Winter has come, and the Game of Phones rages on.Winter is finally upon us, and game publishers on every platform are preparing for one of the most important periods of the year. On mobile, during Christmas more than ever, the power struggle between Apple and Google rages on.No better time to pay a visit to the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future: we’ll take a retrospective look at the story so far, provide a few Christmassy facts to keep in mind and, of course, try to make some predictions of what lies ahead.
In the midst of the holiday season and with the end of the year closing in, many game publishers are again planning to rely on tactics involving the much talked-about App Store Freeze. Understandably, remaining stuck in the top positions of the iOS free charts for a few days without having to incur any additional spend is any publisher’s dream. However, in 2013 these plans may well come across a small glitch: