Dublin and San Francisco-based Swrve, which offers an in-app direct marketing platform aimed at mobile games developers or anybody making or responsible for marketing an app, has launched SwrveTalk to enable in-app marketing messages to be sent to users on a targeted and measurable basis. It can be employed to do things like cross-promote other titles in a portfolio or to improve conversion of time-limited in-app purchase offers, and so on.

The problem Swrve is setting out to solve is that in-app messages traditionally involve broadcasting in bulk to a large group of users and therefore don’t discriminate and aren’t targeted on the basis of their likelihood to convert. This, it’s claimed, creates wasted inventory, low response rates, and “increased customer churn due to the over-promotion of irrelevant offers”. In contrast, SwrveTalk messages use behavioural and demographic targeting in an attempt to ensure that only relevant messages are delivered to users, thus improving click-through rates, ROI on cross-promotional campaigns, and in-app purchase conversions.

SwrveTalk enables campaigns to be defined across multiple games/apps in a portfolio, specifying when messages are shown, frequency, and exactly which player types they’ll be sent to. How this functionality might be utilised in practice, Swrve gives the example of a player who has monetized well in the past, but is now less engaged, who could be encouraged to try another title/app. Or for users yet to be monetized, they might be shown a time-limited in-app purchase offer to encourage conversion.

Of course, in-app messaging for marketing purposes isn’t anything new — they are just another kind of ad format, after all. However, it’s the way SwrveTalk is integrated with the broader Swrve app analytics platform, enabling the effectiveness of in-app messaging campaigns to be measured and refined, that potentially sets the feature apart. This includes the ability to A/B test those marketing messages so that they can be further optimized for better ROI.

In November last year, Swrve announced that it had raised $6.25m in funding, led by Atlantic Bridge Partners and Intel Capital.

It claims to be used by some of the world’s “leading app and games developers”, including major games publisher Activision.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

During today’s Amazon Kindle Extravaganza, one of the slides that was popped up during the event got the attention of quite a few of us. It was a slide showing an in-app offer on a Kindle device.

It’s an interesting play for Amazon, as it grows itself beyond just an “e-reader”:

Luckily, Matt Galligan saw this and tweeted a shot:

Looks like Amazon just ripped off @kiip with their new in-game product offers. twitter.com/mg/status/2437…

— Matt Galligan (@mg) September 6, 2012

I hadn’t personally heard of or seen these types of in-app offers on an Amazon device before, even though the company definitely plays around with advertising to drop the prices of its products. I reached out to Amazon to get more specifics on what we had all seen, and was told that this is a deal with Activision to bring real-world goods within apps and games. The first title to get this treatment is Skylanders.

As Galligan pointed out, and we picked up on, what would Kiip have to say about this? In case you aren’t sure, Kiip is a platform that delivers in-app rewards to people who use apps of all types. The only difference between what Amazon showed us and Kiip, is that Kiip tends to offer physical rewards for free, thanks to its partners. Reach a certain level in a game, get a cup of coffee. Brilliant.

Just because the items in the Skylanders game cost money at this point doesn’t mean that Amazon can’t flip the switch and start offering this service in the same way that Kiip does, as a new advertising model and platform. It’s nothing new, but Kiip has been on the bleeding edge and I reached out to its CEO, Brian Wong, to discuss what Amazon showed off today:

TechCrunch: What are your thoughts on Amazon’s in-app offers for real-world rewards as shown off during its event today?

Brian Wong: I’m actually very excited to learn about this. It means a huge validation for our market and what we’ve created – that bringing online-to-offline engagements through existing consumer behavior (especially on mobile) is very valuable for brands. Amazon has created very interesting advertising models around their existing product strengths (e.g. their “rest state” screen ads on their e-ink Kindles), and it is only natural that they experiment with others. As for working with third party developers, Amazon will be one piece of the pie. We’re a switzerland of sorts, and any developer can integrate us. I look forward to this bringing more awareness to the opportunities like this around achievements and brands.

TechCrunch: Does Kiip work within Amazon Apps?

Brian Wong: Kiip actually works with iOS, Android, and soon to be Flash (as you had reported before). The current Kindle Fire versions run Android and so our network games that are built on Android can naturally run on Amazon Kindle (color) devices.

