Robotube Games Eyes Nintendo DS Development

Dennis Peters, chief creative officer-film & video, said there are “some opportunities that are just on the horizon to do some DS” versions of the company’s games for Nintendo’s handheld system and possibly Sony’s PSP as well. But he said the company has yet to talk with Nintendo or Sony. “Right now we're doing all we can” to strengthen the company’s mobile game business, he said, but he added “we can switch gears” quickly if an opportunity opens for DS or PSP titles. But the Robotube website offered another sign the company is seriously planning at least a DS entry already. In addition to current development for Java, i-mode, Windows Pocket PC, and Symbian games, the company said at the site that DS support is “coming soon.”

The company said it’s also looking to build the audience for the mobile games developed by its Robotube Games subsidiary. The company was started about 4 years ago by Jackie Peters, who’s chief creative officer-multimedia, and her husband. Robotube was started independently as an online game company in 1999 by Jason Cirillo but he teamed up with Heavybag last year, and they expanded together into the mobile gaming arena. Robotube develops and adapts to mobile the vast majority of its own current games, but it also has a partnership with India’s Mindfire for porting, the company said.

Dennis Peters said the company’s original goal was to get its mobile games onto cellphone decks. But he said that proved to be “a little bit more difficult than we had hoped.” Therefore, he said, the company decided to distribute games on its own and, in April, launched a direct-to-consumer portal for downloads of its mobile games. He conceded this strategy is going to take a while to yield many users, in part because some consumers are turned off by what they see as the complexities of downloading and purchasing games.

The company has converted 8 of Robotubes’s 35 online games into mobile titles so far, including Bloktonik, a puzzle game similar to the popular Tetris. Two were launched last year and 6 were added in 2006. Although Cingular subscribers can pay for Heavybag/Robotube mobile games on their monthly bills now, the company’s titles haven’t been put on the decks of handsets used with that carrier’s service. The company, which employs only 9 people, is still experimenting with multiple pay options and is readying the launch in about a week of a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) site that it hopes will help grow its user base. Jackie Peters said the new site will offer consumers new billing options for its games including eBay’s PayPal system. Only about 1% of visitors to the Robotube website buy games, and her husband said the company wants to triple that. Additional payment options should help, he said.

Heavybag is also distributing mobile titles from Ozura, an Australian game maker. Dennis Peters said the company doesn’t plan to launch more titles this year, telling us “we're not ready to take on more content.” The company now distributes 18 mobile games including its own Robotube titles and those from the Ozura deal. Eventually, the company is looking to make original mobile games that weren’t initially Robotube online offerings, he said. But the goal for now, he said, is to strengthen its direct-to-consumer distribution system to make sure the titles it already offers are accessible to as many consumers as possible. About 200,000 people visit Robotube’s website each month and about 40% of the traffic comes from S. Korea, he said. The company’s games are also being offered now in Europe as part of a deal it’s testing with Berazy Mobile Entertainment, Dennis Peters said.

The company is also readying a marketing campaign with college financial aid disbursement service Higher One that Dennis said will reach about 500,000 college students. The goal is to use that partnership to promote Robotube games by allowing students at more than 30 universities to redeem points for Robotube titles, Jackie Peters said.

Robotube is also developing customized “advergames” for companies including Dannon, M&M Mars, K Mart and Ernst & Young as it attempts to build an entire multimedia advertising channel. Dennis said the company needs equity partners or venture capital funding. From discussions with potential investors, he said, it became clear that venture capitalists are looking to invest in companies that don’t just focus on mobile games. Once the company gets more “traction” for its mobile games it will need marketing money from outside entities to continue growing, he told us, adding “I don’t expect us to be profitable” this year. -- Jeff Berman

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More than 50% of games now played on cellphones are downloaded by the subscriber, according to Telephia research. The research firm said its latest report showed 53% of all games played on mobile phones were downloads vs. 39% that came on the subscribers’ phone decks and 8% played online over the mobile Web. Telephia said its research also found 71% of all downloaded mobile game revenue was generated from on-portal game purchases, while 29% came from off-portal purchases. “The large share of pre-existing games reflects an opportunity for carriers and content providers to generate more revenue by converting that game play into downloaded, pay-for-play games,” said Kanishka Agarwal, Telephia vp-new products. Four of 10 mobile game downloaders (43%) cited familiarity with titles through other gaming platforms, such as videogame consoles and PC, as a critical consideration in buying mobile games. It trailed price (59%) and free trials (48%), “underscoring the price-sensitive nature of mobile phone purchasers,” Telephia said. Trailing them were graphics quality (35%), difficulty of play (18%), recommendation by a friend (18%), popularity (18%), brand name (12%), consumer reviews (8%), expert reviews (7%), published recommendations (5%) and other reasons (6%). Agarwal said that because so many consumers were choosing mobile games they knew from other platforms “cohesive marketing across all platforms -- PC, console and mobile -- is critical to a mobile game title’s overall success.” The firm’s survey was conducted in April.