Press Releases

Budapest, September 13, 2011 14:00

10 years ago GameBoy or Tamagochi were the coolest games, now Angry Birds rule. The secret of Angry Birds and other similar games - targeting occasional players and having millions of fans - lies in simplicity and the loveable characters, the popularity of touch screen and fostering communities.

Gleaming successes

A significant part of applications downloaded on touch screen mobile phones in Hungary  is games. The success of such games is simplicity, while the success is measured in terms of the number of downloads. "Angry Birds redefined the terms for success: for reasons of angry birds millions of people reach for their mobile phones, on buses or trams, day after day" - says Milán Korsós, head of the development team of Kitchen Budapest. Undisputedly, Angry Birds made history: the first, free of charge version of the game was downloaded by 11 million people, while the paid version entertains more than 10 million all around the world. The story of the game is rather simple: green pigs steal the eggs of birds, which they do not appreciate very much. They put up a fight and powered by a slingshot they hit the green enemy.

"As it's much easier to play on touch screen than memorising combinations of keys on consoles or PCs, mobile games can be tried also by people who were not attracted to any computer games earlier' - Gergely Folyó, expert of Gamekapocs.hu explains the reasons for success. Gamers, who did not play on PCs but earlier carried GameBoy or Tamagochi in their pockets. Findings of researches* carried out among the customers of T-Mobile reveal that most smartphone holders download game applications on their phones, therefore it is not surprising that we encounter people sling shooting birds in the brake between school classes, in the waiting area of clinics or even in the elevator on the way to a business meeting. 'The ratio of smartphone holders downloading games almost reaches 50% of all downloads, while the highly popular community applications' downloading only reaches 27.7 percent. Using game applications downloadable to smartphones mainly characterises youth (age group 16-29)" - explains István Király, chief marketing officer of Telekom.

Gaming communities, community games

"Game publishers and developers try to keep their audience together, all teams are represented on community media" - states Gergely Folyó. Such communities may number up to 10-20 thousand in Hungary, however in reality more people are engaged in the games. Developers also try to make sure that fans receive fresh information first hand, and that they can share their experiences on different forums. Rovio - the developing team of Angry Birds - also takes good care of the basis formed around the game: they attach importance to answering every single e-mail or Twitter comment, related to the game.

The groups formed on the community pages organise flashmobs and joint games - often by putting their favourite virtual characters into real life situations. On such occasions gamers from different parts of the country get together to spend time on their hobby only on an afternoon or evening.

Homo Ludens is seeking challenges

Using different games may be traced back with most people to emotional reasons. "It is good to play and "Homo Ludens" - that is the playing human being - looks for joy raising his attention, arousing curiosity and putting his skills or knowledge to the test" - says psychiatrist Annamária Tari, author of the book titled Y Generation.

Others - by taking their mobile game out of their pockets - would in a given situation like to "step out": the mobile game for them is a possibility that separates them from the outside world for a few moments, this way avoiding unpleasant situations like standing in line, waiting.
"The mobile gamer therefore 'logs out' of his physical location" - assumes the psychiatrist. In case this is not escaping from something else and the time spent on it is not missing from somewhere else, and in case it does not become the central source of joy, then gaming and the joy caused by the game always remains healthy.

Business made out of romantics

Anyone, having a creative idea and programming skills may become successful within the game developer market. "The currently available most beautiful game, Tiny Wings was made by a guy called Andreas Illinger for his girlfriend - and it was so good that by now millions play the game" - says Milán Korsós. Andreas Illinger was driven by his romantic mood, while others are motivated by becoming world-famous. In the near future such games may have a chance to become successful that target the casual gamers, that can be played in brief episodes and hence earn the feeling of success quickly, the solution of which requires a bit of logic and use loveable characters, stemming from real life. In the more distant future though other, so far unknown ideas may come up, as there are countless possibilities. Newer and newer application keep being introduced to the online markets each day, in the hope of them becoming the favourite applications of millions.

T-Mobile builds its smartphone campaign started on August 22 on the Angry Birds game developed by Rovio. The campaign similar to the Hungarian one was a big success all around Europe. Deutsche Telekom organised games in numerous countries by washing away the borders between reality and the virtual world, titled "Angry Birds live". The YouTube video made of it was viewed more than 7 million times.
http://www.t-mobile.hu/lakossagi/akciok/akcio/1108_angry_birds/barcelona

* National representative survey, Hungarian residents using the Internet at least once a week, aged 16-69 (approx. 4,402,615 people); Time of survey: January, 2011; Total sample size: 6,400 people; Gender split of those interviewed: approx. 50-50% men and women; Mode of data collection: online interview using self filled out questionnaire