March 28th, 2008Mobile Gaming: Desperately Seeking “Viral”
More from ICE 08 – yesterday afternoon – the “What’s Moving in Mobile Games?” session meandered through a variety of topics – Needless to say the iPhone was mentioned on numerous occasions (surprising the bulk of the panel slotted the device under the “hype” category rather than “opportunity” & it’s touch only interface poses a whole host of problems for designers as existing games can’t easily be ported) but there was one topic that stuck out for me above the rest of the discussion.
The moderator, Matt Gillis (SVP Publishing at Capcom Games), posed the question: “Is poor merchandising to blame for the slow growth in the mobile games market?”
The consensus was generally that merchandising wasn’t helping much but the reason that took the brunt of the blame was the “viral” aspects of the industry – or rather, the total lack thereof.
In a rich dose of irony, on a device that at its core is for communicating, a combination of incompatible handsets and multiple carriers makes getting a game to go “viral” is next to impossible.
When you step back and consider it – Not all games are available on all providers, or even within the same provider different handsets may or may not support the same games. The panel also readily admitted that discoverability was also a major issue – if your game isn’t on the first page or two in the store the chances of your game getting any meaningful sales is pretty slim.
So when you start to add it all up, even if you did refer a friend to a game, the chances of someone being able to locate, access, purchase & ultimately use the game can become a bit of a long shot, and needless to say that hurts sales.
The brutal truth is without the halo of a trusted friend’s recommendation the mobile game industry is locked in a reality where they have to sell virtually every customer individually. Generally through a tiny screen and typically with minimal information and mahybe a screenshot or two. The purchase decision essentially boils down to whether or not the consumer is willing to take a risk with a few dollars (+ whatever costs providers are tacking on) in purchasing the game.
The panel itself didn’t really have any solutions to offer but, as a nice dose of serendipity, one of the demos in the DemoCamp session that followed this panel was by a new mobile startup looking to help bridge the viral gap and get users playing collaborative games on cell phones, regardless of device or provider – Called Social Deck they’re looking to launch in the middle of 2008.
They had a working demo and the premise looks sounds. Initially they’re targeting iPhones, Blackberrys and (wisely I think) tying into Facebook so gameplay won’t be limited to mobile devices only. At this time they’re developing their own content but during the Q&A people were already poking around for opportunities to push existing IP into the app.
A system like this could be just what the industry needs to push a little of that viral mojo into the mobile device market.
