There’s not long left until the largest European mobile gaming conference on development and marketing of mobile games. The White Nights: Mobile Games Conference will take place on June 27-28, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Make sure to register by June 17, because the prices will go up.

The White Nights program has been finalized and includes three sets of lectures and master classes all running in parallel. The conference will feature more than 40 speakers from companies like Rovio, Supercell, Chillingo, Facebook, Wooga, Big Fish, FishLabs, G5, FDG, Gamevil, InMobi, Flurry and more. There will also be master classes and presentations from ALL of the leading mobile platforms.

The conference includes three incredible, casual, networking parties: a badge pick-up pre-party sponsored by MoPub, a boat cruise on the 26th of June and the main all night party organized by Nevosoft and Supercell after the first conference day. Not to mention a unique attendee list that includes representatives from over 400 companies.

“I can easily say the WNMG is one of the best events ever. It was extremely well organized, content-wise straight to the point with an excellent line-up of speakers and great attendees to network with in a fabulous location”, – Michael Schade, CEO, FishLabs.

The WNConf has 15 sponsors, including industry-leading companies such as Samsung, the event’s main partner, as well as platinum sponsors Big Fish and i-Free. The conference an ongoing project organized by game publisher and developer Nevosoft.

Register now, because prices will go up on June 17th!

If you have any questions, please, contact wnconf@nevosoft.com

DeNA and 22cans announced a partnership to publish GODUS, the highly anticipated game from 22cans that is a reinvention of the god game genre pioneered by legendary game designer Peter Molyneux.

22cans, a game studio founded by Molyneux, chose to partner with DeNA to distribute and market its game GODUS when the mobile game is released for Android, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch devices. The game will also utilize DeNA’s Mobage mobile social games platform in Western territories, Japan and Korea.

“We have huge respect for DeNA’s successes in mobile gaming. By fusing their expertise and experience with our passion and dedication, we are going to make GODUS a truly groundbreaking reinvention of the god game genre,” said Peter Molyneux, founder of 22cans. “As a global leader in developing and publishing mobile games, DeNA is the ideal partner for us to collaborate with on the launch of GODUS. Their breadth of expertise working with second and third-party game developers is invaluable as we prepare for the release of GODUS on mobile devices.”

GODUS is a new type of game for mobile devices. In it you are a god, able to wield divine powers over your devoted followers. As you advance your civilization to ever-greater power, your people will grant you belief. With this belief you can sculpt entire lands, beautifying them with your touch. However, there are other worlds and rival gods to face and to challenge. Additionally, you have the power to wreak earthquakes, volcanoes or tornados upon these foes, as well as send armies of your devoted followers into the battle for ultimate control. You and your people will clash with other gods and followers in the most intense and exciting multiplayer battles for supremacy.

“One of my first jobs in the video game industry was working on the quality assurance team for Peter’s Populous 2. That title and its predecessor set the tone for a whole new generation of games,” said Clive Downie, CEO of DeNA West. “Fast forward to 2013, and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to work with Peter again on the launch of GODUS. Our team is looking forward to working with 22cans on a game that we know will set a new standard for the mobile generation.”

This week’s game is an example how mobile games can be used as advertisement. The German developer Fishlabs have made several “branded games” over the last years and established them on the mobile market. One of their most successful games is  Sports Car Challenge and was made for the Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd.(Page in Chinese) . The main target was to introduce German automobile brands as Porsche or Audi to the Chinese market. But the game was also released in other countries.
Even though the game is made for marketing, it has to compet in quality with other free racing games on the mobile market. Does it deliver?

Sports Car Challenge is a 3D racing simulation. It comes with two tracks, one is “Black Forest Germany” that is an adaptation of the real racetrack “Nürburgring” and the other is the frozen “Yunlong Lake China”. The handling of the cars is significantly different on the frozen lake and the more powerful cars tend to be less manageable on it. There for it is better to take the first turns with a slower car on the German track, until you get used to the controls.

