Gameloft sales up 48 percent

Paris-based developer and publisher for mobile games Gameloft has reported that full-year sales have exceeded its target, rising 46 percent to 68.4 million euros (approx $89 million).

Mobile gaming accounted for 99 percent of the sales, with the remaining 1 percent coming from sales generated from jeuxonline, a Web site that the company sold off in June 2006 for 22.9 million euros ($29.7 million).

European sales made up the highest market share for the company during the fourth quarter with 45 percent of turnover. North American sales were 39 percent, and the rest of the world--mostly Asia and Latin America--took the last 15 percent. Sales had evened out over the different regions compared to the 2005 percentage, which showed Europe taking 57 percent, North America 29 percent, and the rest of the world 13 percent.

Gameloft announced guidance sales for 2007 of between 90 to 100 million euros ($117-130 million), on the basis of a new release schedule of some 50 mobile games coming over the year.

The report states, "The installed base of Java and Brew handsets continues to grow, stimulating the growth of the wireless gaming industry even further. Over 1 billion mobile phones were sold throughout the world in 2006 alone. Gameloft's potential customer base is therefore expanding apace."

Gameloft was founded in 1999 in France and now has over 2,600 employees in offices worldwide, including New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. In April this year, the company announced that it would be working on a series of mobile games featuring Paris Hilton.

Other games it has produced include Mission Impossible III, Platinum Sudoku, and Deal or no Deal. During the first half of 2007, it will be releasing TV show spin-offs Lost and Desperate Housewives, along with Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Real Football 2007.