Marketing Your Wireless Game

Do you think Banana Battle, the wireless game where people throw bananas at each other, is kind of dumb? Are you bored by Ringtones and Snake? Think you have a better idea?

If you do, there may be a very lucrative market for your mobile phone gaming application. But cracking that market will not be easy. Out there is a real-life jungle that you'll have to navigate if you want to get your game to market - and there be dragons there.

A Hot Market

There's no question that the market for games on mobile phones is heating up. Datamonitor, a research firm based in New York, says 200 million people will be playing Web games on mobile phones by 2005. It values the wireless gaming market at $6 billion-a big jump from $3 million in 2000. In its "Global Wireless Gaming" report, Datamonitor comments, " While the number of wireless users will slow as mobile phone penetration rises, wireless gaming represents a true growth area. Of the 552.6 mobile users in 2001, 22% took part in wireless games, which is expected to rise to 42% in 2006. Wireless gaming will come to represent a high value area of the wireless market."

Rann Smorodinsky, the founder and vice president of Cash-U Mobile Technologies is even more sanguine-he estimates that the total number of users of mobile gaming services will grown more than 18-fold over the next five years, from 43 million to nearly 850 million users by 2006.

Most of those gamers will be using Java-enabled devices-specifically J2ME which is fast becoming the de facto standard for the mobile medium. According to an article published on this web site earlier this year (http://wireless.java.sun.com/getstart/articles/whyjava/) "As far as adoption of J2ME, the prognostics are rather good. Evans Data recently conducted a survey among 500 wireless application developers, concluding that more developers will use Java and J2ME to develop wireless applications (30%) than native C API/s (Palm OS, PocketPC, EPOC) or even WAP."

Says Matt Wilson, Manager of the MIDLET Alliance for Seattle-based 4thpass --a company that builds software for wireless carriers in order to manage and deliver applications from the carrier network to the device-"We're going to see Java on every handset. Leading research houses such as the ARC Group in the UK are predicting that Java will be standard on all wireless devices by 2006-all the major carriers are endorsing the technology."

Into the Breach

So you've got a killer mobile phone game, it uses J2ME and MIDP technology, and you're looking for a market. Now what?

According to Dale Crowley, the CEO of NuvoStudios, "You already have the key ingredient-a great product. A world class, polished application is your best marketing tool. That means your game has certain characteristics: It's 3D, fun, and graphically pleasing. And, most importantly, it pushes the limits of a limited device. If your game doesn't take full advantage of every bit of technology embedded in the mobile phone, it falls into the category of applications that anyone can write-like poker and blackjack. Given the fierce competition in this market, more conventional applications will get lost in the shuffle."

4thpass's Wilson adds, "It's not easy to develop an action arcade game that is 30K or less, operates in 3D, and works within the limitations of today's cell phones. But phones are adding additional battery power, improved screens and Internet connectivity, so it's only going to get better."

The Internet is very important, Wilson says. What both the carriers and the users want are games that can be played online against other subscribers. "People [are] going to want to buy these applications because they're more fun, and the carriers like them because subscribers use up big chunks of air time. They both win."

Nuvo, which produces games for companies such as Disney, ESPN, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment (SPDE) and Mattel, introduced a good example of a hit game at this year's Java ONE conference. NuSpace is the first of its kind - a 3D space fighter game for wireless phones that pushes the technology to the max. Another recent Nuvo release is Nivla's Quest complete which features multiple screens, monsters, treasures and more. You can check them out at http://www.zingy.com.

Who Do You Turn To?

There are several avenues to explore as you prepare to market your game. There are the device manufacturers (companies such as Nokia, Ericcson, Motorola, Siemens, Samsung, and Sanyo), the service providers, and a mixed bag of companies that fall into the general category of aggregators.

Device Manufacturers

They are always on the hunt for outstanding wireless game applications and they have set up developer sites to make sure the cream rises to the top. You can sign up on the Web to join their development programs. Each vendor puts its own spin on the developer/manufacturer relationship, but, in general, you can download an SDK, receive support, go to conferences, enter chat rooms, and even test and certify your game.

For example, Motorola's Magnet Membership provides four levels of membership-from the simplest Online Members where you have access to online downloads and self-help forums, all the way up to Strategic Members who have the top-tier benefits associated with a strategic alliance with Motorola. Motorola's Mobile Services Cafe brings developers and carriers together online to introduce new wireless apps. Other resources include advice on market strategies, directories and repositories of tools, middleware, developer services, and an applications directory.

Like Motorola, Siemens' Mobile Solutions Partnership Program offers developers levels of membership-in this case, six levels from an Internet Developers Village where you can get downloads, tech information and access to SDKs, to joint ventures and strategic partnerships at the high end. In addition to privileged information on Siemens' JAPIs/SDKs, Siemens also provides a certification program that allows external developers to test their applications on the Siemens Open Mobile Internet Platform.

Nokia offers the Nokia Software Market, a new sales channel operated by Digitalriver, Inc. In March Nokia introduced the Nokia 3410 featuring J2ME support, a 3D graphics engine and a Picture Editor.

The other device manufactures have similar developers programs that you need to investigate (see sidebar).

"Once you sign up for the developer's program, start going to conferences and meet these people face to face," advises Crowley. "This is a very crowded space, and you have to do everything you can to stand out. A great product comes first, but without personal relationships, even great products often don't make it. Plus, the device manufacturers are one of the prime roads into the carriers, another huge market."

The Carriers

"It's even harder to make contact with the carriers," Crowley adds. "You need to attend trade show after trade show such as E3 Expo, CTIA and Java ONE-in fact, every show where key industry people are likely to gather, including conferences that are not strictly focused on Java technology."

Sprint PCS is an example of a carrier with a broad-based developer's program. After you register on-line you have access to: tools and resources; the company's Wireless Application manager; a platform to create, build and manage applications; the Developer Forum to interact with wireless experts and fellow developers; and an on-line newsletter and other communications. Sprint also hosts an annual Application Developer's Conference.

Verizon, AT&T Wireless, Nextel and other service providers have similar programs. Check their websites to determine the level of support and whether or not they are J2ME compliant.

However, you may be better off concentrating your energies on the device manufactures-or, better yet, the aggregators.

Aggregators

Both Crowley and Wilson agree that the aggregator route is the preferred path to marketing your game. The upside is that the aggregators already have in place the networks and the distribution channels that you need. The downside is that they take a big chunk of the profits-up to 75 percent.

A few aggregator examples:

• Tira Wireless, a J2ME application provider to the carriers, has a Developer's program that asks only that you submit your game to them. If they accept your offering, they take care of the rest-certification, end user support, basic localization, provisioning, branding, marketing and sales.
• nGame is looking for developers both to develop their own original game ideas and to implement games based on designs that it provides. The company says its titles are now distributed throughout the world with over 500,000 registered players.
• Digital Bridges has established a global developer community for mobile entertainment. It's UNITY program provides an SDK and Java-based APIs for developing applications. See http://www.digitalbridges.com/newsite/site_resources/frames/db. html

Java Wireless Developer Initiative

In this industry-wide wireless developer program, Sun collaborates with industry leaders such as Motorola, Nextel, Nokia, Openwave, Siemens, Symbian and Sprint to help developers create Java-based wireless implementations. Supported technology includes J2ME, CLDC/MIDP, Java Card and PersonalJava.

Also, be sure to check out the sun.com/wireless website for valuable information on Sun's wireless vision, strategy, products and services that carriers and enterprise can deploy today. Enterprises, by the way, are looking for wireless applications that will appeal to their employees. As a game developer, you just may have an approach that will allow you penetrate this huge market.