Highly Anticipated Game Releases Could Heat Up Investor Interest in the Mobile Gaming Sector

NetworkNewsWire Editorial Coverage: The video games market is a unique one in that the success of individual companies is primarily driven by the release of hit games, leading to significant ebb and flow as new games are either embraced or panned by players. For this reason, many have long considered mobile gaming companies to be poor candidates for venture capital funding. However, there are always exceptions, and various mobile gaming stocks have proven their strength and longevity in the marketplace. Players like Tapinator, Inc. (OTCQB: TAPM) (Tapinator Profile), Nintendo Co., Ltd. (ADR) (OTC: NTDOY), Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), Glu Mobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLUU) and Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) have shown their staying power and are among standout public companies gaining market share within the videogame industry. Each of these entities is currently gearing up to once again raise investor interest with highly anticipated new game releases coming down the pipe.

In the mobile games industry, it is quality rather than quantity that drives the potential of profitability, as evidenced by the huge success of entities like Finnish game developer Supercell. Tencent Holdings (OTC: TCEHY) purchased an 84-percent stake in Supercell in 2016 for $8.6 billion. At that time, the transaction valued Supercell at a whopping $10.2 billion (http://nnw.fm/t2Bal). Incredibly, Supercell only has four games in the marketplace. Nevertheless, it is a giant in the mobile gaming industry due to the success of those titles, which have produced a lifetime average of $1.15 billion in revenue solely on the iOS platform, as reported by VentureBeat (http://nnw.fm/lNO37).

Other companies are similarly striving to find success with well-designed, user-hooking mobile games that cater the modern gamer. For Tapinator (TAPM), the upcoming releases of “ColorFill,” a unique puzzle game which is set to launch in December 2017, and other new titles are set to arouse interest among both gamers and investors.

Tapinator is a leading developer and publisher of mobile games on the iOS, Google Play and Amazon platforms, engaging millions of players worldwide with its portfolio of more than 300 mobile games. Again, quantity doesn’t always equate to success, but it’s important to note that Tapinator’s games have collectively amassed more than 400 million player downloads and counting.

Most recently the company announced (http://nnw.fm/kuhL5) its partnership with Hanover, Germany-based development studio Robot Cake Games. Through this partnership, Tapinator has acquired the rights to publish “ColorFill,” a distinctive puzzle game aimed at attracting fans of games like Minesweeper, Sudoku and other popular puzzle titles.

The partnership also gives Tapinator the right to publish future Robot Cake titles for a period of at least one year, with “ColorFill” being among the first to roll-out under the Tapinator banner. “ColorFill” is currently being soft launched in Canada and Australia, and the game is slated to hit the global landscape on December 7, 2017, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

“We have known the team at Robot Cake for several years and have been highly impressed with their hard work, creativity and the quality of their products. We are excited to announce the beginning of a long-term partnership that we believe will result in future successful, top grossing game launches,” Tapinator CEO Ilya Nikolayev said in announcing the partnership with Robot Cakes. “We at Tapinator are fans of ‘ColorFill’s’ innovative gameplay and are excited to partner with Robot Cake to bring this unique title to millions of app store players. ‘ColorFill’ is our first release with Robot Cake and we expect that it will be the first of many. We look forward to providing updates on other scheduled releases from this partnership in early 2018.”

Other new Tapinator titles coming up during Q4 2017 and Q1 2018 include “Divide & Conquer” and “Fusion Heroes.” The company also recently released two new Full-Featured Games, “Big Sport Fishing 2017” and “Dice Mage 2.” “Big Sport Fishing 2017” scored over 520,000 player downloads within the first week of its worldwide release, and both it and “Dice Mage 2” were distinguished as “New Games We Love” on the Apple iOS platform (http://nnw.fm/Xy3V5).

