Earlier this week, the Japanese-based social mobile game company DeNA announced its results and the numbers show that great opportunities still exist in the social gaming space. I have written several times about the importance of DeNA (and its Japanese competitor, GREE) in the social gaming ecosystem, in particular that they are better industry bellwethers than Zynga. DeNA is best known in the US as the parent company of ngmoco:), which it acquired in 2010 for $400 million.
DeNA’s results for the quarter that ended in September show the health of the social gaming and free-to-play business. For the quarter, DeNA generated $627 million in revenue and $254 million in profits. At that run rate, DeNA would see about $2.5 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits for a twelve month (one year) period. The quarterly numbers also show a 45 percent increase in revenue and 38 percent increase in profits over the same period from the previous year.
The other interesting result in DeNA’s report was the revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) it is generating from some of its titles in the US and Europe. Continue reading “DeNA’s results show the opportunity in social mobile”
I am equally optimistic about prospects for tablets. Amazon’s new line of Kindle Fires will be a huge holiday seller. The devices are attractively priced, and the ability to focus holiday shoppers’ attention on the devices on the Amazon.com home page and through cross promotion ensures millions will see—and many likely buy—the new tablets. Barnes & Noble’s new Nook tablets share a similar advantage. Again, they are very attractive devices at even better price points. Barnes & Noble also has huge retail reach, with 689 stores and 667 college bookstores, all of which will be prominently showing the new Nook tablets during the holiday shopping season. In addition to these very attractively priced devices that will be in consumers’ faces this holiday season, Samsung (the second largest manufacturer of mobile devices) has a strong line of tablets (including the intriguing Galaxy Note Tab). Also, do not forget Google, that little California company, who has the resources to push its attractive Nexus tablet. 
To me, one of the most exciting opportunities in social media and gaming is in the truly emerging markets, the countries one or two economic tiers below what is currently considered the emerging economic group (the latter consisting of countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China). 
The Business of Social Games and Casino 