Revenues from Mobile Games Set to Mushroom by 78% in 2005

Hampshire UK, 9th March 2005: The onset of mass multiplayer gaming, a widening gaming demographic, greater playability, and increased adoption of mobile services in emerging markets point to a fast expanding market for mobile games, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

“With console games, customers are obliged to make the commitment to purchase a fairly expensive piece of hardware. The beauty of mobile is that it provides a potential global audience of several hundred million 2.5G users who already have that hardware in the form of their handset,” said report author, Dr Windsor Holden.

Dr Holden added that developers and publishers were now recognising the need to expand the demographic beyond the core gamer.

“Many of the mobile games released thus far have been first person shooter (FPS) and sports simulations. These staple genres of console and PC have attracted a similar calibre of gamer to the mobile, namely young adult males. Consequently, the rest of the mobile audience was largely ignored. Increasingly, we’ll see a wider range of lifestyle games aimed at audiences beyond the core gamer.”

“Furthermore, in a number of emerging markets – most notably India – games console, PC and indeed fixed broadband penetration is negligible. Any games market which develops in these countries will see a substantial proportion – possibility even the majority – of their revenues derived from mobile services.”
Other findings from the report include:

Total value of global mobile games market to rise by 78% during 2005 to nearly US$5.6 billion.
The value of the North American market expected to increase tenfold over the next five years to US$4.1 billion.
For mass mobile multiplayer gaming to become a reality, data download costs must fall, while the average purchase price of games will rise to reflect this.
More than one-third of games revenues to be derived from rentals and subscriptions by 2009 rather than download.

Tiscali announces backing for Raindance 2005

First major sponsor for 2005 festival and online partner to show ‘best of’ Raindance short films

Tiscali UK and Raindance today announce a partnership which will see the leading internet company become a major sponsor of the 2005 Raindance Film Festival.

Every month, viewers will get exclusive access to five Raindance short films that can’t be viewed anywhere else on the web. From today, film fans will be able to see the best independent short films from around the world by logging onto www.tiscali.co.uk/raindance.
With their five million plus online audience, Tiscali will be the medium to watch the best from up and coming directors.

The first five films available to view this month are:

No Deposit, No Return

House

Old Tricks

Something Real

Stretched Too Thin

This is not the only involvement that Tiscali has had with up and coming, and established film makers. In 2004, Tiscali was announced as a major sponsor of the International Rotterdam Film Festival (26 January - 6 February 2005), where they launched an experiment to distribute arthouse films over the Internet.

And, Tiscali aren’t strangers to controversy with the backing of Theo van Gogh’s much talked about, thought-provoking film 06/05 - about the assassination of Dutch right-wing, anti-immigration politician, Pim Fortuyn. Following the making of the film Van Gogh – who was related to the famous Dutch painter – was stabbed and shot dead himself in Amsterdam.

The film was the first European feature film to be legally broadcast on the Internet before its theatrical release. Tiscali, who financed the €2m feature, allowed the film to be downloaded over a period of four days for a fee of €5. In the first couple of hours, hundreds of Dutch web surfers had bought the film.

Richard Ayers, portal director and editor of www.tiscali.co.uk says: “Tiscali provides some of the finest quality entertainment content online and we aim to showcase the best in emerging talent, both in film and in music. Partnering with Raindance means we will continue to offer excellence in entertainment by showing compelling short films throughout the year AND by backing an established but still cult film festival.”

The Raindance Film Festival was established in 1992 to celebrate and support British film making and innovation and has gone on to become the largest independent film festival in Europe. Patrons include directors such as Mike Figgis, Ken Loach and Michael Winterbottom, and artists including Ewan McGregor, Samantha Morton and Bill Nighy.

Elliot Grove, founder and managing director of Raindance says: “Raindance was founded in order to innovate and inspire. Working with Tiscali, we can expose exceptional film work in a new and innovative way to an even wider audience.”

To gain access to the site, viewers can log onto:

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/raindance

The first five films are outlined below:

No Deposit, No Return
(UK, 11mins, Dallas Campbell)
A desperate woman breaks into a sperm bank only to find love with a kindly security guard.
Courtesy of Rocliffe Productions and Dazzle Short Film Label.

House
(UK, 3mins, David Theobald)
A camera roves around the suburban home. In each room we find the same man caught frozen in mid-air. Is he meditating, or are we the witnesses to something more sinister?

Old Tricks
(USA, 8mins, Christopher Glass)
The disenfranchised cruise the city streets at night.

Something Real
(UK, 8mins, Jon Rennie)
Reydon realises he is tired of his utopian life.

Stretched Too Thin
(USA, 1min, Varda Hardy)
In a monumental effort to get into shape, a man gets out of shape.