Typically for mobile racing games you steer the car with the accelerometer by turning the device. Accelerating is done automatically and to hit the brakes you have to touch the screen. For those of you who want more control, manual shifting by swiping and manual acceleration via touch screen can be enabled. As an alternative you can also use the touch screen for steering. To get the perfect view of your car or the track, you can choose from three different camera positions – a cockpit view and two outside views, for those who want to admire their car while racing.

As for other racing games the selection of cars is an essential part of the game, but since we are dealing here with a branded game it is limited. We have cars from Volkswagen Group that covers Porsche, Bugatti, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and of course Volkswagen. You can make photos and videos of the exterior and interior of the car and then share them on facebook. After Races you can also share your times and compare them with others in the Game Center.
Customization options are limited to color and rims, but the game has an option to visit the website or search for dealers and contact them immediately.  If you prefere to turn a few laps virtually you can choose one of three game modes; Time Trial, Slalom, Breaking. In Time Trial you try to drive the best time over track. Slalom asks you to drive a short slalom course as fast as possible and in Braking you are have to accelerate and then stop in a target zone.  All three modes can be played on both tracks.

In conclusion Sports Car Challenge is a solid free racing game for iOS devices. It doesn’t set new standards or blows anyone away, it was never meant  to. It’s purpose  is to introduce you to the brands of the Volkswagen Group, not more. Unfortunately that is not enough to be a good game. It feels like a generic racing game that has been painted with some brands. On paper it seems that everything is there, 3D, 2 Tracks, 8 Cars 3 Modes, but lack something different. It has an identity but no soul. And this is the problem with many “branded” games. Because marketers and their concept of “gamification” tend to fall short due to a misunderstanding of what makes a game a game.
Sports Car Challenge is available for free on all iOS devices in the App Store.

German game marketer HitFox today announced the acquisition of Chili Entertainment to add game advertising network ad2games to HitFox’ portfolio.

In 2011, ad2games generated around 75 million clicks for online game publishers such as Bigpoint, gamigo, Gameforge, InnoGames, or Upjers. The ad network was previously majority-owned by online game publisher Gameforge. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; according to our sources HitFox paid a “seven digit” euro figure.

Often referred to as ‘Groupon for gamers’, HitFox offers time-limited deals with steep discounts on games, hardware or virtual goods.  The company also expanded into the field of performance marketing. This latest acquisition adds the capability of a specialized games advertising network. HitFox aims to become a major game distribution, marketing and user acquisition channel for game publishers and manufacturers.

HitFox was founded in August 2011 by Jan Beckers, Tim Koschella, Ruben Haas and Team Europe.  Investors include Holtzbrinck Ventures, Hasso Plattner Ventures, and Digital Pioneers by Bigpoint’s Heiko Hubertz.

The company currently employs 30 in its Berlin headquarters and another office in San Francisco.

In-game advertising platform SponsorPay announced that it achieved 125% year-over-year revenue increase in 2011. This growth was fueled by the launch of video advertising and brand engagement market, as well as a mobile and Android pay-per-install network. They company states that it’s on track for equally strong growth in 2012.

SponsorPay expanded last year to over 110+ employees in seven locations, including new offices in New York, Tokyo and Istanbul to support operations in Berlin (HQ), London, Paris and San Francisco.

SponsorPay’s video and engament advertising was adopted by publishers such as Bigpoint, Digital Chocolate, King.com, Spil Games, GameDuell, among others. The company also introduced a mobile offer platform including Android app installs and mobile-optimized advertising.

Lady Gaga did it, Enrique Iglesias did it and Snoop Dogg did it – selling branded virtual goods in social games is heavily trending. But licensing rights still are complicated and expensive to obtain. So what about smaller developers who don’t have the muscle to negotiate directly with premium brands and artists? Here’s where German startup Iconicfuture steps in. The Hamburg-based company helps game developers integrate premium brands into their games without facing complicated paperwork and lofty fees.

