Why Hasn’t Cellphone Gaming Taken Off?
- March 21st, 2007
- Read 972 times
- 6 Comments
Mobile gaming needs a “killer app” before it can really ever take off, but with a predicted $7 billion at stake, it’s just a matter of time until someone figures it out. The BBC bothered a bunch of mobile and gaming industry leaders to try to figure out why nobody has figured out how to successfully marry cellphones and video games, since previous predictions indicated that the industry should have already been worth $18 billion by now. (It’s currently worth $ 2 billion.) The main culprit? The cellphone industry changes too rapidly for companies to develop compelling games for it. So every year or two when you upgrade your cellphone or change carriers, you’re stunting the growth of mobile gaming. Shame on you.
Unlike console and PC games where hardware remains fairly static for years at a time (perhaps less true for PC games, but developers have gotten into the habit of designing games for the lowest common denominator—how else could I have run “Half-Life 2″ a few years ago on a relatively underpowered PC?), cellphones change operating systems and internal circuitry seemingly every few months. The 3GSM cellphone trade show happened last month; CTIA, another such trade show, begins next week. Cellphones advance too quickly for their own good.
Another factor holding back the growth of mobile gaming is the perceived schism between hardcore and casual gamers. Hardcore gamers have no problem trying to beat “God of War” on God mode or sinking hundreds of hours into “World of Warcraft” trying to find the ultimate rare weapon. Casual gamers, on the other hand, only concern themselves with killing a few minutes while on the subway. Who do developers cater to?
So gaming on cellphones has quite a bit of work ahead of it before it truly catches on. We’ll be waiting right here for that day to come.
Mobiles set to play the game [BBC News]
David Jones (Who am I?)
1 year ago
For me, I would say there is 2 problems with Cell phone gaming, Screen size and control.
Screen size is something that is getting better, phones are starting to have bigger screens, but control is one thing that varies wildly from phone to phone.
Some phones have little buttons, some have flat buttons (Razr). little carpel tunnel machines for a lot of people (sortof like the PSP)
The killer app for a cell phone would probably be a game that people can connect to….hey it is a cell phone, why not make a very casual MMO game.
Ethan (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Pricing is the killer. Maybe Bell Mobility isn’t the best example but they want to charge $7 for games. $7!!! I’m not going to pay $7 for an impulse purchase. $2 maybe.
bpm2000 (Who am I?)
1 year ago
echo echo - control/price. I wont pay for a game im just gonna sit there and dick around with for a few minutes. also, ever try playing a Contra emulator on a nokia 6682? It took me forever just to enter the keystrokes for the 40 lives correctly, and those lives only lasted me til level 4. Cell phone gaming is hard. I can’t even get past magnet man in megaman3 and i used to be able to beat that game with my eyes closed.
Chris Taylor (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Hmmm where to start.
#1 MONTHLY FEE most games MUST be payed for monthly - Sorry I do not do “renting” especially at those prices
#2 Can not move it from phone to phone. Most people will not see this as a PROBLEM “until” they changer phones at which point I think that will be the last time they ever “buy” a game for a cell phone again.
Need I say more? those are pretty damning reasons as they stand :-)
JAMES BRASELTON (Who am I?)
1 month ago
WOW I AM EXITED ABOUT CELLPHONE GAMES THIS YEAR BECUASE THERE ARE A LOT OF NEW REALY POWER FULL CELLPHONES COMING OUT THIS YEAR 2 COMING OUT IN JUNE THE 3G IPHONE 2 AND SPRINT INSTINCT WILL BE THE FIRST 2 SO I THINK CELLPHONE GAMES WILL SKY ROCKET THIS YEAR BECUASE CELLPHONE GAMES IN THE PAST WERE ON SMALL SCREENS AND THIS YEAR 3 INCH TOUCH SCREENS POWER FULL CPUS AND LOTS OF MEMORY TOO THIS YEAR MOST CPUS WILL BE BETWEEN 144 MHZ CPU TOO 1 GHZ CPU FOR THE 3 G IPHONE 2 HIGHER RESOLUTION SCREENS TOO IT LOOKS LIKE THE HARD WERE AND SOFT WARE BE ABLE TO HANDLE CELLPHONE GAMES EASLY SO IF YOU GET A NEW CELLPHONE FROM THIS YEAR GIVE CELLPHONE GAMES A TRY
JAMES BRASELTON (Who am I?)
1 month ago
LUCK UNDER THE GAME MENU ON YOUR CELLPHONE MOST CELLPHONES HAVE PRELOADED GAMES ON THEM