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Small Publishers Winning Mobile Gaming Race
Next Generation reports on the Mobile gaming market, and the reality that so far small publishers are beating out large companies in releasing titles and growing the market. From the article: "During 2005, the Western markets of Europe and in particular the US have seen rapid growth - now accounting for 52 percent of mobile games revenues. The report argues that console and PC game publishers are being eclipsed in the market by companies dedicated to mobile games. Jamdat of the U.S. and Gameloft of France accounted for almost 30% of games download revenues in the U.S. and Europe during 2004."
Why, me, thank you! Although I've hardly ever actually bought a game specifically for my phone. I play the old Lucas Arts games on my P800 using a port of ScummVM. My cell phone is always with me, so if I'm sitting in a train or waiting for a bus with a few minutes to waste, I fire up Monkey Island.
I bought three games for my cell. A strategy war game called Strategic Assault which is quite funny, a shooter called Interstellar Flames which is utterly unplayable and Sim City. I also got Lemmings.
Cell phones aren't that bad for wasting a few minutes now and then if you've got the right games. And as cell phones continue to mature, getting better graphics and better controls, eventually more people will start using them for playing games. Even now, I see tons of kids playing games on their cell phones in Europe, and MTV is constantly running ads for these games. This market may soon be huge.