.

However if you had ventured outside the bedroom door as a youngster and got sufficient Vitamin D, you probably weren't a gamer. In which case when you tried to play Galactic Racer, you inevitably crashed a few times and didn't see much of the game. If you had paid for the game you would have been annoyed and probably given a poor review.

To a degree this can be solved by introducing beginner levels and so forth. However I think we are beginning to see a wider trend. With the rise of so many 99c games, there are fewer multi-level games where you have to really test yourself and get to hone your skills. The observer announced at the weekend that Demon's Souls (PS3) was its game of the decade.

Why? Because it was so difficult. You had to dedicate time to it. This level of dedication seemingly brought out a sense of mutual respect among gamers with other players able to leave hints in the game. Blue Phantoms offered assistance - that said being gamers, there were also Black Phantoms who were out to kill you!

When games are being published in their hundreds on a weekly basis, determining a USP, nevermind a marketing strategy is impossible - so why not increase the difficulty and hope to appeal to a core but appreciative gamer audience

Kotaku.com

Yahoo Games

UK.IGn.Com

Destructoid.com

PocketGamer.co.uk

Naturally we don't agree with them all. Therefore we thought we'd add our own top 5 sites to create a more suitable Top 10 list for iPhone Gamers

Most sites now are part of a family of sites and/or part of wider Media empire. For example, Kotaku is a sister site of Gizmodo (iPhone 4G, Police raid infamy) and PocketGamer has also pocketgamer.biz. Many iPhone game sites are part of wider games, apple (Appmodo.com) or tech (e.g. Guardian) sites.

In terms of mobile and handheld games, PocketGamer is quite simply the best site going and with 2m visitors per day most of you think so too, so that is a gimme. So the great game gobsh*tes that we are will give you a low down on their other favourite sites:

GamesIndustry.biz

Great site. If you want to know about the wider industry, especially jobs - this is the place to look at. Hits you with a lot of info, but is easily navigatable with info/stories well laid out... if you just after pics and game reviews go elsewhere

TouchArcade.com

If you like Forums, this is the #1 site in the world for iPhone Games. toucharcade deals with iPhone games only, focussing on game reviews, game news and game forums. Simple home page, does what it does brilliantly

Gamasutra.com

Online version of Game Developer Magazine. If you are a Game Developer or want to get involved in Game Development, this site is a must. Has sections for Art, Programming, Contractors, Forums etc, all in all interesting site

Guardian.co.uk

More known for technology, the Guardian does a great games feature (less so than a year ago but still good). More for casual reference than regular updates, but the commentary is very insightful. Probably best of UK national media

WeeManStudios.com

What can you say about the absolute best gaming site on the web, with news, blogs, pictures (lots of ships!). In our unbiased opinion, it really has everything it just needs more readers - all in good time, so spread the word

There you have it, let us know what you think... keen to know the best sites on the web at the minute, especially iPhone Game Review Sites

After a recent trip to WWDC, PocketGamer Party and meeting with several publishers in UK & US - it appears everyone in the Games Industry is now determined to follow the Freemium model. John Owens explains...

Without wanting to name drop I got talking to some of the very highest up people in the iPhone publishing world and it would appear that they think freemium is the only way to go. They're banking with a user base as large as the iPhone they will get millions of downloads and therefore be able to monetize their games at a later date using the 2% buy through rate people have been quoting.

This means if a game is downloaded 2 million times then 40K people will choose to buy extra content. To me that doesn't sound like a lot, remember there's no guarantee these people will pay the same as full price so I would roughly guess the revenue is a 1/4 of full price. 

i.e. if a game is 99c they will pay on average 25c. Off-course there will be the Zyngas who will make money hand over fist with various social resources management games but do you imagine a racing game or platform game will have that kind of sell through. Is this the real reason why Rolando 3 was cancelled?

So when I asked the larger publishers if they now where only making games that fit this model they confirmed that was the case. What I worry is that games can not be supported via the advertising model due to huge costs of making a game and the freemium model only really works for certain types of games. Does this mean pretty soon the "proper" games aren't going to be made for iPhone?

The other main issue I have is I think the iPhone publishers are all blindly playing follow the leader in much the same way the Newspaper world did when faced with the Internet. Just like the "Race to Zero" only helped a small select few but overall almost destroyed the App Store economy so will the freemium model. If your game needs to be downloaded millions of times to even hope to break even and every game requires that to break even with 200,000 apps out there will there be enough customers with the desire, space and time to download all these games/apps.

How many games would someone want to download even if they're free, especially if everything is free. At the moment even the average games that have high production values will get downloaded in huge numbers as has been seen to date but that won't last. The reason why people are downloading them is they're up against all the "free" rubbish. 

Once they're up against the good games with high production values they will be no more successful that they where when everything was paid. The only difference is they will make much less money. In the past we only needed thousands of people to download our games now we need millions and once everyone releases their games for free to compete there goes the whole reason for doing it.

