GUANGZHOU and HONG KONG, May 13th, 2013 – Forgame Holdings Limited, a leading Chinese webgame company, today announced the completion of a strategic minority investment in Appionics Holdings Limited, the holding company of Animoca, a cross-platform app developer and publisher for smartphones and tablets for a global audience. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Animoca has published over 300 innovative casual and mid-core games across multiple mobile platforms including Apple iOS and Android, reaching 130 million unique users around the world. In February 2013, Animoca served 158 million game sessions. Animoca titles include the highly acclaimed Pretty Pet Series, Star Girl, Robo5 and Thor: Lord of Storms among many others. Animoca was named one of the PocketGamer.biz Top 50 Mobile Developers of 2013, and won two Gold Awards at the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2013 for Best Business and Best Digital Entertainment Software.

“Mobile games and overseas markets are two important strategic directions of Forgame’s future development,” said Mr. Kevin Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Forgame, “Animoca is our ideal partner as it has rich experience in publishing mobile apps in overseas markets such as the US, the European countries, Korea, Japan and most of Asia.”

“With its proven track record in developing highly engaging and monetizing games, and an extensive publishing network in China, Forgame is a highly complementary partner to Animoca,” said David Kim, Chief Executive Officer of Animoca. “We are excited about the opportunity to work closely with Forgame both in China and overseas markets as we expand Animoca’s portfolio into new gaming categories”

About Forgame Holdings Limited

Forgame is a leading developer and publisher of webgames in China with a fast growing mobile game business. Founded in 2009, Forgame has successfully developed and launched over 25 easy-to-access, highly engaging and popular titles such as “Soul Guardian 2” and “Charmed Westward Journey”, published through its own gaming platform 91wan and a network of over 300 publishing partners. 91wan also operates over 45 licensed games and has over 141 million registered users. The company is headquartered in Guangzhou, China. For more information, please visit http://www.forgame.com/.

About Animoca™

Animoca™ is a cross-platform app developer and publisher for smartphones and tablets for a global audience. Animoca has launched over 300 apps for Google Android, Apple iOS and other platforms. Founded in Hong Kong in 2011, Animoca games have been played by over 130 million unique users. The company launched the highly acclaimed Pretty Pet Salon series, Star Girl, My Car Salon, Robo5, Thor: Lord of Storms and many other leading titles that have accrued hundreds of Top 10 Charts entries around the world. For more information and to see a list of apps, please visit http://www.animoca.com/.

All data obtained from individual users of Animoca games located in the specified country, who used Google Play, and who played an Animoca game between March 9 and April 8, 2013. Tablets are excluded.

Samsung dominates once again, occupying more than half of the Top 10 spots in the UK, France and Germany. A similar pattern is visible in Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and the US (although Samsung’s share isn’t quite as dominant in the US).

The high-end Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 are at the top of each list, something we found in other countries we analyzed with two exceptions: India, where low-end devices are more popular, and Japan, which was the only country where Samsung didn’t claim at least half of the Top 10 spots.

Thanks to its Xperia series, Sony emerges as the second most popular Android phone company in three key European markets. The Xperia U, which was launched worldwide May 2012 offering an affordable and stylish blend of the high and low end, is the only Sony device to appear in the Top 10 of all three countries, officially making it the most popular phone in these markets after the Samsung offerings.

There are more similarities than differences between the UK, France and Germany. With Samsung dominating and Sony claiming second place on all three charts, the only other brands making appearances in the Top 10 are HTC in the UK and Germany, and LG in France.

Join us next time for more global Android insights!

Top Android phones in the UK (Animoca network, Mar 9 – Apr 8, 2013)

Top Android phones in Germany (Animoca network, Mar 9 – Apr 8, 2013)

Top Android phones in France (Animoca network, Mar 9 – Apr 8, 2013)

Enjoy a red hot deal in the pit this weekend in My Car Salon 2! From now until end of Sunday, April 28th buy any Car Point package and you will receive 40% free bonus Car Points at absolutely no cost!

