Lists all the top mobile social games platforms, publishers and developers including zynga, gree and more

1. understand the mobile
social gaming market
developers, publishers
and platforms
comprehensive company
listings
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2. About this guide
 The world of mobile social
games is one of the fastest
Get in touch
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 We've listed all the major
developers, publishers and +44 (0) 203 322 2945
platforms
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track of the key mobile social
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3. Index
1 Zynga
2 Gree
3 DeNA
Independent mobile social game publishers,
4 developers and platforms
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4. Zynga
Social game publisher that established itself on the Facebook platform with games such as
Farmville and Mafia Wars, and then went on to dominate the Facebook platform with 250 million
users as of May 2012. Zynga has since made a concerted effort to increase its mobile presence
with a number of high-profile acquisitions of mobile social game specialist studios. Following the
acquisition of OMGPOP Zynga’s active mobile users rose to 21 million. The company’s revenues
rose to $321 million in Q1 2012, largely on the back of its expansions into mobile.
OMGPOP
Developer of the hugely successful social mobile game Draw Something. Also
operates its own desktop social games platform. Was bought out by Zynga earlier in
the year.
Buzz Monkey
Game developer that began developing titles on consoles such as the Xbox 360 and
PS3, before moving onto smartphone games. Buzz Monkey was bought out last
month by Zynga and has now been rebranded as Zynga Eugene.
Wild Needle
Mobile game developer that was set-up to focus on games targeted at females. Wild
Needle was bought out by Zynga in May in a talent acquisition deal.
Astro Ape
Mobile social gaming developer based in New Jersey and founded in 2010. Astro Ape
developed popular social games such as Office Heroes before it was acquired by
Zynga in 2011.
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5. Zynga
Area/Code
Developer of popular Facebook and mobile games. Best known for Ubisoft’s CSI
Facebook game. Area/Code was bought out by Zynga at the beginning of last year.
GameDoctors
German based mobile game developer that created the popular Zombie Smash
game. GameDoctors was bought out by Zynga in January 2012.
Page 44 Studios
Game developer that began developing titles on the original PlayStation. Most
famous in the smartphone space for bringing World of Goo to iOS. Bought out by
Zynga at the end of 2011.
Asian market. Zynga acquired XPD in 2010.
Dextrose AG
German studio that developed the Aves HTML5 gaming engine, designed for high-
end graphics on HTML5 games. Zynga bought the company in 2010.
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6. Gree
Japanese mobile game developer, publisher and social mobile game platform. Gree is one of the
largest and most profitable mobile social game companies in the world, recording profits of
$168.6m in Q3 and net sales of $529m. The company is currently making a big push into western
markets, following a number of acquisitions including Funzio and OpenFeint. Gree launched its
new global mobile social platform in May 2012, which will be integrating the OpenFeint platform by
the autumn. Gree aims to feature 60 new titles by the end of the year and amass a userbase of 1
billion.
OpenFeint
Mobile social gaming platform that lets players share scores, friends and recommendations. The
OpenFeint platform was one of the first social game platforms to achieve success in the mobile
space. It is now owned by Gree, which has plans to integrate it into its own eponymous platform.
Paprika
South Korean social mobile game developer, acquired by Gree earlier this year.
IUGO
San Francisco-based mobile developer that has developed social mobile games for a number of
major publishers including Capcom. Recently received an investment from Japanese publisher
Gree to bring games to Gree’s platform.
Funzio
One of the biggest and most profitable developers in the mobile social space. Developed the
successful Crime City IP. Now owned by Gree following a $220m acquisition.
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7. DeNA
Japanese mobile game developer and publisher. DeNA is Gree’s biggest rival in Japan, with revenues of £1.8bn in
fiscal year ending March 2012. DeNA owns the Mobage mobile social game platform, which it developed with its
biggest western acquisition to date – San-Francisco developer Ngcomo. The publisher is now busy expanding the
Mobage platform and continuing to look westward, with content partnership deals with a variety of big name
publishers such as Disney. The company is also integrating Ngcomo’s Plus+ platform into Mobage. DeNA owns
some of the most popular mobile social IPs on the market, including Rage of Bahamut, which rocketed to the top of
the iOS app charts on its release last month.
Ngcomo
San-Francisco based developer of the some of the most popular mobile social games, including
WeRule and the Plus+ social platform. Ngcomo was bought out by Japanese publisher DeNA in
2010.
Gameview
California-based social mobile game developer that developed Tap Fish and Tap Mall. GameView
was acquired by Japanese publisher DeNA in 2010.
Grasshopper
Japanese mobile game developer that created the popular Frog Minutes mobile game. Recently
announced a partnership with DeNA to bring Frog Minutes to the Mobage platform.
Mobage
Mobage is currently one of the biggest social game platforms on iOS and Android devices. It’s
owned by Japanese publisher DeNA and incorporates DeNA subsidiary ngcomo’s Plus+ platform.
Plus+
iOS social mobile game platform owned by DeNA subsidary ngcomo. Plus+ has been integrated
into DeNA’s Mobage platform, although some games still carry the Plus+ branding.
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8. Independent mobile social game
publishers, developers and
platforms (Part 1)
Natural Motion
British Publisher with a heritage in console games engines, that recently raised $8m US to
expand – has published a range of mobile social games including Jenga, Icebreaker Hockey
and My Horse
Papaya
Beijing-based social mobile game platform and publisher that operates across iOS and
Android devices. Papaya claims over 25 million users on Android and has partnered with
numerous developers, including Kiloo and Bulkpix.
