Is There A Future For Mobile Gaming?

The event was held at the Kings-Cross O'Neil's and as has been typical of our meetings, all went smoothly in hosting another interesting I.G.D.A gathering. We introduced a £2 entrance fee for the first time for non-members, and the turn-out was decent considering the added fee (around 25-30 people, with 15 being non-members). Most people who came didn't mind the entrance fee, though we believe it turned more people away.

The mobile focused event featured the combined forces of Rajesh Fatania from G-Cell, Tim Closs and Rob Hendry from Ideaworks3D, and Kevin Holloway from Finesse Mobile. We got a bit of a late start and unfortunately Rob Hendry was unable to participate in the panel as he had other obligations. <!--Rajesh Fatania,--> A Lead Programmer at GCell, stepped in to add his experience to the panel in Rob's stead.

GCell Presents

The event kicked off with an introduction by Rajesh Fatania from GCell, a young mobile orientated gaming company. With a smart show reel and to-the-point presentation on their products, Rajesh Fatania gave the gathering a fine look at how a new company can move into this still fledgling part of the games industry. Developing their games in Java and thus taking on the challenging task of crossing many recent phone operating systems - GCell made clear their outlook on the future of their software, exemplified by a modest demonstration of a promising sci-fi style flight game in the works.

Ideaworks3D Presents

After a short break the meeting continued with Rob Hendry from Ideaworks3D taking the floor for a comprehensive run-down on Ideaworks3D's past, future and working principles. Tim Closs took the floor next, impressing upon all the revolutionary nature of Ideaworks3D's Segundo3D middleware development by explaining how vast the range of phone models and operating systems that are available with Segundo3D. Segundo3D is an abstraction layer that uses the same code base for all phones, allowing the individual phone type to be used to its maximum graphical and processing ability.

The pairing of Cross and Hendry helped put into perspective how the market for mobile games is expected to increase in demand. Particularly when considering regional strengths in game styles. To ably drive their point home Ideaworks3D showed attendees not only a section of earlier work on System Rush (a 3D N-gage title), but also a very recent demo of their highly detailed and stunningly slick System Rush Evolution title (for future release on Nokia phones).

The Panel

A breather for the audience allowed a few drinks to be passed round before Jim Verhaeghe kicked off our discussion panel on the state of mobile phone gaming and where the industry was heading.

The panel began with the question so many of us ask in this topic, "who plays these mobile games?" All parties seemed to agree that this was almost impossible to pin down specifically, but that it is a huge potential market. The market is vast with many types of users. So despite the fact that few of us see those that purchase mobile games, we can rest assured that they are being sold for the growing profit of companies that dabble in this field (whether it is the finest in cutting edge shooting games or the simplest of smutty gambling titles).

The topic changed to convergence technology on mobile gaming (and beyond). The concept was explored by Ideaworks3D with reference to their server based concepts coming to the fore (e.g.: Sims 2 Mobile drawing directly from the larger 'parent' title for use in generating models in the handheld version). This prompted the idea from the GCell delegates that a possibility for the future was in installments; the downloading of free demos, to then be appended by concurrent installments of a game by fee paying punters. Though this did bring the painful point of who would be willing to pay yet another confusing fee attached to their mobile phone usage.

Next, the precise nature of sheer numbers for any gaming market was discussed. The figure of around 17.9 billion dollars for gaming was refuted, and doubt was cast on the ability to bring real innovation to the market place. In the defence for existing market model - the example of Need for Speed: Most Wanted was brought forward. The title sold about 200,000 copies in North America through a single carrier alone (which would be like only putting the game in a single resale chain). Members of the audience pointed out that this sort of title drew on a very much established advertising campaign.

Lastly, the panel went on to discuss the idea of greater user interaction as part of gaming/leisure content. The idea of sending flippant nonsense to friends has obvious market value and draws on the very roots of the platform as a tool of communication.

In rounding up - all delegates concluded (essentially in terms of sales) that the future of mobile gaming wasn't in particular risk, because no matter how obscure a niche a developer aims for, as long as they can get a product to market, there will always be a user base, due to the sheer saturation of mobile phones throughout the population.

In Closing

So readers, we hope that for those who missed out on this event that we have given a dependable account, my apologies if some important topics were not significantly covered, but the forums may hide the details of various discussions. (Think of it as digging for buried treasure...)

Great thanks go to Jim Verhaghe for compeering and keeping the mob on a leash, Jane Barnett for her organizational supremacy, James Mark Botterall for his technical aid (and the odd tune) and the two Michaels (Michael Bregman and Michael Lloyd Lee) for their support and camera work. All came to a peaceful close after the lively debate had been stymied.

See you all next clan gathering...