The latest mobile games report from Nielsen Mobile shows in startling detail how hard it is to make money in this business. Of the 141 publishers tracked, shockingly few—only 55—made money through U.S. carrier partnerships in the second quarter. Even more striking, a majority of revenues—62 percent—are made by the top five publishers, which is up from 60 percent only a year ago. The private report, released to game publishers this week, was also shared with us. That suggests the 86 companies that did not bill any revenue through U.S. carriers during the quarter made money by selling games direct to the consumer, however, it couldn’t be that promising since most content is still distributed through the carrier. Of course, there’s also international sales, which were not included in this data. Nielsen Mobile said the numbers change when including off-deck, but not substantially.

Top five mobile games publishers in Q2:

Top five mobile game categories in Q2 (market share):