Money, money, money...
Mobile social gaming firm Blue Lion Mobile says its qeep app is the largest mobile skill gaming platform in the world - think playing Battleships against people for cash, although the service includes photo-blogging and social networking features too.
COO Cornelius Rost gave a presentation at Mobile Games Forum today, explaining how the service works, and what kind of usage it's generating.
Qeep has more than 3.2 million registered mobile users, and is generating more than 280 million monthly mobile page impressions, and more than one million monthly game sessions. Its users spend on average more than 14 minutes per session.
Around 10% of games are played for money on the service - just over 100,000 sessions a month - and 89% of the game sessions are multiplayer. The app is free, but qeep gets a 25% rake on wagers placed in paid games. The average wager is $0.70.
Oh, and it supports more than 1,000 J2ME handsets too.
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Rost explained some of the legal implications in running this kind of service. Skill gaming is legal in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, the US and other countries, but games need to build on a "significant" element of skill, be played for small amounts of money only, and be restricted to over-18s.
He also outlined the design challenges - handling player connections (especially when they may lose connection during a paid skill game), as well as the issue of how people can get their winnings.
Critical mass is also vital, explained Rost. "There's nothing more frustrating than waiting a couple of minutes for an opponent to play against," he said, outlining the company's work to ensure there are always players on the service available to play.
qeep used mobile internet advertising campaigns to raise awareness of its app, as well as independent app stores for distribution. Rost also explained that qeep's social features also create a viral buzz around its games.
"I'd like to do something this year like the global championships of Battleships," he said. "That should be very exciting and appealing to many people."
Attendees had lots of questions about billing and compliance - particularly when it comes to users using premium SMS to top up their accounts - a chunk of which disappears in service charges.
"We cover the difference, and it still works commercially for us," he said. "Only few people are profitable players on a regular basis."
Rost also said he hopes the app store owners will allow skill gaming so qeep can get onto their stores.
