The market for the development of applications for the mobile market for phones has been thought of in the last several years as having huge potential without a lot of risk.
It’s been a region where the current gaming industry giants have dominated taking EA Mobile’s 28.8 percent market share in the quarter that ended March 26, 2006 as per M:Metrics Inc.’s study of U.S. mobile phone users and allowing smaller , less well-known studios to continue developing games that are profitable which is now nearly impossible for smaller businesses that don’t have the money to meet the cost of each release of console games.
The mobile market is viewed as a market that’s yet to be completely tapped, but one where independent mobile game developers are able to succeed and become inventive and ingenuous when it comes to the games they decide to create. In this piece we’ll look at the advantages and disadvantages of making games for this huge and growing market.
Pros
The primary reason developers are able to develop games specifically for the mobile phone market is the fact that the market potential for these games is unmatched in terms of size. According to CTIA’s survey results on the wireless industry the estimated number of 207.9 millions wireless users on their own, which is amazing when you consider the actual number of people living in The United States is hovering at approximately 298.9 million as of now.
If you extend that to a global level then you’re looking at an estimated subscriber base to increase to 2.5 billion by the end 2006 . And 3.5 billion by the end of the year 2010 according to the findings of the wireless network strategy service from Strategy Analytics. For the record the population currently of the world is estimated to be 6.5 billion, as of the present in accordance with the International Programs Center, U.S. Bureau of the Census.
They are the bases that every console maker would be willing to sacrifice and that you won’t even have to scratch a hole in the overall picture to create an application that is downloaded, purchased and played by millions of players.
The benefits of tapping into this enormous market are bolstered in addition to the affordable costs for developing mobile games contrasted with PC and console game development. A challenge that is almost impossible for smaller businesses when it comes to development for console games especially where the next-generation devices are involved.
Because the technology of mobile gaming is akin to the technology of the beginning of the 1990s when videogame consoles. It’s one of the few places you can still find games developed by small teams comprising just a handful of people similar to what was happening in the “good old times” according to certain. Smaller teams provide more creativity and control for those who are working on the game as well as much less cost for the person who is paying for the game. If you’re dad’s name’s Bill Gates or you happened to earn a profit by selling your shares of Google and Google, it’s not likely that your parents, you or friends have enough money to finance the development of a game that is for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3 or Nintendo’s Wii.
The lower development costs are also a benefit in different areas in game creation. In the first place, it permits companies large and small and small to take more risk in the kinds of games they want to create and gives them the chance to be more creative in terms of game play mechanics and genre and also its characters and narrative. The game industry is often hesitant to risk innovative IP’s (Intellectual Properties) due to the high volume of sales required to make a profit from console games. Therefore, the present trend is to rely on sequels to games that have already been marketed with a good brand and a large user base, or even new games that are built on existing and well-known characters, storylines , and licenses.
In the case of a game that is developed for an console, a business may be compelled to go out and purchase a license for an existing game that they’re working on in order to market it, and possibly limit the creative things their creators might want to accomplish with the game, simply because they perceive the challenge of marketing an untested IP as one they do not want to attempt to over. It’s much more straightforward to launch and market an original game that is inspired by well-known and beloved characters, stories, and licenses. If you’re not sure with this, ask yourself: If someone launches an unlicensed football title that’s better than that of EA’s NFL exclusively-owned football teams are you sure that it’s even going to have the chance in the face of EA’s Monolith? It’s unlikely regardless of how great of an football game it might be.
Because the cost is significantly less to create games specifically for this market, developers can choose to staying with what they’d like to create and are free to stick to their guns since it’s easier to be profitable. Therefore, there isn’t any need to depend on a licensed product or already established franchises to be able to justify creating whatever game they want to create.
Cons
There could be 207.9 million mobile phone users across the United States and 2.5 billion globally However, this doesn’t mean there’s a huge number of users who are likely to download new games, or even to pay for and download the latest games. According to M:Metrics Inc.’s study it was found that just 24.2 percent of U.S. subscribers played any game using their mobile phones over the 3 months that comprised the study, with just 8.3 percent downloaded a game as well as a meager 2.7 percent of them downloaded games from any mobile within the past month.
Although 6 million games downloaded may seem impressive but you need to consider that there’s an abundance of mobile games available on the market, so every game’s portion of this is very small. It’s true that the number of subscribers is huge in number, it’s not entirely embraced the concept. It’s growing but, clearly, it shouldn’t be overlooked.
Another disadvantage when developing apps for mobile phones is the fact that there are a lot more companies to contend with and they’re the ones who have absolute control over this market. Instead of having to deal directly with Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo in the world of consoles or nearly no one within the PC world, when creating games for the mobile phone market, you’ll have to depend on the choices made by the operators like Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cingular, and Nextel.
In addition to make matters worse, operators have greater control over the games they offer to their customers since the vast majority of people buy services directly for their mobiles through their wireless provider. Although it is feasible to download game on the Internet which aren’t provided by the service provider, the majority of users have a tendency to download and pay for games which are offered by their service provider. Similar to console makers the operators also have high standards for the games they’ll provide through their services, which typically means that they will work with the majority of phones that customers utilize.
This is the second issue in that there is an astronomical amount of mobile phone devices to support , and markets are so fragmented, it is essential to make sure that as many devices are supported as possible. This has resulted in an environment in which the cost of engineering for mobile game development are much more expensive in comparison to the game’s budget as compared to PC or console games. The game doesn’t just require the correct mobile phone’s software platform and BREW and J2ME are the most well-known options currently however, it must be compatible with all the various phones, which have various screen sizes, input capabilities and limitations to their computing capabilities. Making a game that functions great for the T-Mobile Sidekick II and then making sure that it’s compatible on other phones is an extremely difficult and challenging task.
The inability to process data of a lot of devices and the fact even the latest models will not be able to compete to the latest generation of videogame handhelds means that game developers are restricted in the types of games they are able to create. It is generally limited to the same kind of games that were created in the 16- and 8-bit times and concepts that require advanced 3D graphics and a lot of the breakthroughs that resulted from this will probably be impossible to create. So, even though you have the ability to experiment however, you don’t necessarily have the capability to be as imaginative and ingenuous as you could be if you had the power of computers or input devices in the new and upcoming consoles or PC games.
In conclusion
The demand for developing mobile games is enormous and growing, and it’s clear why , given the cost-effectiveness and the unbeatable number of users available. But it’s not a subject which is a sure thing or backed by any evidence, nor is it something that’s easy to implement and is a sure gold mine. However, it’s one of the few areas that independent game developers can have a chance of developing their games for, and it’s an area which shouldn’t be overlooked by the people who make games and the people who buy games.