Feel the thrill and excitement of working with a pit-crew in the world’s fastest race tracks! Put your pedal to the metal and get My Car Salon 2 now – it’s free!

Like My Car Salon 2? Visit our Product Page for more fun and exciting games for your mobile!

It takes more than just good looks to be a shining star, especially in Milan! You’ve got to work on your talents, such as singing, acting or modeling. Before you know it, you have graced the covers of the most popular international fashion and lifestyle magazines! Always make a good first impression on every occasion! Wear your most fashionable clothes and be in your best hairstyle and makeup!

A star should be a social butterfly. Go out and have fun with your friends and flirt with the hottest guys in the city – who knows, you might meet the man of your dreams! Collect snapshots of your Star Girl Moda Italia social life and share them with your Facebook friends!

The possibilities are endless! Reach out for your dream of becoming a shining star! Strut your stuff and show everyone you’ve got what it takes to be a Star Girl in Milan!

Features

- Enjoy beautiful Milan, Italy

- Available hip and cool clothes and accessories

- Lots of career options for you to choose

- Accomplish additional jobs and challenges to earn extra money

- Enjoy new and fun mini-games to earn extra money and bonus items

- Experience a grand shopping spree

- Meet and greet hot guys and eventually find prince charming

- Have fun chatting with celebrities with Star Chat!

Star Girl: Moda Italia is now available on Google Play, absolutely FREE!

Like Star Girl: Moda Italia? Visit our Product Page for more fun and exciting games for your mobile!

Where are my Clothes?

Match what the Star Girl model is wearing in Where are my Clothes?, a simple yet engaging arcade puzzle game.

Look closely and identify which dress is being modeled by selecting the same item from the gallery as fast as you can. Be prepared to think fast, because the clothes get changed quicker than you can say “Haute Couture“. The faster you select the correct items, the more points you will earn.

Get Where are my Clothes? for Android on Google Play, FREE!

Whack a Dragon

Become a brave warrior on a quest to defeat dragons in Whack A Dragon, a unique classic RPG with absolutely hilarious Whack-A-Mole arcade style combat.

In a world where mythical creatures not only exist but thrive, big hideous dragons spread chaos and fear among inferior beings – which is to say everyone. Humans must take a stand and protect their land from the fiery destruction spread by these fierce monsters.

Choose the best weapons to smash the evil dragons and other monsters straight into extinction. Gear up with the strongest set of armor to protect yourself from relentless attack. Enjoy the colorful storybook graphics and epic dialogues with a medieval fairytale feel.

Get Whack a Dragon for Android on Google Play, FREE!

One in four Americans now owns a tablet device, according to Pew Research, and analyst firm IDC reports that the worldwide tablet market grew more than 78% year-on-year in 2012. IDC predicts that 190 million tablets will be shipped in 2013, with a forecast 48.7% growth over last year.

So with tablet sales not slowing down any time soon, let’s see which Android tablets are currently the most popular on the Animoca network of Android users.

All data obtained from individual users of Animoca games worldwide who played an Animoca game on a tablet device between February 18 and March 20, 2013.

Top Android tablets worldwide (Animoca network, Feb 18 – Mar 20, 2013)

Error margin: +- 0.1%

Sample size: 978,000

Assumption: there are 75 million Android tablets in circulation worldwide

Immediately you’ll note that  4 of the top 5 tablets, and 6 out of the top 10, are of the smaller variety, featuring 7-inch screens. This should come as no surprise, given that one in every two tablets shipped last quarter had a screen size of less than 8 inches.

Once again we note the prominence of Samsung devices; apparently, the Korea-based company dominates tablets as well as smartphones. Next up, the Amazon Kindle and Kindle HD account for more than 12% of the tablets on our network – quite remarkable for devices that are still not globally available. The popular and zippy Google Nexus 7 came in 6ᵗʰ place, suggesting that Google will be a significant player in the hardware wars.

