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ARMA dev: Project Shield's success depends on competitive pricing

But device opening doors for PC studios

ARMA dev: Project Shield's success depends on competitive pricing
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| Arma Tactics

Bohemia Interactive, the Czech developer responsible for hardcore PC military-simulation series ARMA, has announced that it's working on a game for Nvidia's Project Shield.

ARMA Tactics is a turn-based title scheduled for a Q2 2013 release on Tegra devices, and Bohemia claims that it's cooperated closely with Nvidia in the development process.

It's an interesting move for a studio that's always courted the hardcore, and perhaps an indication that Project Shield is attracting developers who might not otherwise be interested in mobile development.

In order to find out what prompted Bohemia's move onto mobile, what monetisation mechanics it plans to use and what the studio reckons of Nvidia's gaming handheld, we spoke to Bohemia Interactive lead designer Aleš Ulm.

Pocket Gamer: Bohemia is obviously best known for its work on PC games. Why move into mobile gaming now? Aleš Ulm: Mobile gaming is an incredibly fast growing segment which simply can't be ignored by any major game developer.

Going mobile was an obvious choice for us.

Why are you targeting Nvidia Tegra devices specifically rather than making a broader move on mobile?

Developing specifically for Tegra 4 allows us to use specific visual features that we wouldn't be able to have on lesser hardware.


ARMA Tactics

Without them, however, you will able to play the game on Tegra 3 as well.

What are your opinions on Project Shield's potential as a gaming device, and what do you think are its chances of success at market?

Hardware like Tegra 4 will, in our opinion, for the first time let players who play mobile games experience something really close to PC or console gaming – so having a dedicated gaming device like Shield seems like a good idea to us.

If it was only that however I would be quite sceptical about it being a major market success, but the ability to stream PC games takes this device to another level.

I believe that with enough support and a smart pricing model this will definitely be a successful piece of hardware.

How will you monetise ARMA Tactics? Will it be free-to-play? Will it feature in-app purchases?

ARMA Tactics will be a reasonably-priced paid game. You will be able to unlock all of its features with XP you earn whilst playing.

If, however, you decide that you want to unlock that amazing item you want so much right now, you can purchase it via an in-app purchasing system.

What audience are you targeting with ARMA Tactics?

Anyone who would like to experience the thrill of playing games like Jagged Alliance or XCOM on a mobile device...

Thanks to Aleš for his time.
James Nouch
James Nouch
PocketGamer.biz's news editor 2012-2013