Well, publishers' share of it, anyway.
A new report from SNL Kagan claims that mobile games publishers generated $540 million of revenues in the US last year - up from $382 million in 2006.
The company claims EA Mobile was top dog, grossing more than $115 million for the year. It was followed by Gameloft, Glu Mobile and Namco Bandai.
This deserves some digging. EA's mobile revenues for the first, second and third quarters of 2009 respectively were $51 million, $50 million and $49 million.
Assuming its as-yet-unannounced Q4 figures weren't a huge departure from that pattern, that means SNL Kagan is suggesting that more than half of the publisher's 2009 revenues came from the US.
The report provides some pointers for success, claiming that publishers with libraries of older games, or those with strong own-IP development are doing best.
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App Stores figure highly, as you'd expect. "We expect to see strong sales from publishers who have evolved with the changing business model, while those focusing on carrier deals will likely have more subdued growth," says analyst John Fletcher.
Are any mobile games firms still focusing on carrier deals? The leading publishers in that market are the same top four cited by the report - and are all active in both the app store world and the carrier ecosystem.
If anything, the chart shows that the publishers making most money are those who retain strong deck placement with the operators, while also ploughing money into iPhone games - while using the success of the App Store to negotiate better deals with the carriers.





















