PopCap Favors Amazon over Google in Android Games Debut
Amazon’s got a good deal today with PopCap’s first two Android titles debuting on its Appstore. PopCap will bring its popular Chuzzle and Plants vs. Zombies to Amazon Appstore within the month, the first one on Tuesday and the other one sometime later. The games will be available for free on the first day of release as part of Amazon’s free app of the day before it gets a $2.99 price tag, said Garth Chouteau, PopCap VP of Communications.
“Our relationship with Amazon is pivotal to PopCap’s overall strategy in bringing a growing roster of mobile titles to the ever-widening base of smartphone users,” said Giordano Bruno Contestabile, PopCap’s senior director of global product and business strategy for mobile in a statement. “By making these titles available on the Android platform, we’ll significantly extend the reach of our top franchises to legions of new mobile customers and gaming fans alike.”
While it debuts on Amazon, PopCap said it will soon be up on the Android Market as well, though the date is yet to be announced. Till then, it will continue to be exclusive for Amazon. It’s a marked shift in strategy for the mobile gaming world, noting Amazon as a premier market, even over Android’s own app marketplace.
Amazon launched late March of this year with an exclusive Angry Birds Rio, another industry first, and has featured a free game every day since then. It might not be as big as the Android Market but it has it’s own competent way of reaching customers. It has also been making significant partnerships with top mobile game brands, having its reputation as a one-stop shop and impressive consumer base as the primary pull. PopCap is confident that they will cater more customers via Amazon.
While the Android Market is struggling on improving and, in fact, has actually made significantly improvements, Amazon’s intuitive recommendation engine is a feature that’s attractive to developers, giving their games a better chance of exposure. It also allows users to test drive applications prior to purchase. There might be some question marks as to how Amazon manages to provide discounts on games but big developers like Rovio and PopCap won’t be affected much by this ambiguity.
Obviously, the money on mobile games, or any social game for that matter, does not solely rely on purchase charges. The bigger chunk will come from its freemium offerings, which is only achievable when the app gets popular. PopCap is also looking forward to having more freemium offerings soon.
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