"Entering a renaissance for party games" with Gaming Couch
Mobile phone screens are, of course, used for much more than just playing games. But, sticking with the gaming theme, there have been a few games that have turned mobile phones into the controllers for games: JackBox TV is one of the more popular examples of this. Gaming Couch is another entry in this space, and this one has a big focus on mini-games. They previously placed 2nd in The Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki where our judges were very impressed with what they saw.
We spoke to Yacine Ouarab, the co-founder of the studio, about their direction, what they've created and what inspired it:
"We love playing together, but the logistics were always a nightmare. Finding enough charged controllers for 8 people, syncing them, and mapping controls on a PC took forever, it usually killed the mood before we even started."
"We wanted to make the experience frictionless. Since everyone already has a "controller" in their pocket (a phone) and access to a browser, we realized we could eliminate the hardware barrier entirely and just let people play."
This concept isn't completely unique, as there have been a small number of games created with phone-controllers in mind. The majorty of these games, however, have either been story-based or trivia based. They all rely on reading skills and writing skills, which is quite different from Gaming Couch. There is, essentially, a bunch of mini-games that you and your friends would be taking on, competiting against each other.
"I’d argue we’re entering a renaissance for party games. The trend is shifting away from complex, controller-heavy titles toward accessible experiences anyone, from grandkids to grandparents can enjoy. While the current market is dominated by lower-budget, language-based asynchronous games (like trivia, draw & guess etc..), we see a shift toward higher production values and real-time gameplay as the audience grows. It’s becoming less about "gamer skills" and more about pure social interaction."
I found, when playing Gaming Couch, that the variety of mini-games were fantastic - we did a full preview on it, going over how fantastic the games themselves are.
"We developed all of the current 18 games ourselves, often starting them as fun weekend projects. We quickly learned that technical impressiveness doesn't matter; the best games are the ones that generate the most shouting and laughter during playtesting. That became our primary metric. We’ve even codified a "recipe" that we'll share with third-party developers once we open the platform for others to develop as well: sub-one-minute rounds, simple inputs, and a balanced skill-to-luck ratio so newcomers and veterans can compete on equal footing."
"Our goal is to democratize the "couch gaming" experience. There’s a specific magic to being in the same room that online multiplayer just can’t replicate. We wanted to remove every technical hurdle that blocks that magic. If everyone has a phone in their pocket, everyone is a potential player. We want to turn any gathering into a game night instantly, without expensive consoles or the need for a specific "gamer" identity."
The current bundle of mini-games aren't the full extent of the developer's ambition either - they have plans to expand well beyond their current scope and structure.
"It will evolve from a closed library into a ubiquitous, open ecosystem. By opening our platform to third-party developers, we will see an explosion of creative variety beyond what our team can build alone. But the biggest shift is in access. "Screens" are everywhere now, from Smart TVs to car dashboards. The future isn't about owning a console; it's about walking into a room, scanning a QR code on any available display, and instantly turning that physical space into a shared arcade."
Gaming Couch is a very fun, easy to play, couch co-op experience that does push the boundaries on traditional, mobile-controlled games. It will be interesting to see how the genre continues to grow, and how it adapts.
