With the mobile game value chain still being finalized, outsourcing activities in this area has remained complex. Many mobile service providers combine all content services under an aggregation platform, management of which is often outsourced. The mobile content services of Vodafone in U.K., for example, is available from a mobile portal, Vodafone Live, which is managed by a third-party provider, End2End.

This complex value chain makes the outsourcing relationships quite complex. Publishers, aggregators, mobile telcos are all potential originators of outsourcing services. In fact, with operators specifying their requirements, theoretically, every developer is an outsourcing service provider!

There are two types of revenue models, which are broadly used at the moment by the service providers. There is a revenue-sharing model in which a game is available on a carrier network for say, $2 per download, this $2 would be divided between the game developer, carrier network and other stakeholders (like celebrity from whom the license is acquired for using his name). Mostly the major chunk of this goes to the carrier. This model is popular with large developers. In the second model, a fixed amount is paid to the developer for the game but there is no revenue sharing — this model is best suited for small companies who are startups. Many smaller Indian companies follow the model.

Many a time, publishers like Jamdat, Namco, M-forma, Gameloft and I-Play outsource the development to smaller companies.

If outsourcing is Here, Can Offshoring Be Far Behind?

According to ScreenDigest, a major chunk of the mobile game outsourcing will go to South Asia and Eastern Europe. India is surely getting more than its share of thep pie , thanks to this boom in the mobile gaming industry.

According to India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), India generated revenues of $14 million from offshore mobile game development. In 2005, India accounted for two percent of the worldwide mobile gaming development market, and if predictions are anything to go by, the share is expected to increase to fiver percent by 2007, and seven percent by 2009. Nasscom predicts that mobile gaming offshoring from India will be to the tune of $170 million by 2009.

While Indian developers have not succeeded much with PC/console game development, they have made an impact in mobile game development. Reasons are many.