There is a lot for mobile marketers and gamers to be excited about as 2016 unfolds! With a whopping 41% of apps downloaded in 2015 being game apps, mobile marketers wishing to capitalize on the latest trends within the app economy would do well to pay attention to current mobile gaming trends and habits. Many of these trends were highlighted and discussed at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), held in San Francisco. The conference was attended by approximately 30,000 persons (including gamers, marketers and hangers on) and was streamed online. We feature some of the major highlights of GDC 2016 below. GDC 2016 highlights mobile marketers should make note of Some of the significant emerging ad and mobile technology trends to watch in 2016, as announced at the GDC 2016, include: 1. Virtual Reality (VR) taking center stage Unsurprisingly, VR was hands down the hottest topic at GDC 2016. VR for mass market consumption has been a development issue on the mobile gaming table seemingly forever. Well, the wait is finally over, as October 2016 is expected to be the time of unveiling. As far as the practical application of the feature is concerned, the following can be expected:
2. New features in Google Play designed to benefit independent game developers One of the GDC's most talked about announcement was that of an Indie Corner coming to the Google Play Store. The Indie Corner is a curated list that features the top independent games, and the feature provides yet another avenue for independent mobile game developers to extend their reach and attract more players. Criteria that will be used to decide which games make the cut are:
3. Mobile game marketing insights from leading industry players Leading mobile game developers such as Uken Games, EA Games and Spry Fox dropped a lot of unconventional mobile gaming marketing wisdom on the GDC attendees on the very first day of the conference. The same included:
4. Unity Technology's impressive figures and other updates Game development software giant, Unity Technology, made public some stunning figures during the company's updates at GDC 2016. Unity Technology revealed that it now enjoys unique monthly users in excess of 1.1 million -- a figure that surpasses the total number of employees who work for publicly owned gaming companies across the entire globe. Other impressive Unity figures included:
Other Unity Technology updates included the availability of Unity 5.4 and 5.3.4, with Unity 5.4 being poised to improve flat 2D rendering and pave the way for virtual reality (see highlight number 1 above). There was also the announcement of:
The latest Apple event, “Time Flies,” has concluded. The live streamed event introduced us to upcoming devices and services, as well as announced the launch date for the new operating systems. True to predictions, the iPhone 12 was not announced, but there is still plenty of news app developers will want to be aware of.
The yearly Apple Event has been announced, which means the latest in iOS devices and services will be revealed soon. The event, titled “Time Flies,” will reveal new hardware and services, although recent announcements around delayed devices raise questions about the specifics. With that in mind, here’s what we can expect at Apple’s “Time Flies” event.
Apple’s WWDC 2020 keynote presentation ended with several announcements, including new operating systems, app development tools and more. It’s time to look at the biggest news from the keynote and how it can impact App Store Optimization.