With an iPad sold every 3 seconds, totalling over 2m units to date it is certainly popular. A lack of USB port, a camera and being limited to 32GB should provide scope for competition. However the iPad does have three winning assets, being an ‘Apple’ product, usability and availability of apps. If we had to squeeze a forth we’d go for astute pricing (astute marketing falls under ‘Apple’). The iPad has seemingly steam-rolled the Kindle - which is almost half its price at $259 - so is there anyone else left?

Something a little smaller perhaps? Dell recently released their Android Powered Streak but to mixed reviews. Whilst having a multitude of features, a reliance on older version of Android and usability hampers it for now.

Something a little bigger? The Kno is seemingly two A4 sized tablets joined at the hip. It can handle Flash and is set to replace textbooks, but bigger does not appear better just yet.

Something more powerful? The forthcoming 1.66GHz 2Gb Ram MSI Wind seems to be more powerful but will it be more popular. Sony, Nokia and HP among others will be releasing competitors that will probably be more powerful but will they really take a bite out of Apple? Can they beat Apple on usability, apps or price?

Something more flexible and robust? Rupert Murdoch is on the charge to reverse the trend and make people pay for content. He has done it for the WSJ and FT, and is now looking at the Times. Murdoch is trying to buy full control of BSkyB and has just bought the flexible and durable e-reader Skiff (above). Along with the purchase of micro-payment service Journalism Online, Murdoch is gearing up to control of content, delivery and payment... 

Microsoft’s Courier seemed the one most likely to compete but it won’t even make it to market now. Whilst the iPad won’t replace your phone or your laptop it is seemingly still too far ahead of the competition... and that’s not counting the apple boffins securely locked away in Cupertino working away on the next generation iPad! For me, for now the Netbook probably remains the biggest competition but I will be following Murdoch very closely

New Look & Feel: 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS – that’s less than 1cm thick! There’s also a Front Facing Camera which will allow Face to Face - Facetime - video calling, although only on 4G to 4G via wifi for now. A new Stainless Steel Band will improve the antennae for WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth reception. There’s also a second noise reducing microphone and promises of a case

Retina Display: increases pixels to 326 per inch, more than the eye can see. Sharpens text and improve resolution. This should also improve the Phone as a gaming device.

New Processor: New Apple designed A4 1 Ghz chip (same as iPad and similar to latest Android phones), which improves talk-time by 40%. Extra processing power will also help handle multiple apps

Gyroscope: together with the accelerometer and compass this allows six axis motion sensing. You will be able to control games by waving the handset

New HD Camera: 5MP camera with LED flash, 5x digital zoom and HD (720p) 30 frames per second video recording. Videos can be edited using iMovie on the iPhone

Software:iPhone OS4 becomes iOS to reflect other devices. It will be available free on June 21^st. For the first time you’ll be able to run multiple apps and improved email threads.

iBookstore will also be introduced with the hope of doing for books what app-store and iTunes have done for apps and music respectively. iBookstore will handle PDFs

Price: 3G $99, 4G (16GB) $199 and 4G (32GB) $299 – these are US prices and do not include contract costs. It is still tied to AT&T in the US but will come out in the US, UK and six other countries on June 24^th, the other 80 countries will have to wait till the end of September. Pre-orders open 15th June.

It didn’t all go swimmingly for the master presenter, as Steve Jobs suffered a technical hitch (all been there, but now we can say “it happens to Steve Jobs too”) when demonstrating the new download speeds. Steve had to repeatedly ask the audience to cut off their wifi. Expect repercussions.  A number of other announcements were made:

• 5bn app downloads to date, with the last 2b in just over 4 months
• $1bn has been returned to app developers
• Apple will sell the 100millionth iPhone OS device this month (includes iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch)
• 2m iPads have been sold to date, equating to 1 every 3 seconds

The full keynote is now available via www.apple.com

From a games perspective the new retina screen, gyroscope and improved processor make for exciting new opportunities. Although with the HD camera, more accurate GPS it looks like Alternate Reality Gamers may be the real winners. The leading Google phones have similar processors, good batteries and can handle multitasking already, so in some respects Apple was catching up. Of course with apps, screen resolution, features and compatibility Apple remain in front. Steve has set the marker down again for competitors, developers and users… exciting times!

“Is the practice of using custom branded or sponsored video games to advertise a product, service, organization or viewpoint”

First mentioned in 2000 by Anthony Giallourakis, it is essentially advertising through a video game. However even video game is a misnomer as the majority of games are now played online or on your mobile.

But aren’t games just for teenage boys?

