Nintendo Finally Making Mobile Games
Recently, during it's financial results presentation, Nintendo announced that they are going to release five games on mobile(iOS/Android) by March 2017. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stressed that the games wouldn't be simply ports of existing titles that are currently on or in-development for 3DS and Wii U. Instead, they would be original games, tailored for mobile devices(smartphones, tablets).He was quoted saying, "You may think it is a small number, but when we aim to make each title a hit, and because we want to thoroughly operate every one of them for a significant amount of time after their releases, this is not a small number at all and should demonstrate our serious commitment to the smart device business."
So, we are not going to see the likes of Zelda, Mario and Pokemon on our iPhones and iPads. That's what Nintendo is saying. Those games will still be exclusive to its own consoles.
But you know what? It's inevitable that first-party Nintendo IP(Mario, Zelda, etc) will eventually appear on smartphones and tablets. I predict, over time, even more of Nintendo's revenue will come from software, given how hardware sales are dwindling and it's recently announced push into mobile.
The Current State of Portable and Mobile Gaming
 |
| Credit: CNET.com |
It's no secret that dedicated portable gaming consoles have been going through a sharp decline, notably starting with the Nintendo 3DS and Sony Playstation Vita. Much has been said about this. Portable games that you can carry around with you, are now dominated by casual, "flick, drag and swipe" games, a majority of them on smartphones and tablets. People just don't want to carry an additional device that just plays games. Casual games on smartphones and tablets are "good enough" for most folks and should they need a more traditional, complete and hardcore gaming experience, they can always turn to home consoles and PC gaming. It is because of this that I believe that the rise of smartphone gaming hasn't had that much an impact on home console and PC gaming.
Games on dedicated portable consoles are much better than their counterparts on smartphones and tablets. They are more sophisticated, and have the added advantage of physical, traditional input methods(analog sticks, shoulder triggers, direction buttons, etc). But it doesn't matter for most people. When we look at the big picture, the dedicated portable console market is a niche market catering to a small audience.
Although the current home console domination might change with a potential new Apple TV set-top box with a dedicated game/app store and support for third-party MFi(Made for iPhone) controllers, which will no doubt pave the way for newer, richer, deeper, more sophisticated games and attract even more developer support. I believe a new Apple TV with a dedicated app store and increased focus on gaming will upend traditional home console gaming.
But that's a conversation for another day. Back to the topic at hand.
I own a 3DS and Vita, and I find the user interface on both to be extremely poor and the user experience leaving much to be desired. For example, I have to jump through so many hoops just to get a game from the Nintendo eShop and the GUI is just not intuitive at all. I have probably been spoiled by the "seamless" user experience that Apple has been providing, and I bet many others feel the same way as I do. The ways in which the user interacts with the 3DS/Vita, outside of gaming, are extremely archaic.
Some would argue that the 3DS and Vita are gaming machines first and foremost and all it matters is the gaming experience. But the technology landscape has changed so much in a few years and most people's perceptions have been altered by devices like the iPhone. It's no longer enough to just be good at gaming. The core gaming experience has to be extended, and it has to be easy for users to for example, buy a game from the online store.
Granted, Sony did try to keep up with the times with features like Near on the PS Vita, whereby you'd be able to see who's in your local area and what they are playing. But such features have never really taken off, and I suspect it all comes down to the user experience. Both Nintendo and Sony have also made games available as digital copies, but I find that the purchase experience that the eShop and PS Store provide to be sorely lacking. Too many hoops to jump through, too cumbersome. And it's pretty fragmented, in that some games are available in certain regions, adding to the headache that a lot of gamers experience.
Major Game Publishers Are Already Making The Transition To Mobile, This Is The Beginning of The End
Konami's president recently came out and said that his company would "pursue mobile games aggressively... our main platform will be mobile[translated]." And Konami isn't the only one. Geek.com reported that "using the 2007 release of the original iPhone as a point of reference, Square Enix has been involved with the release of over 70 mobile games in North America alone, and that number greatly increases if you count titles only released in Japan, as well as those released before the iPhone. In a new financial report, Square Enix has revealed that the company experienced a 49% growth in profit in the year ending on March 31, 2015, even though it released fewer console games during that period. The growth was mainly attributed to Square Enix's mobile catalog and its MMOs." More importantly, Square noted that it feels "that the gaming industry is changing as smartphones and tablets become more prevalent. Meanwhile, it claims the console industry is becoming "increasingly competitive" and "oligopolistic", or dominated by just a few companies." You can read the full article here. Of course, publishers like Konami and Square are not abandoning home and portable consoles entirely. They are just making the transition to mobile and focusing more resources on that front."
No comments:
Post a Comment