In fact, it's taking its new iPhone IP to consoles.
When Ubisoft revealed that it was releasing Assassin's Creed 2 for iPhone, rather than licensing it to Gameloft, tongues wagged in the mobile industry.
Would competition from its longstanding partner - not to mention the entry of other console firms like Rockstar Games and Activision onto the App Store - be a threat to Gameloft?
Not so, says the company's Gonzague de Vallois. "We have established Gameloft as a high quality brand for iPhone games, so we are pretty confident," he told ME at the Mobile World Congress.
"Ubisoft launched Assassin's Creed 2, but we have Assassin's Creed 1 live, and it's very successful while Assassin's Creed 2 is falling in the chart. Our game was better rated, yet they were a bigger publisher than us. People thought that when they came with Assassin's Creed 2 they would kill Gameloft, but that's not the case."
Vallois also believes that the mobile games industry is in a transition period, with revenues from Java and BREW handsets in decline, while the smartphone side of the business ramps up.
“Q4 was the first quarter where we saw it hit year-on-year,” he says. “The 40 million iPhones on the market are beginning to take effect. For us and EA, the drop is slower than for the others, but it is still a real drop.”
Meanwhile, Gameloft is planning to continue its expansion into console gaming via digital stores on the handhelds and consoles, bringing its own-IP iPhone hits like N.O.V.A. to a wider audience.
"“We want to build these new franchises, and a good way to build franchises is to put them on many platforms,” he says. “We will be spreading our key IPs to console.”
For the full Gonzague de Vallois interview, including his views on Android, iPhone pricing pressures and in-app payments, click here.
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