Once we account for Samsung, Amazon, and Google, the rest of the field is wide open. After the top 7 tablets, the devices claiming under 1% of the Animoca Android network became too numerous to list here. In fact, given an error margin of 0.1% and the slight differences between tablets in 8th place and onwards, we cannot be entirely sure of the correct ordering.

What we can be confident of is that tablet sales won’t slow down any time soon, and that developers should be creating mobile apps built to suit their users. Knowing which tablet or tablets you are developing for is useful knowledge – not only screen size, but also other hardware specifications.

When we looked at Japan we saw what seemed to be a preference for one-handed gaming on smartphones being used in portrait mode; perhaps the popularity of 7-inch tablets has something to do with a similar global trend. Of course, it could just be that the 7-inch tablets strike an ideal balance of price, portability, and form factor.

Join us next time for more Animoca data, and be sure to follow us on Twitter for additional insights!

Robo5

Robo5 is now available on Google Play! This highly-praised game is a mind-bending, steampunk-inspired marvel of puzzle and story-telling. And it’s free!

Who is Robo #5? What is his purpose? All we know is that he is a battered robot in a desolate future wasteland. Help Robo #5 push, pull and drag his way out of the towering piles of scrap before his ancient batteries fail; guide him on a search for self-knowledge. With every level you complete, you’ll uncover more of Robo #5′s history, identity, and purpose. Can you unlock the deep and dark secrets of Robo #5?

Get Robo5 for free on Google Play!

Shopping Tower

Shopping Tower is a retro-styled time management game in which you take on the hectic role of manager in a shopping mall.

Don’t let the cutesy 8-bit graphics and super simple controls fool you! Shopping Tower may look cute and harmless but the combination of fun and challenge will catch you by surprise! You must direct the mindless mall-people to the right shops, where they will be served by personnel. As the mall grows and becomes more popular, you’ll have to manage the growing number of customers with speed, concentration and skill.

You can hire more staff, open more shops, and upgrade facilities in order to improve the mall-people’s unfettered compulsive consumerism. Numerous challenging surprises are also in store, from busy holidays to demanding VIPs and much more!

Get Shopping Tower for Android on Google Play – it’s free!

Click for full size

All data obtained from individual users of Animoca games located in Japan, who used Google Play, and who played an Animoca game between February 4 and March 6, 2013. Tablets are excluded.

Top Android phones in Japan (Animoca network, Feb 4 – Mar 6, 2013)

In previous installments we revealed how Samsung accounts for up to 8 out of the top 10 most popular Android phones in other markets, but in Japan the Korean giant shows up only twice – the lowest frequency we’ve observed so far. Granted, the two Samsung appearances are made in first and third positions, showing that even in Japan Samsung’s influence is strong.

But a deeper look quickly reveals that the Android phone market in Japan is heavily brand fragmented and highly competitive: only a tenth of a percentage point separates the Samsung S3 in first place from the Sony Xperia Acro HD in second place, and there are even smaller differences between some other top 10 devices.

All the popular devices are considered high-end, but many of these are unknown to users outside of Japan. There is no clear winner: one could argue that Samsung and Sony lead the pack, but the race is still wide open.

Idiosyncrasy: Japan

Japan is clearly not matching some global trends. The Samsung Galaxy Note series features prominently in other markets we analyzed; even in India, which is a relatively low-end market, the Note held the number 5 and 9 positions out of the top 10. In Japan, the Note doesn’t even show up in the top 20!

People around the world tend to use portrait mode for phone utilities like messaging, and switch to landscape mode for gaming with two hands. In Japan games that run in portrait mode are more likely to be popular. Coupled with the curious absence of the otherwise best-selling Samsung Galaxy Note phone (which is among the largest phones and thus harder to use single-handed), this seems to suggest that Japan has evolved as a market for smartphone games with a one-handed bias.

The following device is not part of the top 10 but it is interesting enough to warrant a special mention: we spotted a Disney phone sitting in 12th place. The device in question is the Disney Mobile on NTT docomo F08D and it is another high-end piece of hardware, available in “shiny white” and “shiny pink”. We’ve not seen Disney phones rank so high in any other country.

