Sponsored Feature: Gameloft backs up new titles with dedicated micro-sites

Keen-eyed Pocket Gamer readers may have already spotted the banner ads for selected new Gameloft games including Lost and Desperate Housewives.

Better still, if you've clicked on them you'll have visited the publisher's dedicated micro-sites for these games, and wondered what it's all about. Why would someone create a website solely for one mobile game?

"We're doing it for all our big titles," explains Gameloft's Charles Revillon. "On these websites you can find lots of information on the games, try playable demos, and read information on how to get the game from the different operators."

The idea behind Gameloft's websites is logical enough. Think about the amount of information you get when you go to buy a mobile game. A few lines of text, a screenshot (of the actual gameplay if you're lucky; the title screen if not), and maybe a genre. It's not much to go on when deciding whether to part with a fiver.

"The websites are part of our education campaign," says Revillon. "It's quite difficult for people to know what they're going to get in a mobile game, so the websites are a way to reassure them about the quality of the game. And when we have some other mobile content, like wallpapers or ringtones, we'll try to give them away for free there too."

The websites tie into Gameloft's overall marketing campaigns for new games, which also includes making sure games like Lost go on sale through all the different mobile operators at the same time.

Indeed, an important feature of the websites is that they send you back to your operator's portal to actually buy the games.

"The important thing for us is to inform people about new games, and then explain how they can buy them," says Revillon.

Gameloft is niftily using a single mobile shortcode on the sites which, when you text it, automatically takes you to that game's page on your operator's portal.

If there's one thing the mobile industry needs, it's more information to be available on new games, to persuade people to buy them. While Pocket Gamer's reviews are part of the equation, Gameloft's websites show one way publishers are trying to address this need, too.

You can check out Gameloft's official Lost site here, and the Desperate Housewives site here.