The mobile multiplayer games market stepped up a notch today, with handset giant Motorola unveiling a real-time service in partnership with Sweden’s Terraplay.

Titles available at launch from Motorola’s consumer portal hellomoto.com are No Refuge and Mole War from developers Mobile Interaction and Digital Chocolate, respectively.

The initially UK-only service represents an expansion of hellomoto.com from single player games downloads, ringtones and wallpaper. It will also rekindle debate over ownership of the customer, with rival Nokia recently rolling back direct to consumer content offerings in the face of operator discomfort.

Motorola stresses that its service will help to drive ARPU for operators through increased data traffic. Interestingly, gamers in Taiwan will be able to play users in the US, either through hellomoto.com or a mobile operator service when rollout is widened.

The Motorola service is a key win for platform provider Terraplay and comes off the back of a deal announced last month for it to provide multiplayer games to 3 UK.

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The company is also working on a hosted service for publishers that will enable a game to be accessed and played by subscribers across different networks, albeit allowing for an operator-branded front-end lobby.