Tapinator has been hailed as “One to Watch” (http://nnw.fm/Hv38g) within the mobile gaming market, garnering considerable notice with hundreds of thousands of daily downloads on the iOS, Google Play and Amazon platforms. Through consumer app store transactions and the sale of branded advertisements, the company continues generating attractive and predictable returns.

Tapinator’s business strategy includes the creation of best-in-segment Full-Featured Games that garner long-term player retention and produce higher ROIs—games like “ROCKYTM” and “Solitaire Dash.” Employing this Full-Featured Games model, the company is able to create sustainable, franchise-esque games with the potential of bringing in $100 million+ each and boasting product life spans of five years or greater. Tapinator uses a set of proprietary dynamic development and marketing processes that are factored on gaming category, estimated player retention and projected player profitability.

The company’s diversified revenue sources include 54 percent that comes from in-game advertising and 46 percent that stems from consumer purchases made via app stores. Within the company’s games, advertising placement is strategically limited to appear only between game levels, which helps bolster player retention, and players are further enticed to participate in watching video ads on a rewards basis.

Additionally, Tapinator is actively exploring opportunities in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and has released several prototype virtual reality games on an exploratory level in order to gather data before pursuing a more significant product in this area. The company further plans to pursue additional publishing opportunities that leverage its large player network, platform relationships and operational expertise.

Another highly anticipated mobile games release on the radar, and one likely to generate notable investor buzz, is coming soon from Nintendo (NTDOY). An undeniable pioneer in the video game world, Nintendo recently made its most significant move yet in mobile gaming with the announcement of plans to add “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp” as its third title for smartphones. The game is scheduled to launch in late November and is anticipated to be a long-term cash generator for Nintendo. It will be available as a free download for both iOS and Android and will feature in-game purchases.

Nintendo’s stock has climbed 80 percent during 2017, and Goldman Sachs has estimated that an “Animal Crossing” mobile title could bring in twice as much revenue as Nintendo’s two previous smartphone games combined. The company has announced its intention to launch between two and three smartphone games per year going forward.

Meanwhile, mainstay mobile games player Zynga (ZNGA) has commenced a soft launch of a sequel to its hugely popular game “Words With Friends.” “Words With Friends 2” features various updates, including new game modes and 50,000 new words added to the game dictionary. During 2017, Zynga’s stock price per share has risen from $2.69 in early January to $3.88 on November 2, reflecting, at least in part, the interest generated by this release. When “Words With Friends 2” launches worldwide, investor attention will likely increase.

For Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU), it is hoped that the upcoming release of “The Swift Life” – scheduled for release in late 2017, according to company information, without a hard-and-fast specified launch date – will generate significant buzz and investor interest. More a social environment and digital entertainment platform for Taylor Swift fans than an outright game, “The Swift Life” chiefly lets fans of the Grammy winner connect and interact with each other as well as with the star herself through message boards, quizzes and other such features. The project marks a departure from the format of Glu Mobile’s prior celebrity-focused games and will actually be the company’s first pop culture celebrity app to be unveiled in 2017, as some of its previous celeb-game efforts didn’t fare so well. Because of Taylor Swift’s astronomical fan following and the app’s format of being a social network rather than a game, those in the know believe it has a very good chance of being a successful and profitable app for Glu Mobile.

Another hugely popular full-featured game that is currently in soft launch is “The Sims Mobile” from Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA). This mobile version of the popular life simulation game could well prove to be—and likely will be—as enormously successful as its full-featured counterpart. Electronic Arts’ stock price has been steadily climbing for several years and has continued that trend in earnest during 2017, rising from $80.784 on January 1 to $115.21 on November 1. The release of the wildly popular “Sims” in mobile version can only serve to bolster that growth.

The launches of these highly anticipated mobile games are likely to kindle significant interest among investors, proving once again that mobile gaming stocks belong in the publicly traded arena. When it comes to savvy and successful game launches, mobile gaming companies like Tapinator demonstrate that they are certainly not playing around.

For more information on Tapinator, visit Tapinator, Inc. (OTCQB: TAPM)  

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