EA
EA is one of the biggest videogame publishers in the world and has made a concerted effort
to break into the mobile social games market with its Sims franchise, Origin platform and
purchases of mobile social game companies such as PlayFish and Chillango.
Origin
EA’s social gaming platform that encompasses mobile and desktop games. Origin supports in-
game achievements and leaderboards across a number of EA mobile games, such as
Scrabble and Deadspace.
PlayPhone
Mobile content publisher that runs the PlayPhone Social mobile gaming platform. PlayPhone
claims 3 million users on its platform, which runs across iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
PlayPhone features its own virtual currency and allows cross operating system multiplayer.
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9. Independent mobile social game
publishers, developers and
platforms (Part 2)
Scoreloop
Mobile social gaming platform that offers similar leaderboard, friend-tracking and
achievements features to other platforms such as OpenFeint. Scoreloop operates across
Android, iOS and BlackBerry and was acquired last year by RIM.
Skillpod
South African social and casual games publisher and platform. Recently began developing a
new mobile social game platform that will allow multiplayer gaming between desktop
Facebook users and mobile gamers, which is expected to roll out this summer.
Game Center
Apple’s proprietary social games platform that’s pre-installed on iOS devices. Lets gamers
add friends, track high scores and earn achievement points. Claims 65 million sign-ups.
entag!
Recently launched (January 2012) Japanese mobile social game platform. Owned by MTI.
Unlike Gree and DeNA, entag! appears to be focusing on the Japanese domestic market
rather than expanding westward.
Kabam Inc
Publisher and developer of massively multiplayer social games on desktop platforms.
Recently moved into the mobile space with the successful Kingdoms of Camelot iOS game.
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10. Independent mobile social game
publishers, developers and
platforms (Part 3)
SGN
Social game developer and publisher with over 150 million users across mobile and desktop
platforms. Formally known as Mindjolt and led by former MySpace founders.
Gameloft
One of the oldest videogame publishers that focuses exclusively on mobile games.
Headquartered in France, Gameloft claims 45 million monthly active users across its titles.
Gameloft Live
The recently launched mobile social games platform owned by French publisher Gameloft.
Currently only available on Android, Gameloft Live lets users create avatars and keep up-to-
date with Gameloft games.
Gamevil
One of South Korea’s biggest mobile game developers and publishers. Gamevil recently
announced that over 90% of its revenue now comes from in-app purchases.
CrowdStar
Social game developer and publisher that made a name for itself on Facebook’s platform, but
is now scaling back its desktop activities and moving strongly into the mobile space. Recently
announced partnerships to expand into the Chinese and South Korean markets.
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11. Independent mobile social game
publishers, developers and
platforms (Part 4)
CyberAgent
Japanese developer and publisher that creates social games for mobile and Facebook, as
well as the FreeAppKing game promotion network run by its US arm.
Hangame
South Korean mobile game platform and publisher that specialises in casual games and
massively multiplayer titles. Hangame operates in China as ‘Ourgame’ and in the US as ‘Ijji’.
The9
Chinese developer of mobile and PC massively multiplayer games. Used to own the World of
Warcraft license in China. Now making a big push into the mobile space with its Game Zone
platform.
Game Zone
Mobile social gaming platform owned by Chinese publisher The9. Powered by the OpenFeint
platform and boasts over 600 titles from 500 developers.
Renren
Chinese social gaming platform. Recently announced a partnership with DeNA to bring a
number of titles from the Mobage platform to RenRen’s new mobile platform.
GameInsight
Russian social and mobile game developer that has over 14 studios. Developer of Android title
Paradise Island and iOS game My Country.
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12. Independent mobile social game
publishers, developers and
platforms (Part 5)
Wooga
German developer that made a name for itself with a number of popular social Facebook
games. Recently began porting its games to mobile.
Storm8
One of the most popular independent social gaming publishers. Creators of iMobsters and
owner of subsidiary Team Lava. Storm8 recently announced it had surpassed 300m
downloads.
Team Lava
Claims to be the leading mobile social game developer on iOS. Created popular ‘Story’
franchise, including Bakery Story, Restaurant Story and City Story. Owned by Storm8.
TinyCo
One of the most popular social mobile game developers. Responsible for TinyZoo, TinyPets
and TinyVillage mobile games. Based in San Francisco. Launched a $5m fund to help mobile
developers.
Glu
Mobile games developer based in San Francisco and founded in 2001. Glu operates
successful social game Bugs Village and recently announced a deal with Blammo to expand
its social game portfolio.
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13. Independent mobile social game
publishers, developers and
platforms (Part 6)
Glu Network
Glu Network is the social platform run by Glu. The platform lets gamers earn achievement points on
Glu games, interact with the community and earn rewards.
iWin
Multiplatform casual game developer and publisher with an established presence in the desktop
space through its own casual game portal. Recently signed partnership deal with Gree to bring
mobile game’s to Gree’s platform.
Ubisoft
Established console game developer that also has a strong presence in the mobile space. Signed a
partnership with Gree to bring integrate its mobile games into Gree’s social platform.
Haypi
Chinese developer that focuses on massively multiplayer mobile games. Haypi recently entered into
a content partnership with the Gree platform. Responsible for the popular Haypi Kingdom iOS
game.
Wizcorp
Mobile game developer based in Japan that specialises in HTML5 games. Gree invested in Wizcorp
in April this year just before it launched its new social platform.
2K Games
Publisher of a number of leading videogame franchises on console platforms. Recently announced
a partnership to bring its Pirates and Civilization franchises to Gree’s social platform
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14. Your Next Step
• To find out more about mobile
social games and other mobile
Get in touch
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developers and publishers to:
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