MOBILE GAMES ANALYST’S findings are based on its analysis of data collected from mobile operators in the five key Western European markets of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, for the six months between December 2004 and May 2005. Games publishers were rated on how successful they were in getting their products onto the cellcos’ games decks, the number of cellcos they supplied games to, and the size of the cellcos’ subscriber bases.

Gameloft has consistently ranked as the most deployed provider of mobile games in each of the five markets surveyed, supplying 449 games in total to 16 of the 17 Western European cellcos (including versions of the same game deployed by more than one operator).

Meanwhile InfoSpace’s ascension comes as a result of its acquisitions of two European games studios, Germany’s Elkware and the UK-based Iomo, earlier this year. InfoSpace is actually ranked third in terms of the total number of games it has deployed with the Western European cellcos – at 235 titles it is behind Sumea, the Finland-based subsidiary of the U.S. mobile games publisher Digital Chocolate, which has deployed 252 games. However when weighted by operator, and by operator size combined with the number of games available, InfoSpace leapfrogs into second place by virtue of its games being deployed on 16 of the 17 European cellcos surveyed.

“Our findings confirm that InfoSpace’s purchases of Elkware and Iomo have allowed the company to instantly scale their European operations much more effectively than the other U.S. companies that have consolidated in Europe, such as Digital Chocolate and Sorrent,” says Pamela Clark-Dickson, editor of MOBILE GAMES ANALYST.

But France-based mobile games publisher In-Fusio has also cemented a top five position, as a result of its acquisition of Germany-headquartered developer Mobile Scope earlier this year. UK publisher I-play (formerly Digital Bridges) which, alongside Gameloft, has focused on organic growth, rounds out the top five.

In terms of the top five publishers in Western Europe weighted by games only, the lineup has changed considerably since 2004, when U.S. publishers Mforma and THQ Wireless, and Korean-headquartered Com2uS joined Gameloft and Sumea in the top five. “In-Fusio and I-Play have joined InfoSpace in ousting these three players in 2005,” says Clark-Dickson.

It should be noted, however, that MOBILE GAMES ANALYST’S data tracks games deployments on operator portals – it is not indicative of the number of games sold by the cellcos to mobile users.

MOBILE GAMES ANALYST’S research also reveals that the Western European cellcos are continuing to skew their decks towards males and hard-core gamers, with titles in the action, adventure, sports and racing categories accounting for 53% of the more than 4,400 games available in the five markets.

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