It is an often relayed misconception. However the average age of a gamer in the United States is 35. Furthermore the average player on Facebook games is a 43 year old woman. A recent survey in NI found that 46% of primary 7 (age 10/11) year olds played online games, with 93% of them having a mobile phone. In terms of online use, within the next two years Games will replace email as the second most popular activity online behind social media. Games are fun and have global appeal. Crucially games are easy to go viral, with players frequently wanting to challenge family and friends.

Ok, but I still don’t know one end of the Xbox from the other – so why is advergaming important?

You may not be a gamer, but you have probably paid for a game at some time for others or most certainly know someone who is a gamer. The most important point to remember is that you don’t have to be a core gamer to play games. More and more people play games on a casual basis as when it suits them. Who hasn’t played snake on their phone, angry birds on their iPhone or Tetris on some format? Who hasn’t been emailed a link to online game that takes only a few seconds to play but becomes instantaneously addictive?

Games are hard to avoid on Facebook. With the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS millions of families regularly play games together. Globally games are bigger than the film or music industry. Including hardware sales in 2008, the games industry was bigger than the film and music industry put together in the UK

Ok, so what forms of advergaming are there?

In above-the-line advergaming, a company will provide interactive games on its website or distribute the game free with its products. Customers are then enticed on to the company’s website to play the game and/or become more aware of the product. Increasingly the product will play a role in the game. In game ads are normally obvious (e.g. during transitions, banners, etc).

Below-the-line advergaming is more stealth in nature. Akin to clever product placement, for example pitchside ads in sports games or billboard ads in car racing or role player games. Alternatively the advertiser sponsors a congratulations screen or displays promotional material after a player manages to complete a game. Post completion advergaming is generally associated with public messages (e.g. aid army recruitment or to educate people on major issues)

With through- the-line games, people interact with links, websites, and promotional material outside the game, for example Alternate Reality Games (ARGs).  Gamers do not have to interact with TTL advergaming but doing so provides for greater game experience for users and increased engagement for advertisers.

As the old adage goes the only applications to make money are “Games, Gambling & Girls”. Facebook was initially set up by Mark Zuckerbergto to rate the yearbook pictures of girls at Harvard University. However it now relies on advertising and games as a revenue model. The biggest advertiser on Facebook is Zynga, the makers of the Farmville game. Farmville attracts 31m users per day, a level of engagement beyond the wildest dreams of any marketer. Not only do games attract users, but they also attract revenue. Facebook and Zynga recently signed a strategic partnership allowing Facebook Credits to be the new game currency on Facebook. If Facebook with almost 500m users - many spending an hour a day on the site – rely heavily on games, your business should consider it too.

Are there any successful examples of Advergaming outside of Facebook?

From Coke creating “Pepsi Invaders” in 1983 to Barack Obama using adverts in Madden Football 09 as part of his election campaign, advergaming plays a crucial role in getting your message across. Advergaming has moved on from addidas and Vodafone billboards appearing in FIFA Football games to becoming an integral part of a wider campaign. Today few major film releases or product launches release without a dedicated online marketing campaign and game.

Why target iPhone Games in particular?

Perhaps the most successful example has been Barclays who tied in their recent TV ad campaign featuring a water slide with an iPhone Game. The iPhone Game had 10m downloads around the world and was the most popular game in several countries. Smartphones are the fastest growing sector within the mobile industry and are expected to account for 1 in 4 phones in 2010. Smartphone users are often more affluent representing a key target market for advertisers.. iPhone users are again more affluent, more technically proficient in using their phone’s features and represent the ideal gateway into wider mobile advergaming. iPhone users spend on average 5 mins a day playing games. In addition advergames developed for the iPhone can also work instantaneously on the iPod Touch (very popular among young people) and the iPad (popular among professionals).

How is advergaming in smartphone and handheld games distributed?

Modern mobile app-stores (e.g. Apple App-Store, Google’s Android Marketplace, Nokia Ovi Store, etc) allow games to be easily distributed (‘downloaded’) free of charge to millions of consumers simultaneously around the globe. Apple alone has had 4 billion app downloads in under two years, with Games being by far the most popular form of apps. Of course this can also be done on much smaller and more targeted scale. As well as being significantly more engaging, advergaming is also significantly more cost-effective than other traditional forms of advertising.

All very good but where’s the stats?

People spend 3 mins on the average online advergame, (Contests2Win, Jan 2010)

In game advertising was five times more effective at raising brand awareness than TV advertising. (NeoEdge, Mar 2009)

Advergaming improves:

(Neilson Entertainment, Jan 2007)

Games are the most popular mobile apps, by volume and by revenue on the app-stores. They also allow for repeat visits to a website, product mentions on social media (e.g. posting high score) and securing valuable customer data. Best of all, customers choose to interact with a game and to share that game with friends.

So where do I find out more?

Wee Man Studios can create simple 2D games to more complex 3D mobile games. We can develop one off games or games as part of a wider marketing strategy. We don’t use big words or charge big fees. Be one step ahead of the competition and give us a call today.