[IGDA Mobile-SIG List] Future of mobile games

[William Volk]

The reason that licenses MAKE SENSE for mobile games is because the majority
of mobile game sales are from carrier ‘decks’.

Therefore what the consumer sees is about 20 – 40 characters of text.

So for publishers, it’s worth spending $$$ to make that text stand out.

One thing that is holding up game design is that a requirement of getting
on-deck is to support a very wide range of handsets.  If you have to support
a “Series-40” handset it may not be worth your while to build a fancy
version for a smartphone.

William Volk
MyNuMo



From: DrDon <don at sonaural.com>

I think part (but not all by any means) of it is that the evolution of phone
game design is not progressing as fast as the evolution of hardware
capabilities. This being due to the incredibly rapid rate at which hardware
capabilities increase. In the past, game hardwares have been relatively
stable and largely driven by capabilities developers wanted. With phones,
it's the other way around. Definitely a unique problem.

Licensing (with the possible exception of sports games) have always been a
"iffy" prospect where you have to weigh the cost of the license with the
cost of development, and hopefully some mitigation of risk when compared
against original ip. Some have succeeded, many have failed regardless of
platform. You still have to have a decent game. Presumably, the cost of a
license will be offset by the increased sales right? Easier said than done!
Especially on phones where the value of a movie or TV license isn't the same
as on other game platforms.

dd

Jorge Gonzalez Sanchez wrote:

> Yeah, as DrDon said, mobile industry, as chaotic as it is (no more than the

> PC), has yet to find its Command n Conquers, its WoWs or whatever, a game

> which represents the mobile industrys finest.

>  

> Licensed games dont always sell that well. I remember reading something on

> Gamasutra a while ago saying the LOTR mobile game(s?) bombed in the face of

> simpler, classinc titles like Tetris or Parcheese. Licenses are good. Taking

> inspiration from classics also is, but mobile games are a kind of it own

> (mainly because of the horrible, inconsistent human interfaces), and should be

> treated as such. 

>  

> A couple of years ago nobody gave a dime for Touch-screen games, and now the

> DS prints money. GPS, SMS, the microphone and the Camera are great interfaces

> which offer great possibilities, but are still pretty much unexplored.

>  

>  

>  

>  

> On 3/7/07, DrDon <don at sonaural.com> wrote:

>>  

>> IMHO - the killer-app game for mobile has yet to be made (as many point out).

>>  

>> dd

>>  

>> � wrote: 

>>>  

>>> Hi all,

>>> 

>>> I saw last year's TOP 50 games (according ELSPA) and the speech of Trip

>>> Hawkins in GDC, and I went to sleep with a question biting my head last

>>> night: Is there a future for original mobile games?

>>> 

>>> 

>>> As we can see, most of downloaded games are adaptations from Console/PC

>>> games or those using TV show brands. As Hawkins said, only 5% of mobile

>>> customer download a game and, coincidentally, 5% of mobile customers are

>>> 

>>> console/PC gamers (or ex-gamers). Maybe that would explain why the most

>>> downloaded games are remakes of console/PC ones.

>>> 

>>> We know that it is too expensive to keep getting brands to create a new

>>> game. Only big companies, like EA, Ubisoft and others, that already got

>>> 

>>> their own big brands, do not have big costs to worry with.

>>> 

>>> So, I would like to listen to some opinions about this.

>>> 

>>> PS: The article can be found at:

>>> 

>>> http://www.mobileindustry.biz/article.php?article_id=2327

>>> <http://www.mobileindustry.biz/article.php?article_id=2327>

>>> 

>>> PS2: The ELSPA article can be found at:

>>> http://mobilegames.blogs.com/mobile_games_blog/2007/01/elspas_2006_lis.html

>>>  

>>> <http://mobilegames.blogs.com/mobile_games_blog/2007/01/elspas_2006_lis.html

>>> > 

>>> 

>>> Thanks and best regards,

>>> 

>>>   

>>>  

>>  

>>  

>>   

>> -- 

>>  

>>  

>> 

>> Don Diekneite

>>  

>> 

>> Sonaural Audio Studios

>>  

>> 

>> (408)799-6123

>>  

>> 

>> Hear us online: www.Sonaural.com <http://www.sonaural.com/>

>>  

>>  

>>  

>>  

>> _______________________________________________

>> Mobile_Games mailing list

>>  Mobile_Games at igda.org

>>  http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/mobile_games

>>  

>>  

>  

>  

>  

>  

> -- 

> Jorge Gonzalez Sanchez

> Blue River S.A.

>  

> TEL. +54 (11) 4777-9431

> MOV. +54 (911) 6167-5412

> 

> 

> 

> _______________________________________________

> Mobile_Games mailing list

> Mobile_Games at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/mobile_games

>   



-- 
Don Diekneite 
Don Diekneite
Sonaural Audio Studios
(408)799-6123
Hear us online: www.Sonaural.com <http://www.sonaural.com/>


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