Loose Threads: Will 2009 belong to mobile gaming?
Wouldn't that be grand...
You probably don’t need to start securing your post economic armageddon underground shelter and food supplies quite yet, but there’s no denying that 2009 will be a bit of a bread and water year for many people. Luxuries like home console gaming may have to take a back seat for a while.
So does this mean that punters will flock to the much cheaper pursuit of mobile gaming to fill the void?
We’re not about to suggest that the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii are set to experience a mass userbase exodus and that every deserting punter will find a new gaming home on mobiles.
But with the current crop of trendy mobile gaming platforms seemingly booming amid the financial turmoil, it’s not unreasonable to assume that the relatively cheap price of mobile games could see them weather 2009’s credit crisis better than most.
Top of the topic, was GideonB with words of encouragement and warning:
“Well, that's a hard question, but since nothing of 2009 has passed I don't know. It seems like it with stellar titles being released in America like Wolfenstein RPG and others. So as a guess, 2009 may belong to mobile gaming. Hopefully good mobile gaming, not rushed mobile games.”
Making his thoughts known in the comments on the main site, Enigmo had another benefactor for 2009’s economic downturn in mind:
“I don't think mobile games will benefit from 'everybody else's misery'... well at least not Java games for 'classic' cell phones. The whole Fishlabs/HandyGames debate shows some kind of despair. You still have to buy those games and I bet sales will go down because for €3-5 per game you do not get much compared to other games, like for example free browser games. If someone will be the winner of this financial crisis it is browser games.”
Well it depends on what sort of browser games you're talking about Enigmo. Companies like Garage Games and even Epic are making a valiant attempt to cater to the hardcore crowd in the browser-based gaming space.
But for console gamers, that still represents a switch from using controllers to a much less forgiving mouse and keyboard set-up. As for more casual titles, the browser based market in that area is perhaps even more saturated than on mobiles.
Titles like Reset Generation on the N-Gage and Rolando on the iPhone are neither hardcore nor casual, and for the price they offer an experience comparable to what someone might pay twice as much for on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN or WiiWare (or even more than that on the DS or PSP). But then, I'm biased.
Moving on, Klouud was next in line:
“I personally think that the iPhone App store will continue to grow exponentially as a gaming platform as time progresses. Of that I am certain. The console and ‘mainstream’ portable devices should see a decrease in sales, but not a significant one. people are still going to buy video games. That is a given. Just like smokers find money to feed their habits in times of financial crises, gamers will succumb to the lust for gaming.”
That’s a fair point Klouud. In fact, if you follow that logic, it could even be that people end up spending more on games and other home-based entertainment and less on more expensive luxuries like holidays abroad, new cars, jet-packs and robot sharks.
Lastly, Mandark laid his predictions for 2009 on the line:
“Well with everyone predicting that 2009 will be a quiet year for consoles after a very busy 2008, then the mobile gaming sector should be looking to make the most of the coming year.
"It will be interesting to see what the next generation of iPhone and N-Gage games will be like. And what can Android do. The revamped Palm too. The lack of gameplay depth, particularly with iPhone games, seems to be an issue that needs looking into as many gamers don't think they're getting value for money.”
Well, it depends on how you look at it Mandark - as the age old adage goes, you get what you pay for. For example, if you spend £5.99 on Brother In Arms: Hour of Heroes for the iPhone and expect a game that makes the PSP’s Brothers in Arms D-Day (which costs at least four times as much to buy) look rubbish by comparison, then you will be bitterly disappointed.
If however, you're a mobile gamer who’s taking a chance on a title that’s a couple of quid more costly than you would usually pay, expecting a modest advance on Brothers in Arms: Art of War, then you'll quite rightly be blown away.
It’s all about bang for your buck, and in that sense the iPhone has a better cost to quality ratio than most platforms, including those that sit under the TV.
But enough on this for now. It's only January after all and this debate will remain conjecture until the end of the year, when we'll be picking the thread back up and seeing who was right and who was wrong.
And for our next trick:
Should handheld gaming go download only?More details can be gleaned from the forum. That’s all for this week, remember to click ‘Track It!’ to catch the ensuing discussion.