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Mobile giant Gameloft is reporting a strong year of sales driven primarily by the firm’s smartphone and tablet games.
Full-year sales for 2013 were up by 12 per cent over 2012 at €233.3m. The biggest territory was EMEA – Europe, the Middle East and Africa – accounting for 32 per cent of sales, with North America following at 28 per cent.
Despite record revenues in the fourth quarter of €62.3m, the full-year sales are slightly behind Gameloft’s projections for €235m to €240m. This was attributed to several delayed game releases, and the weakness of US and emerging market currencies against the Euro.
Smartphone and tablet games accounted for 66 per cent of the company’s total sales, compared to 54 per cent in 2012. The category’s sales were up 36 per cent year-on-year.
More than 80 per cent of Gameloft’s smartphone revenues come from advertising and microtransactions around its free-to-play titles. The business model is also retaining large audiences: Gameloft observed that in the last 30 days, more than 160m people played one of its titles on a smartphone or tablet.
Interestingly, more than 75 per cent of the company’s total revenue come from games release prior to 2013.
In a statement, Gameloft wrote: "The continuing strength of the smartphone and tablet market, and the solid line-up of new high-quality games to be released in 2014, should sustain the companies growth in the coming quarters. Therefore, the company anticipates another year of growth in sales, results and new cash in 2014."