Current licensing models don’t support social games

In Iconicfuture’s latest effort, FC Barcelona, the unarguably best football club of recent years, is integrated into online football game Goal United by developer Northworks, a Hamburg-based studio belonging to Travian Games. All original names of stars such as Lionel Messi, photos, and player data, as well as Barcelona’s official home shirt are included in Goal United for the next ten days. Players can purchase friendlies against the Catalan champions and those who manage to beat Barca receive a unique cup to adorn their virtual trophy shelf.

“The existing licensing model doesn’t support development of social and mobile games that spend as much and in some cases more money after the game is launched than beforehand,” Ze’ev Rozov, CEO and co-founder of Iconicfuture, tells us.  The company was founded by sports licensing company Media Group that works with right holders in sports, entertainment or music. Iconicfuture acts as an intermediary between brands and games and aims to simplify the process of adding licensed rights to online and mobile games.

Resource managing games – a new playground for brands

According to Rozov, the advantages for game developers are higher engagement but also uplift in user acquisition and, of course, revenues: “Users are willing to pay a much higher fee for a branded item than they’re willing to pay for a regular item in a game,” he says. Game partners include Bigpoint for whom Iconicfuture has integrated popular children’s franchise Shaun the Sheep. Resource management games work especially well for this model, i.e. all types of farm or city building games. In-app purchases in mobile apps are another projected growth sector, Rozov says.

Revenues from virtual goods sales are split so that game developers keep a majority of the revenue of the items sold, the second larger piece to the right holder and Iconicfuture also receives a share, depending on the game, platform and type of rights.

More expensive items sell better

So far,  game makers can choose among the partners that Iconicfuture already offers. Especially in sports, licensing is complex and varies across countries and leagues. The company promises to get in touch with desired brands that are not listed yet and add them to their portfolio.

On the side of the right holders, Iconicfuture project manages the process of licensing and validates that the rights will be used in line with license approval to prevent a brand sellout.

The company also helps game developers to set the price points for branded virtual goods. Surprisingly (or maybe not), their data suggest an affinity to higher priced virtual goods, Rozov: “The more expensive the item, the more people buy it.”

Tire producer Nitto Tire U.S.A. has announced a partnership with Cie Games to integrate the Nitto Tire brand in the wildly popular Facebook game Car Town. Car Town has been around since the end of 2010 and is still counting 4.5 million monthly active users. The yearlong multiple phase integrated partnership will extend to November 2012. The joint collaboration will offer Car Town players new in-game activities, virtual items, community contests and giveaways.

“We’re very excited to partner with Car Town to bring our established brand of tires and vehicles to their audience,” said Stephen Leu, Marketing Specialist. “This is a great opportunity for us to widen our customer base including enthusiasts and even casual gamers with less familiarity with the brand.  The exposure will help increase awareness and recognition of the Nitto brand and our offerings.”

As part of the partnership, players can participate in Nitto-branded game missions featuring the company’s new line of tires. The first mission will introduce the Nitto Motivo, an all-weather, ultra-high performance tire, recently unveiled at this year’s SEMA show, to Car Town players and tie-in real-world benefits to related activities in-game.

Other Nitto branded virtual items that will be available in-game include posters, garage items and custom virtual vehicles modeled after Nitto sponsored race cars.  Additionally, Car Town will host various community contests to create Nitto custom-branded car wraps and/or garages.

Gamers will also be able to partake in the Nitto Tire Car Town Virtual Giveaway, where they can simply visit and “Like” Nitto’s Facebook page, to unlock various branded virtual items, first one being the Nitto Motorsports Big Rig for use in their Car Town garage.

Mobile social gaming network PapayaMobile partners with ad offer provider Tapjoy for a new tool named Social Marketplace – an Android app discovery and advertising marketplace that will be available to developers by the end of the year. The Social Marketplace combines Papaya’s social network with Tapjoy’s app install offerings, suggesting users apps to install based on what their friends are playing. Apps will be suggested based on their popularity among Papaya friends. For privacy reasons, recommendations will be calculated using anonymous data.