TechCrunch: What are your overall thoughts on the offer industry and do you think about Apple getting involved in any way?

Brian Wong: We’re in our own category that we’ve created around rewards and reciprocity as an engagement model for advertisers and brands, that also helps the consumer win. Offers we view as entirely separate. Apple is again, one piece of the pie when it comes to bringing rewards to everyday life. We want to be where consumers already are, and are already engaging in. We will continue to bring rewards to as many experiences as possible.
—–

So there you have it, welcome to the in-app offer game, Amazon. Keep your wits about you though, and don’t get too crazy or obnoxious with it.

[Photo credit: Flickr]

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Activision Blizzard announced its second quarter results today, beating estimates with net revenues at $1.08 billion, compared to $1.15 billion for the second quarter last year. Meanwhile, net revenue from digital channels came in at $343 million and represented 32 percent of the company’s total revenues, up from a 27 percent-share last quarter. Earnings per share came in at $0.16, compared to $0.29 for Q2 2011.

The consensus on Wall Street was that Activision would see 18.7 percent revenue growth and 20 percent earnings-per-share growth to $829.7 million and $0.12, respectively. For the first quarter (the period ending March 31st), the company’s net revenues were $1.17 billion, with net revenues at $587 million and EPS at $0.33. So, all in all, Activision beat estimates, the fifth quarter in a row they’ve done so. And based on those better-than-expected results, the company is raising its calendar year net revenue and earnings per share outlook.

Of course, as you can see from the chart above, put in context, it’s not all roses for Activision Blizzard. The company, like EA and others of its ilk, has found a rocky road during its transition to the social, mobile, ahem, digital era. In fact, rumors have persisted (via Bloomberg) that the company’s majority owner, Vivendi SA, is eager to sell its $8.1B stake in the company.

What’s more, net income for the quarter came in at $185 million, down from $335 million in Q2 2011 and down from $384 million in Q1 2012. As a result, Activision ended the day down 5 percent and dropped an additional 3 percent in after-hours trading.

Naturally, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was optimistic in the company’s earnings statement thanks to its renewed international efforts and its gains online mitigating shrinking retail sales:

On a non-GAAP basis, we delivered record Q2 and first half net revenues, operating income and earnings. Our performance was driven by strong audience demand for our great games. We are very excited to have announced our expanded investment in China through Activision Publishing’s agreement with Tencent to bring the Call of Duty franchise to the Chinese market.

Somewhat surprisingly, Activision has become a bright spot among the videogame giants, weathering lethargic industry sales (especially for console games) by pushing out more content for Call of Duty and developing a new title in a partnership with Hasbro (Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure) that features console games and action figures, among other things.

Zynga also recently inked a deal with Hasbro, as it the gaming giants look to stem slowing console sales with action figures and merchandising. And to that point, Activision performed markedly better than Zynga, which missed expectations in its own earnings announcement as well as Take-Two. EA hit expectations, but didn’t exactly look like the Hulk.

As for other highlights, the company said that, unsurprisingly, World of Warcraft remains the top subscription-based MMORPG, with approximately 9.1 million subscribers, and announced that it expects to release its newest WoW title on September 25th — “World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.”

The company also claims that Diablo III, released May 15th, “set a new industry launch record for PC games” and was the best-selling PC game for the first six-months of 2012. As of July, more than 10 million players have joined in.

Together, the company said, Diablo III, Spyro’s Adventures and Call of Duty represented three of the best-selling games in North American and Europe.

“For the remainder of the year, we are excited about our product slate which includes Activision Publishing’s Skylanders Giants and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria,” said the Activision CEO. “While we are increasing our financial outlook for full year 2012, we remain cautious given economic uncertainty, risks to consumer spending especially during the holiday season and the recognition that the majority of our key franchise launches are still ahead of us.”

For more, find Activision’s Q2 earnings release here.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

So very much data. And what to do with all of it? San Francisco’s Flurry has its mobile analytics in 190,000 apps on Android and iOS. And as the mobile app ecosystem has matured with Apple now paying a cumulative $5 billion to developers, Flurry has used its data to power everything from mobile video ads to pay-per-install. Now the company is dipping its toes into game publishing.

