Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Mobile devices and Gaming
Scot
Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
We have been wandering into this issue blindfolded for a couple of years now and it is starting to take shape. Just as consoles had a detrimental effect on PC gaming, mobile gaming is going to start to impact PC's and consoles.
Lets look at Plants Versus Zombies. This game was originally released in 2009 on Windows, then subsequently over a few years it was released on nearly every platform.
But the follow up PvZ 2 will be released on iOS first. Why? Because more people played it on that platform than any other, mobile platforms made the biggest bucks.
I have even heard gaming journalists on The Blurb talking about PvZ as if it was on the iOS first. No, it was a Windows game first, a PC game.
We have seen this happen before, consoles had a huge effect on PC gaming, horrible ports, last in the line for a release and so on. Here we are again, but now it will be mobile platforms who come first to the detriment of the rest. There will be those who say, don't worry mobile devices (especially smart phones) will never be able match PC's and consoles in processing power, most games could never be released on such platforms. Well they said that about consoles and the PC, consoles have never matched PC's in power and yet they became masters of the market.
It was not computer power that was important, it was the number of players on consoles. And here we are again, mobiles have a much larger potential player base, they will take the lead. Welcome to the wonderful world of iOS ports to PC and consoles. Of course for now they will be developed simultaneously, that's exactly happened with the PC and console struggle. But after a time it is going to be the platform that makes the most money that sees every game first and that will be iOS/Android.
The midget screens you say? No way can a smartphone overcome their midget screens, maybe tablets will cause issues but not smartphones. Well let me take you into the past once again, there was a time console games were played on TV's that was all they could be played on. It was PC owners who had monitors. Consoles graphics were upgraded to resolutions that needed monitors. But can a smartphone do something like this? Well the money will be there, so they impetus for the smartphone industry to get an upgrade will be there. Maybe one of those plastic folding out flat screens, like in the link below?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2072683/Sony-OLED-Flat-screen-TV-rolled-pocket.html
The one difference is that so many more of us have smartphones, we will have the platform games will now come out on first. But do you want to have to buy a smartphone good enough to play the latest games? Remember its what all your mates will be doing, better upgrade now. Or perhaps you will be happy to wait six months to a couple of years, like PC owners have to now days?
Comments
I think people are reading too much into this as usual.
I think it will be true that some games will hit mobile platforms first because they translate well to the touchscreen medium.Tactical Puzzle games,RPGs and RTS games for instance are fantastic on an iOS or android device and I prefer them on my nexus 7 than playing on my PC.
However FPS or TPS action games are horrible on touchscreen without a controller and if youh ave a controller you may as well play it on your PC or console because unless it uses the touchscreen and other capabilities of the medium then you gain nothing from playing it on them.
I do appreciate many will see me as being alarmist, but to me its early days, the problems have yet to hit the fan, so no one sees them.
Can you explain why you think touchscreen is better for a RPG or RTS? I can see where you are coming from when it comes to puzzle games, but touchscreen is better than a mouse for the other two game types?
I think there will be a niche for the complexity of games that a PC (or even console) allows for, but I think it has more or less become just that - a niche.
10 years ago, it wasn't much for many studios to think about funding multi-million dollar (7/8 figure) game budgets, with production exceeding Hollywood (and revenues exceeding Hollywood as well).
However, publishers have found out they can sell more units at a fraction of the development cost on mobile... so they are going to chase the market.
There will always be a place for the big budget PC/Console title and/or the type of title that lends itself to a more robust machine (such as MMOs), just don't expect nearly as many of them. I see a lot more titles like Angry Birds than I do on par with SWTOR.
If the game is done right then yes it is better on mobile.I should not that action orientated FPS or TPS games are serviceable but not ideal but old school top down RPGs work great .
For RTS they work sublimely if adapted to touchscreen and not just tower defense types.You should see the iOS version of X-com:Enemy Unknown for an example or games like Hunters,Frozen Synapse and Great Big Wargame.Using your fingers to select and direct units is much more efficient than with a mouse if done right and not just ported quickly.
Another reason mobile gaming is more attractive is that F2P does much better on those platforms,peopel are even more frivolous with there money there than on any other platform.
