Updated: Movie & TV Paid Game Apps For iPhone

Click on the eye chart above for a clearer image of my latest version of this list. I've sorted this iteration by the product of the number of reviews and average score. Also, I've added a CatRnk column which shows in-category ranking from Mobclix. Highlighted titles are those that are either Top 100 Paid, Games or Grossing Apps on iTunes. You'll notice some new titles and some titles that I missed (oops...thanks for the feedback!) in previous versions... notably the #1 performer "The Price is Right" from Fremantle and #2 "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" from Lucasfilm. Please keep the feedback coming. So, based on this list, who would you say is the most successful entertainment company in terms of iPhone games?

Updated: Movie & TV Paid Game Apps For iPhone

Click on the image above to see updates to my post from last Monday. I added Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant and America's Next Top Model by request (thanks for the feedback!), and highlighted the 7 titles that are in the Top 100 Paid Games Apps... but otherwise there isn't much change. Let me know if I'm still missing any titles or if you have anything in the queue for which I should keep an eye out.

Top Paid Mobile Game Title In 10 US App Stores

Movie & TV Paid Game Apps For iPhone

I've recently been looking at games based on entertainment industry brands in the iTunes App Store. I've been paying particularly close attention to Paid Apps, because they're generally much higher quality and less ephemeral... and contribute directly to those oft-discussed, yet oft-elusive digital revenues the old media companies crave. The most striking thing I've noticed is how few of these Apps there are on iTunes. I could only find 40 (let me know what's missing from my list below), which is a measly 0.29% of the 14k Paid Games Apps that Mobclix claims are available in the App Store. Remember, back in the day, when all the operators had Movie/TV categories on their game decks that were chock full'o titles?

Does this mean that entertainment brands are less important on this platform? That seems counter-intuitive considering how cluttered the store is and how critical off-channel marketing is to gaining awareness... and when you consider that 4 of these 40 titles are currently in the Paid App Top 100, these brands can legitimately claim that they over-index in terms of popularity. Perhaps it's that a lot of the smaller developers, who are directly publishing game apps, can't afford licenses for premium brands. Perhaps it's that ongoing perception in gaming circles (some, but not all of it warranted) that games based on entertainment brands are crap. Whatever the reason, it looks like the studios seriously need to step up their distribution into the App Store via licensing or self-publication... to the extent they believe it's important place to own mindshare and a real opportunity to make money (it is and it is, btw). Let me know what you guys think.

When you click on the eye-chart above you'll see that I've sorted this list of 40 by the number of reviews... which gives an indication of popularity over lifetime. The most important thing to look at the star rating in relationship to the number of reviews. Currently the highest rated title is the Twilight Scene It? from RealArcade/Summit Entertainment with 4.5 stars... but it's only been out for a week and I'm sure most purchasers so far are delirious Twilight fans.

Self Published Film Apps for iPhone

Here's a tally of the current film-based (not TV) applications, self-published (not licensed) by the studios, that are currently live on the iTunes App Store. The only title that is currently in the Top 100 (Paid or Free) is Paramount's Top Gun (#62), which has been live since May 5, 2009. In terms of licensed film titles (which I'll cover in more detail soon), there are currently two Top 100 Paid titles: Gameloft's Shrek Cart (#25), from the Dreamworks Animation title and RealArcade's Scene It? Twilight (#64) from the Summit Entertainment title. These two titles are also currently #7 and #40 respectively, in terms of Top Grossing Apps.

Key Takeaways CTIA Fall 2009

So I survived another CTIA, this time with my voice and (obligatory liver damage aside) my health intact. I was unsure how well San Diego was going to work out for the show, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Gaslamp District seemed cleaner and nicer than I'd remembered it... with just enough grit to keep it entertaining. While enjoying vodka martinis alfresco at Greystone Steakhouse a friend and I were treated to several rounds of hobo-karate street theater. But, overall I like San Diego better for CTIA than SF (and much better than Orlando)... plus it's drivable from LA. So what did I learn? Uh, not that much frankly... but here are a few morsels that you all might find interesting:

• There was a significant amount of heat around Android, both from a device and content publisher standpoint. That said, publishers continue to have concerns about the lack of carrier-integrated billing.
• Windows Marketplace for Mobile running on Windows Mobile 6.5 looked pretty slick and worked pretty well on the HTC Pure (AT&T). The application catalog is still kinda light, BUT this store does have carrier billing.
• The Motorola CLIQ with Motoblur running on Android was my favorite new handset at the show. I spent a bunch of time with this device and was really impressed with the form factor, user interface and user experience. It looks kinda like an N97, only smaller and lighter. Motoblur is the best execution of desktop widgets that I've ever seen on a mobile device. For Moto's sake I hope that there's no hidden lameness.
• There was a lot of buzz about the departures of respected mobile games industry veterans Greg Ballard and Jill Braff from Glu Mobile and about who their replacements might be. The general consensus is that management and the board have been at odds over the path forward for the publisher.
• The rooftop bar at The Ivy hotel is definitely the best hangout spot in San Diego. But 207 @ the Hard Rock Hotel was the true hub of the show... SD's version of the W Bar in SF. BTW - almost nothing was happening on the actual CTIA show floor.
• Billboard's Mobile Entertainment Live! should be re-named Mobile Entertainment Dead!... the event was a pathetic shadow of its former self.
• Apparently, I need to revise some of my Top 10 Mobile Games Publisher WW numbers down... and if Sony Pictures' claim to mocoNews.net that they are the fifth largest games publisher in terms of downloads is to be believed, then perhaps I need to include them on the list (...but I suspect some more diligence is required).
• I was distressed by how many industry veterans discussed leaving mobile. Many others were re-focusing their mobile efforts on the un-sexiest, most established mobile services (where there's actually some money to be made).

That's all I have for now, if I remember any more as I come out of the post-show fog I'll add it. Did anyone out there see anything mindblasting at the show that I missed?

Mickey Flashing Japanese DVD Buyers

Engadget is reporting this morning that The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is embarking on a pilot project in Japan to bundle microSD cards containing full length features, with the DVDs of the same film, in order to give consumers a portable digital copy option. The packages, featuring Panasonic cards, will be available starting in November with films such as Pirates of the Caribbean & National Treasure and will set Japanese consumers back about $51 (ouch) ...which is $11 more than than a typical DVD (I assume/hope they mean Blu-ray). Disney envisions that the cards will primarily be used in mobile phones, portable media players and GPS devices (sounds dangerous). It will be very interesting to see what how much uptake Disney gets on this product and whether it sustains past the early adopter stage. Generally I like this idea, but always thought it would work better as a piracy mitigation strategy in markets like China (where pirated product owns the market).

Of course, this isn't the first time that full-length films have been put on flash memory cards. Most initiatives have surrounded handset promotions...like Motorola bundling Univeral's Bourne trilogy on a 1gb microSD with its Z10 handset to eventize its European launch. But codec companies, like Actimagine, ROK Entertainment & Mo-DV, as well as flash memory providers like Sandisk and Samsung, have been trying to convince the studios for years to compress movies on to cards as part of a bigger retail play. The most ambitious commercial initiative happened back in September 2005 when Sony Pictures Digital partnered with Carphone Warehouse to sell titles like Spiderman, Ghostbusters & Hitch through the handset retailer's British & French outlets on 256mb cards using Actimagine's codec. The quality of this product was very impressive (especially compared to other mobile playback options of the time). However the project ultimately failed because sales people in the hardware focused retailer didn't understand how to sell this entertainment product to the consumer, matching handsets to the right cards makes the shopping process a little klugy, the product didn't work with a lot of handsets, and...oh yeah, the cards were kinda expensive (like $50). Anyway, bundling is a great way to overcome these issues, if they can be sure that the cards will work with a very broad range of devices in the market. When we get to the point that every device with a microSD slot can play a movie file in one standard format, I think there's an opportunity for a scalable standalone business...particularly as the price of flash memory continues to plummet.

Sony Ericsson Launches Kiosk-based Content Service in SEA

According to an AFP story Sony Ericsson is launching a new content service in it's retail locations in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia through PlayNow kiosks that will allow customers download movie, TV, music tracks and tones. Movie content is from Sony Pictures and includes library and current titles (released day and date with DVD). While the technology is interesting, I am very cynical about this type of content retailing mechanism for mobile devices. Consumers want the content available for purchase on the device and are not likely to plan a trip to their local SE store to get Quantum of Solace or the latest Rihanna ringer. As usual early adopters will give this service some initial love, but my guess is that it will be over within a year.