The company is partnering with an arm of Activision, which is behind the Call of Duty franchise, to publish mobile games. Activision, which is better known for its visceral console and PC games, has yet to make a big move into mobile gaming. But this looks like it could be part of it.

Activision brings its game design know-how, while Flurry brings its distribution power. “With the advent of free-to-play games and microtransactions, games have become more like service rather than products that you buy,” said Simon Khalaf, who is Flurry’s CEO. “It’s more about managing a service 24-7 and continuously optimizing it.”

Having watched the performance and retention of literally thousands of games, Flurry says it has unique insights into what makes certain games sticky while others quickly rise and fall.

Activision and Flurry will split the publisher’s revenue share. “The indie developers will make the lion’s share of revenue and whatever is left will be shared between Activision and Flurry,” Khalaf says. They’re not disclosing the split. Developers also get to keep full intellectual property rights for their games even though the titles will be published under the Activision Mobile Publishing brand.

Activision Publishing is part of Activision Blizzard, which made $384 million in net income on $1.2 billion in revenue in the first quarter of this year. The company doesn’t break out its revenue by platform, so it’s hard to tell how large its mobile games business is. Call of Duty’s mobile apps have fared reasonably well on the charts though.

As for Flurry, the company is better-known for its analytics. But it has also built out a mobile app distribution network over the last several years, involving video ads that reward users with virtual currency and pay-per-install. They also do re-engagement ads to lure users back to apps they’ve already downloaded.

Flurry has raised about $26 million to date in three separate rounds, including investors like Draper Fisher Jurvetson, InterWest Partners, Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital and Menlo Ventures.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

As a barely 23-year-old, my deepest connection to most classic Rock songs is through a PlayStation game. My favorite PlayStation game. You may have heard of it — it’s called Guitar Hero. So when Activision said they were calling it quits on Guitar Hero, I found myself humming: “lay your weary head to rest, don’t you cry no more.” Ok, maybe I exaggerate. But it was a sad, sad day — not just for me but for fake guitar players everywhere. Since then I can’t bring myself to play, a little tinge of sadness poking at me every time I pass the now-dusty collection.

But it’s been a little less than a year, and Activision has told Forbes that the whole “Guitar Hero is over” thing was a bit of a fib. In fact, the company was actually just trying to go undercover for a while to bring back a new and improved Guitar Hero — one ready to take on the likes of Rock Band and other more instrumental games.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told Forbes: “We said, you know what… we’re going to the take the products out of the market, and we’re not going to tell anybody what we’re doing for awhile, but we’re going to stop selling Guitar Hero altogether. And then we’re going to use new studios and reinvent Guitar Hero. And so that’s what we’re doing with it now.”

Why play with our heart strings like that, Activision? Actually, I guess it worked. Around the time that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith hit the market, my interest had already peaked and started to dwindle. Now, I’m more excited than ever to see the refreshed and replenished Guitar Hero.

Only question now is when we’ll get to start shredding again.

[via Reg Hardware]

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Kudos to Activision for doing exactly what so many people had been predicting for years now. The world’s biggest video game publisher said yesterday that it was going to “disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit,” citing a decline in interest in the music game genre. And what could possibly be the reason for that, hmm? Maybe releasing sequel after sequels after sequel in such a quick succession that you don’t give gamers any room to breathe? Gotta maximize short-term profits! The future? That’s someone else’s problem.

Read more…

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

On stage during “The New Geography Of Gaming” panel at Web 2.0 Summit, the topic of conversation between Kleiner Perkins partner Bing Gordon, Activision’s Robert Kotick and Microsoft’s Don Mattrick focused on how amazingly engaging today’s games are. A key talking point was plastics vs. not plastics i.e controllers (or guitars in the case of Activision’s Guitar Hero) vs. the gesture and spoken command control interface of the newly launched Microsoft Kinect.

After having sold 1 million Kinects in ten days, Mattrick was feeling pretty confident about his company’s decision to cut out the plastic. When asked by Gordon how much Microsoft spent on the product before launch Mattrick jokingly stated, “It felt like in excess of a billion.”

When asked by Gordon when people should place an order for Kinect in order to secure one for the holiday season, Mattrick said, seriously, “by the end of this week” insisting that he was not just trying to spike early sales and in fact the product is in that much demand.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch