Calling all gamers

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Curious George, Looney Tunes… All are just a handful of the properties moving to the mobile arena. From traditional board games to mini-animated series, mobile play will reach the casual gamer, fans, the non-fans—anyone with a cell phone. For retail, mobile gaming is a new avenue of cross-promotion.

Michaelangelo, Donatello and the rest of the Turtles gang will be part of mobile content, including wallpapers, screensavers, games, video and comic books entries for phones based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series from 4Kids Entertainment, Mirage Licensing and uclick mobile this fall. Mobile content will also be provided to coincide with the new Turtles CG-animated feature film to be released in early 2007.

Jeff Webber, director of content development for Kansas City, Mo.-based uclick tells Playthings that mobile offerings appeal more to the casual gamer who needs a few minutes of game play when they're out and about. While the core of players are in the 19 to 25 age bracket, Weber sees game play moving into the older and younger demographics.

As mobile phones permeate to the full consumer demographic, companies can concentrate on more specific audiences. Casual gamers are key, but women are now purchasing more games than men. Rachel Hoagland, director of digital media for Hasbro adds, “We see a large audience in females, so it's important that they have brands in front of her. Lots of people play lots of games. Women look for casual games because it adds to the social element.”

Alfred Kahn, president of 4Kids Entertainment, adds that mobile games will be part of a bigger vertical marketing effort for all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles product, something he sees happening across the board with mobile content. “Mobile carriers and distributors are learning that customers will come to the storefront because they are interested in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” he says. “When they get there, they want to find all the Turtle products in one place, instead of just looking under games, wallpapers or comics.”

For Hasbro, toy and mobile markets are both tied to the summer 2007 Transformers movie. A major plan for fall 2006 is to bring classic games like Monopoly and Clue across various mobile carriers. Hoagland says mobile games take nothing away from traditional sit-down board or console games. In fact, it may even enhance sales of those games.

Console video games will be tied to mobile versions with secret codes and other features obtainable via console for mobile play or vice versa. Greg Sauter, director of game publishing and development for next-gen system maker Nokia, says the Nokia NGage console and phone will bring mobile gaming to a new level, but traditional console games will always have their place. “We have to remember what really got the video game industry where it is today—it was better quality games, reliable games,” he says. “Video games are still a snack time experience. It's something you do in the bedroom, after school, just lying around on the couch. I don't see that going anywhere.”

Manga publisher TokyoPop and game maker Konami will give fans manga via mobile this season. Marc Honorof, managing director of the Los Angeles based TokyoPop tells Playthings that the company hopes to dominate the mobile manga category. In the meantime, he says there will be cross-promoting of product.

Honorof says only time will tell how big mobile gaming will be. “In the future, mobile games will be much more robust,” he says. “Right now, it's still a bit like developing for the old Commodore 64 in many cases.”