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 The mobile phone has become one of the most ubiquitous digital content platforms in the world faster than any other consumer electronics device. With this great proliferation of mobile devices and capabilities, the vast majority of users still barely scrape the surface of what their phone is capable of. Despite manufacturers arming phones with more robust features, ringtones, wallpapers and other mobile personalization content still make up a majority of mobile entertainment downloads across carrier networks.
Quality Vs. Accessibility
Many people are quick to blame the quality of many mobile games as the primary source for this fate. After all, once a consumer has a poor experience they are unlikely to come back and try again, right? While this is a convincing argument, and game play innovation will always be key to keeping consumers happy – I would argue that there is an even greater issue keeping the mobile games industry from growing into the powerhouse it should be. This issue is accessibility.
Buying a mobile game is a much different decision for a consumer than purchasing a ringtone or wallpaper. For the most part, consumers know what they are going to get when purchasing a ringtone, whereas a game can be much harder to preview and may be less instantly recognizable when fighting for shelf space on the carrier deck. Some publishers have tried to solve this problem by leveraging brands to make their games more identifiable, but this does not necessarily lead to a game that is fun to play. Those that have tried free demos of games in the past know that this method of giving the consumer a taste of the product also doesn’t work from a financial prospective.
The Direct To Consumer Solution
The solution for many of these problems emerged on the mobile scene just a few scant years ago, and has become one of the fastest growing segments of the mobile content market. This fast growing segment is, of course, direct-to-consumer (D2C) content distribution. With D2C, game publishers can leverage the power of the web and other forms of media to present products to consumers in graphically rich and dynamic ways.
Consumers will be able to choose a game not only based on its brand, but also based on what the game actually looks like and how it plays. In a way, D2C is not just an accessibility solution - it even helps solve the game quality issue mentioned earlier. If consumers can easily see more of a game before purchasing it, publishers will look for new ways to push the edge of the envelope in making their products more appealing.
In addition to providing the consumer more information before making their purchase, D2C also offers a way to maximize consumer exposure to mobile games. Where before consumers had to navigate the carrier deck to find their game, today it is possible for publishers to leverage the traffic of major web portals to gain exposure for and sell their products. Some publishers are even creating their own mobile gaming portals. Many more consumers know how to use the web than operate the mobile internet on their phones, and it is important for game publishers to take notice of this.
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