Browsers — the Gaming Platform of the Future?

Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts, spoke at the recent Game Developers Conference about how he expects game platforms to evolve in the future. Hawkins thinks the role of web browsers as a platform will greatly increase as the explosion of mobile device adoption continues. "For all of the big media companies, this phase of disruption is dramatic and happening fast. Where it's really going to lead is where the function of the browser is going. ... The browser has taken over 2 billion PCs — it's going to be taking over a billion tablets over the next few years, billions of mobile devices. It will end up in my opinion very strong on the television. The browser is the platform of the future."

Comments

Unlikely, but, whatever, everybody has an opinion.

[intellitech]

If everybody in the future plans on selling micro-games with abysmal graphics, then maybe. There's really not that many situations that I can see where developing for a web browser would be more advantageous than developing a game for a native OS architecture, whether it be for a console (xbox, PS3, etc.) or computer (Mac, Windows, etc.). Even for mobile devices, if you design for a browser, what does that leave you with? Native application SDKs exist for android, iOS, and the like, which I'm sure provide better performance capabilities for rendering and whatnot than Flash or something yet-to-be-developed. That leaves ChromeOS, which I assume will use HTML5 or Flash. But, if the day it comes, it would be glorious to see Black Ops playing in a browser tab. Call me skeptical, but I just don't see this really make a dent in the hardcore-gaming market.

Re:Unlikely, but, whatever, everybody has an opini

[devxo]

You don't need graphics for games. You don't even need flash. There are many persistent multiplayer games that work in real time and you just use your browser to play them. Currently I'm playing Slavehack, a hacking game where you can hack to other peoples computer and public servers, and they might hack into yours (and even steal your money from your bank account if they happen to get the bank ip and account number from the logs before you clean it and hack into it). Your computer remains online even while you're not playing, so you have to be clever. I also used to play games like Ultima Online where you build your own nation with other players and a game called Trukz, where you basically were a truck driver and it worked in real time, meaning you basically logged in few times a day to drive your truck further on its way. They all combine multiplayer in the way of companies, guilds, or player versus player gameplay.

And actually I find them really fun too. They're not going to replace traditional games, but there's room for both!

Quake Live works...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why couldn't something else?

Re:Browser-OS fusion?

[stonecypher]

> So when will the browser and operating system achieve a seamless integration?

1995.

Gaming platform?

[Ant P.]

Not going to happen as long as the sound and input APIs completely suck.

Re:Unlikely, but, whatever, everybody has an opini

[TopSpin]

micro-games with abysmal graphics

Webgl is real and works today in the latest browsers. Go here (with Chrome 9 or FF4 and a real GPU) to see it right now.

developing for a web browser would [not] be more advantageous

In terms of performance, browsers already provide an environment that has parity with the best stand-alone dynamic languages. Both HTML5 canvas and Webgl are sufficient to solve the rendering problem for a broad class of games. These tools are standards based and free. If you've ever earned a living making games you can't miss the potential.

Large investments into browser development are coming from several competing organizations. Don't be surprised if browsers become superior to traditional techniques.