Page 109 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

ARTICLE

The Surprising Way Telcos are Tapping into Global Mobile

Gaming Market

As mobile gaming thrives, data gives gamers what they want:

uninterrupted play

In January 2020, online gaming retail and
distribution platform OffGamers partnered
with DT One to provide customers with the
option to buy mobile airtime and data and
send it to friends and family around the world.

In 2016, the mobile game Pokemon Go went viral. The augmented
reality game, involving training and capturing virtual creatures at
physical locations, was downloaded by more than 500 million people
within a year and since then more than 1 billion people have given the
game a try.

In 2019, games like PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile, Call
of Duty: Mobile, Fun Race 3D, and Game for Peace topped global charts
with 100s of millions of unique players and app downloads. Many of
these highly popular games are free to use, but players can choose
from a variety of in-app purchases like gaming credits and data.
Mobile gaming spend swelled to US$49 billion and is expected to hit
US$56.6 billion by 2024.

Data is the fuel that drives mobile gaming
According to App Annie’s The State of Mobile Games in 2019 and
Beyond report, 33% of all mobile downloads and 10% of time spent on
mobile are now games.

In January 2020, online gaming retail and distribution platform
OffGamers partnered with DT One to provide customers with the
Thierry Siminger option to buy mobile airtime and data and send it to friends and family
Chief Commercial Officer around the world.
DT One
International mobile top-ups have proven surprisingly popular with
customers who don’t want their play interrupted. Multiplayer games
often involve people playing the same game from very different

109 FEBRUARY 2020