PapayaMobile, headquartered in Beijing, provides tools for game developers and content for players on its social mobile network. The company claims to reach over 35 million users worldwide.

Virtual world Smeet is tapping into the branded gaming space. Recently, Smeet announced a cooperation with Spanish broadcaster Telecinco group that enables Smeet users to gather around a screen with their avatars and watch shows like Big Brother (“Gran Hermano”) or the dating format “Mujeres y Hombres y viceversa” together. Live streamings are complemented with brand-themed virtual goods.

Other brand integrations will follow soon, Smeet’s CEO and co-founder Sebastian Funke tells us: “It’s easy to create a brand game, because we have developed a modular feature set, which simplifies that process. Together with the respective company, we develop the story and the gameplay. Usually we request some pictures or mood boards for the graphics of the game. However, after receiving that input we take care about the rest and develop the game for our partner.”

These branded mini games are not only incorporated into Smeet’s platform but can also be integrated into the partner’s website, Facebook page or wherever the client wants it to be published. Smeet doesn’t charge for the service but plans to generate income through branded virtual goods. Brands and content partners are offered a revenue share model.

Deep Facebook integration to spread brand messages

“The big advantage for the brand is the fact that users can enter trough the website of our partner and still send out branded posts and requests to Facebook, which then starts to spread virally. So the branded game does not only offer the interaction with the brand, but it is also a nice viral tool,” Funke explains. Users access Smeet through three different channels: the platform itself, partners’ websites and Smeet’s Facebook application, which currently has 760,000 monthly active users.

A tight Facebook integration is a main pillar of Smeet’s new strategy. The Berlin-based company started off as a virtual world in 2006, meanwhile Smeet describes itself as 3D social chat game and introduced a lot of connections to tie user activity on Smeet to notification channels on Facebook – friends can be asked for help in the game, to send each other gifts or to challenge their high scores.

Games hook users, social interaction enhances stickiness

“The problem all social games have in common is that in most cases they are not able to attract the critical mass,” says Funke. “Gaming keeps people busy on the platform. This hook makes them come back and the social contacts and interactions on the platform advance the long-term site stickiness of the users. At first people come for gaming, later on they come for the people.” Funke indicates that Smeet sees significant increase in virality and retention from using Facebook’s Social Graph. However, a lot of analytics and hard work are required to achieve these viral effects.

If Facebook is a planet, Smeet wants to be a spaceship in its orbit

The love for the Social Graph also stems from the understanding that Smeet needs to be a complement to Facebook instead of competing with the social network behemoth. Funke compares Facebook to a planet where people live in their villages (their group of friends) but hardly ever connect with strangers.

He sees Smeet’s role as a spaceship in the planet’s orbit: “The Smeet mothership cruises around the planet and gives the inhabitants a place to meet and to get to know each other. Their communication channels ‘posts’ and ‘requests’ enable users on the Smeet spaceship to communicate with their friends on the planet.”

Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has launched a suite of online and mobile games named CrazieRBrands. The mini-games available for browser, iOS and Android are part of a marketing initiative to make RB better known among the next generation of managers.
RB is the company behind brands like Clearasil, Durex, Lysol or Woolite, their crazieRBrands suite encompasses eight branded games and adds a humorous touch: The Clearasil app is called Face Invaders, and cleaning a toilet bowl is rendered fun in the mini-shooter Down the Pan.

The crazieRBrands suite is designed for a college, MBA, and early careerist demographic, of which roughly 70% own a smart phone, and 81% play mobile games on a weekly basis.
CrazieRBrands includes leaderboards, where people play for their consumer goods company and have the opportunity to win a world trip. Sharing mechanisms are built into the games to encourage people to challenge colleagues and friends to beat their high scores.