I believe it has to do with having your mobile device with you all the time exasperates the effect detailed in this interesting video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px74uw4ExN4&list=TLHj4D6twVecg
Looking forward tot he next part of that.
"Another reason mobile gaming is more attractive is that F2P does much better on those platforms, people are even more frivolous with there money there than on any other platform."
This is something I have noticed and if you want to market a cash shop game this is a dream come true. The F2P/B2P model and the expectations of smartphone users who are not gamers fit like a glove.
I don't really see much of an issue with mobile game platforms VS the PC or consoles. I mean it's just smart phones and tablets. They don't have a lot of power to work with and they're extremely limited as to what they can do. The fact that people have actually bothered to make shooters for these mobile platforms amazed me before I realized they sold peripherals to make up for the lack of proper controls.
Plus you were talking about Plants VS Zombies, not any real serious game. That's a fairly casual gameand the kind that we've been seeing on flash game websites for years. They're casual and made to kill time. Every now and then you see a gem out of them but that's much less likely than seeing one on a console.
People that are mobile gamers exclusively are the most casual of the casual. They don't have the time, or maybe money but smartphones can get damn expensive, to sit in front of a console or PC and play their games. They have to be on the go but whenever they can get a break they want to play a game, so they use their phone or tablet. These games are quick to load and put away and there's little to no consequence for stopping whenever you want.
A handheld console or a gaming laptop on the otherhand, has far more serious games. They take time to load and, unless you really don't care about the game you're playing, time to put away in the form of saving the game because sometimes the game forces players to hit a check point in order to do so. You're simply a lot more involved with any of these games rather than a little phone/tablet game.
I seriously doubt that this is any real threat to real gamers on Consoles and PC's but there is a fairly large market out there of casual gamers and mobile gaming is basically built entirely for them and people/companies are going to make games for them. But let's be fair. Plants VS Zombies doesn't hold a candle to something like Call of Duty, let alone The Witcher series. So what if a few ignorant journalists said a casual game like Plants vs Zombies came out on the iOS or something first? That's just them failing to do their job properly and their boss should get on their tail about fact checking.
TL;DR
Mobile Gaming has its own market. It doesn't really put up a fight against PC or Console gaming.
Kingdom of Knights - Community Manager
A lot of what you have posted does remind my once again of the reasons PC owners said we never had to worry about consoles:
"The fact that people have actually bothered to make shooters for these mobile platforms amazed me before I realized they sold peripherals to make up for the lack of proper controls."
The fact they are making shooters for mobile platforms should show you the direction of travel, there is no genre of game that will not appear on them. In the early days of consoles there were no controllers apart from the most basic of key input. Then they got joysticks and later 'controllers'. At each stage you could point to the fact that console games were limited by their controlling devices and at each stage they simply brought out a new control device. As you say this is already happening on mobile platforms, this obstacle is already being overcome.
As long as smartphone and tablets have such a potentially large player base such problems will be overcome. The potential rewards are enormous and already proven, this is the market to chase.
"That's a fairly casual game and the kind that we've been seeing on flash game websites for years. They're casual and made to kill time."
PC owners used to comment on the 'casual' nature of console games as well. We (wrongly) said console players were casual and thought that 'serious' games would only be brought out on the PC. For a while that was the case but as the years went on the game makers of 'serious' games switched to consoles.
"People that are mobile gamers exclusively are the most casual of the casual. They don't have the time, or maybe money but smartphones can get damn expensive, to sit in front of a console or PC and play their games."
This is why I think mobile platforms will lead gaming as a whole into more casual play. Over the years we have seen a drift in that direction, mobile platforms will accelerate this process. Gaming ethos has never triumphed long term over commercial practicalities. You only have to look at MMO's and the drift to F2P and P2W to see this. For years gaming ethos said no to F2P, now look at where we are. For years players in cash shop MMO's said no to P2W now we have drifted into that.
There is always some light in the tunnel if not at the end of it. It is possible for example that mobile platforms could end up running emulators for console and PC games. But I would not hold my breath waiting for that to happen.