Last
week, we asked: “What interests you most about the prospects for cell
phone gaming, and what innovations and trends do you think all game
professionals should keep a close eye on in the mobile gaming market?”
While there was no clear consensus of a single 'killer app' for mobile,
a number of different views and insights came to light.
Views
expressed by our respondents varied quite a deal; some pointed out the
advantage of having a pre-existing installed userbase, and others
advanced the possibility of cell phones being more actively
complementary to a home console.
The
most important aspect is that where ever a person may be they can turn
to their phone to entertain themselves. This means that the games often
benefit from intuitive controls and short play times, with
replayability and instant accessibility being the most prized
qualities. 3D handset adoption is the area to keep an eye on. As these
high-end phones become common, it will be up to the creators to try and
maintain intuitive gameplay in 3D worlds on devices that are not
designed with gameplay ergonomics in mind. Connected gaming will be
important when operators offer flat rate data charges and more
responsive networks.
-Mark Klocek, Glu Mobile
The interesting thing about the prospects for cell phone gaming is that
we as an industry do not yet exist in the hearts and minds of the
consumer. When asked about mobile games, the average person on the
street does not yet know they can play games on their phone, and the
ones that do confess to playing "a few card games or something like
that". There have been early successes and anomalous successes in
mobile, but hardly anyone has done anything of sustainable consequence
to the consumer, or the marketplace.
-John Szeder, Mofactor, Inc
I think there exists a great deal of potential in the mobile market,
with some very exciting work being done by developers both large and
small. Specifically, I am very excited about the translation of casual
games to the mobile market, as the medium fits the nature of casual
games very well. Mobile and casual gamers are looking for a quick and
compelling game experience, as opposed to the 3+ hour play sessions of
console and traditional PC games. That said, I think the mobile market
is severely hindered by the infrastructure and attitude of key
executives at major companies. Just look at last month's Game Developer
magazine interview with Jason Ford from Sprint. He first knocks the
mobile game development industry by saying "I hate to say this, but I
don't think gaming is as sexy as it once was...I mean, who doesn't have
a Tetris ?" He goes on to point out Sprint's key area of
innovation by saying "But we do have exclusives on certain ringtones
and streaming music videos; those are the kind of things that show that
we're innovative." What makes this worse is that in the next paragraph,
he tosses the industry a proverbial bone by saying "And maybe we're
able to keep them here longer because, heck, they buy a few games and
get hooked on them. That's what makes the games so important to us." So
important to us? It may just be my own personal politics, but I was
quite offended reading that passage, going as far as throwing my hands
up in the air. This was a poor decision as I was on a packed subway
car, but indicative of my extreme disappointment and surprise at this
statement. I don't mean to single Ford out. In fact, I applaud his
refreshing honesty and bravery in going to a magazine entitled "Game
Developer" and basically saying that games aren't very important to
Sprint. Still, it seems that these statements are all too indicative of
the attitude of the mobile carriers as a whole. With these attitudes in
place, I find it very hard to see the mobile game development industry
maturing and evolving. Here's hoping those opinions change.
-Coray Seifert, Large Animal Games
The most interesting prospect for mobile by far is its potential for
growth. Since this aspect of the game industry is still in its infancy
there is fantastic opportunity for small independent companies to bring
products to market. The budgets for titles are extremely low, and thus
we have the freedom to try different ideas for games; ones that might
instantly be shot down for console. However I also believe this is the
one aspect of mobile that is in greatest danger of disappearing. There
are many trends in mobile that professionals should be aware of. When
mobile first came about there was a big push to try and grab up as much
IP as possible, and push quality gameplay into a distant second. This
is finally turning around, as consumers are becoming more aware of
which companies are dedicated to producing superior quality games.
There is also a push for the carriers to be doing business with only a
select few publisher/developers. I think this closed market approach
scares a lot of the smaller companies, since they will be the ones to
lose out. It might not be too long before the mobile scene mirrors
console, where only the behemoths make games. I think the last thing to
keep an eye on would be the prevalence of 3D applications. I personally
don't think 3D really has a place on mobile (except for the “wow!”
factor), but will wait to see where the consumers fall on this issue.
It just seems to me that many big companies look at mobile as a natural
extension of console. That concepts that work in their current medium
will transfer directly to this new one. I don't believe this is the
case. Take a look at the casual market (one that is very similiar to
mobile). You see that those who play casual games have a very different
opinion of what makes good games (short game times, simplistic
controls, uncomplicated graphics). I think mobile publishers would do
well to emulate these qualities instead of trying to dumb down AAA
titles to the small screen.
-Nick Smolney
I am most interested in the uniqueness of mobile devices and how they
can be used to enhance gaming and make it different from fixed gaming.
When people think about cell phones, they think about community and
moving around. This leads to different types of multiplayer (given
shorter play time and less bandwidth) and the possibilities of
location-based games. Most people think of location-based games as
these hardcore mobile games, but they do not have to be. We
have spoken about new ideas currently under development for
location-based games in cell phone, mobile consoles and even next-gen
fixed consoles. The key is to think about what new, fun and cool stuff
can be done – not to think simply about improving current ideas. Think
outside of the box and get off that couch.
-Anonymous
Besides the obvious draw of attracting non-gamers to the game space,
the key to the mobile gaming market is its flexibility. No other type
of device is as widespread as the mobile platform, and as technological
capacity increases and more features are added to the average phone the
more opportunities for innovation arise. Couple that with the eventual
convergence of formats and device communication, and you have the arena
for PocketStation and VMU-type expansions to conventional console
gaming to finally take off. Casual games and three-in-a-row derivatives
may be great for business, but once the software for the mobile
platform interacts with the mainstream console market in inventive
ways, we'll see a dramatic surge in the public's attitude towards
mobile gaming as less of a novelty and more of a bona fide option.
-Ben Serviss, Creo Ludus Entertainment
There's been lots of talk lately about expanding the gaming population
or dying - here is a device that everybody has in its pocket. With 2
billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, this is by far the
biggest platform of all time.
-Anonymous
The cellular phone market is one to watch for sure; compare the number
of people with cellular phones to the number of people who either
possess a game console or keep their PC upgraded to play the latest
games. Also, there is a growing belief that "cell
phone customers want more than basic services and are willing to pay a
premium for a personalized experience where they are entertained,
engaged and connected. " The N-Gage might have been a bit too far ahead
of its time for its own good, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are
more endeavors to integrate cell phones and gaming again in the future.
-Christa Morse
In
the former USSR, a cellphone game is almost as expensive as a computer
game ($4 per CD - a high-quality PC-game localization, $2-3 - a
cellphone game). That's why most of cellphone game users are pirates.
I'm interested in those few who buys them legally - their demographics,
devices and gaming preferences. Besides, jolting in public transport,
poor screens, inconvenient keyboards and low processing power limit the
potential of action games. But, in fact, most mobile games here are
action ones, mostly because they it's easier to develop a high-quality
action game than a high-quality turn-based game. I'd like to know what
types of non-twitch gameplay are suitable for cellphones.
-
Mihail Mercuryev,
VCS (Qplaze TM)
Social networking and games that build a sense of virtual community are
most interesting. We are looking at games that allow users to leverage
short interactive experiences that cumulate into comprehensive game
play together with networked features that build upon social networking
skills. Therefore the innovations we are looking for are in network
performance and feature improvements, game design and incentives from
carriers that make this more compelling to gamers such as reduced costs
and improved access.
-John Foster, MTV Networks