Top Android OS versions in Japan (Animoca network, 4 Feb – 6 Mar, 2013)

Although a respectable 56.8% of Android phone installations in Japan are 4.x, the vast majority of that share belongs to Ice Cream Sandwich; Jelly Bean makes up a tiny proportion that doesn’t even register among the top 5 Android versions. Gingerbread retains a relatively strong presence, despite the high-end nature of this market.

Join us next time for more insights about another key mobile market!

All data obtained from individual users of Animoca games located in the USA, who used Google Play, and who played an Animoca game between January 15 and February 15, 2013. Tablets are excluded.

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Top Android phones in USA (Animoca network, Jan 15 – Feb 15, 2013)

What’s especially interesting is that the US seems to lack a single overwhelmingly dominant Android phone, although in aggregate Samsung holds a comfortable lead over all other brands. The top 3 entries, accounting for 19.7% of US Android phones, are all Korean.

Top Android OS versions in USA (Animoca network, Jan 15 – Feb 15, 2013)

Versions of Android 4.x make up 61.5% of Android installations we analyzed, an increase on our findings from November 2012, when Android 4.x had only 46.1% of the overall share. We do see 2.3.6 tenaciously holding on to second place, and 2.3.4 in fifth, but the days of Gingerbread appear to be numbered.

Join us next time for more insightful Animoca data!

Check out more country data: India & Hong Kong, Singapore

The goal of this exercise is to provide some granular insights into the world of Android – not to pit Android against iOS – but we do have to comment on the dramatic shift towards Android that is underway in Singapore. A little over a month ago, Reuters reported:

In Singapore, Apple’s products were so dominant in 2010 that more devices here ran its iOS operating system per capita than anywhere else in the world.

But StatCounter gs.statcounter.com, which measures traffic collected across a network of 3 million websites, calculates that Apple’s share of mobile devices in Singapore - iPad and iPhone – declined sharply last year. From a peak of 72 percent in January 2012, its share fell to 50 percent this month, while Android devices now account for 43 percent of the market, up from 20 percent in the same month last year.

The more we look around, the more we see Samsung. Will the Korean titan dominate Singapore as it rules so many other markets? Well, if you checked the Reuters story above you probably already suspect the answer, but here is what the Android picture looks like from our detail-rich point of view.

All data obtained from individual users of Animoca games located in Singapore, who used Google Play, and who played an Animoca game between January 15 and February 15, 2013. Tablets are excluded.

Top Android phones in Singapore (Animoca network, Jan 15 – Feb 15, 2013)

There’s absolutely no question that Samsung is (by far) the dominant Android force in Singapore. 6 of the top 10 devices are Samsung, with two entries by Sony and two by HTC. It’s interesting how similar the above list is to the Hong Kong data: in both markets exactly the same Samsung models (albeit rearranged) hold the top half of the list, then the Sony Xperia Arc S appears in 6th place, followed by more Samsung and finally the rest of the pack.

Singapore shows slightly more brand variation than Hong Kong (where 8 out of the top 10 devices were from Samsung), however in Singapore the Samsung Galaxy S2 makes up 20.6% of all Android phones. In terms of relative market share, that’s significantly higher than the leading Android phone in Hong Kong (the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, with 14% share of that market).

Top Android OS versions in Singapore (Animoca network, Jan 15 – Feb 15, 2013)

Android 4.x makes up 52.8% of Android phone OS in Singapore, which is encouraging but not quite as modern as Hong Kong, where 58% of Android phones run Android 4.x. The aging Gingerbread is in second place, finding itself squeezed in the middle of an Ice Cream Sandwich.

Jelly Bean comes fourth in Singapore – a marked difference from Hong Kong, where jelly Bean was the number one Android version (see Hong Kong data).

Although Singapore and Hong are relatively small next to large markets, these ultra-modern cities are significant as trend predictors, at least for wealthy and developed nations. It’s looking increasingly like a Samsung world.

More to come as we continue to drill into our usage data.