[IGDA Mobile-SIG List] Future of mobile games

[John Bridges]

Gameloft are already going down this route with their PC downloadable 
portal.

In the UK at least one of the operators makes the majority of sales in 
line with new handsets. Its a novelty factor playing a game as much as 
anything else.

I don't know what other's think here, but a few of the big-ticket 
top-sellers I've bought have been REALLY dumbed down. Tetris e.g. was so 
slow on my N70 that I could have played it with my eyes shut. Ditto 
Space-Invaders. To me I found that the mobile experience of both these 
games just put me off - I really couldn't see the point of playing them. 
But I guess it sells because it has the magic name. But I do find it 
worrying that big-ticket games like these which have the potential to be 
playable in their original sense on mobile are probably the first mobile 
games a new customer will ever buy. Is it any wonder they don't come back ?

JB

William Volk wrote:

> Eventually the market or a large publisher (EA?) will make the move to 

> an off-deck strategy.  Right now the vast majority of titles in the 

> USA are sold from the decks.  I had a strategy in 2004/5 for going off 

> deck, but it was dependent on the success of a (real) card game to 

> drive sales.

>

> The bigger worry, 70% of people who buy a mobile game never buy a 

> second game.

>

> William Volk

> CEO, MyNuMo

> 858 692 1124

> Create It, Show It, SELL IT!

> http://www.mynumo.com

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> *From: *Christopher Kassulke <christopher.kassulke at handy-games.com>

>

> Hi all,

>  

> if brands count so much why is the market stagnating in the US and in 

> several parts of Europe? We see a branded deck for ages but the usage 

> is not going up significant. Only already establish Publishers have a 

> chance to establish own IPs. As new comer you will have no chance to 

> knock on the Gatekeepers doors with a cool concept or game.

>  

> Currently not the endcustomer choose what games they want – the 

> gatekeeper is. Open it up and you will see what will run.

>  

> Creating an own big IPs cost nearly the same as license one but its 

> more risky. We established already several brands like Townsmen, 

> Pornmanager, etc. but it cost a lot and you have to be innovative.

>  

> Brands are not a 100% guarantee for good revenues and deck placement.

>  

> Every publisher and developer have the own strategy. At the end we 

> will see which company will be most successful. In my opinion a good 

> mixture of brands and own IP will bring the market further. But always 

> only the good quality will keep the customer satisfied.

>  

> Cheers,

> Christopher

>  

>  

>

> Christopher Kassulke

> CEO

> www.handy-games.com <BLOCKED::http://www.handy-games.com/> 

> <http://www.handy-games.com/%3E>  GmbH

>

>

> *Von:* mobile_games-bounces at igda.org 

> [mailto:mobile_games-bounces at igda.org] 

> <mailto:mobile_games-bounces at igda.org%5D> *Im Auftrag von *DrDon

> *Gesendet:* Donnerstag, 8. März 2007 00:07

> *An:* Mobile Game Development SIG Mailing List

> *Betreff:* Re: [IGDA Mobile-SIG List] Future of mobile games

>

> 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

>  

>  

> Thanks and best regards,

>  

>  

>

>

> -- 

>

> *Don Diekneite

> *

> *Sonaural Audio Studios

> *

> (408)799-6123

>

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

>

>

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>

>

> -- 

> Jorge Gonzalez Sanchez

> Blue River S.A.

>

> TEL. +54 (11) 4777-9431

> MOV. +54 (911) 6167-5412

>

>

>

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>

> -- 

>

>

> *Don Diekneite

> **Sonaural Audio Studios

> *(408)799-6123

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

>

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