The future for mobile games
Blog written by Ronan Tighe
One of the most interesting things to emerge from my podcast interview with Charles Cohen was his assertion that the most appropriate format for a mobile gambling game has yet to be found.To date, companies have simply transferred their offline and online offering onto a mobile platform, whether that was for slots or sports betting. This made sense for a number of reasons, firstly it was the easiest and safest bet and secondly it was what users were expecting. The process for a user of trying to download a java game onto their phone is difficult enough without adding to the learning curve by introducing vastly different experiences than what they’ve seen on the web.
Although, I would love this approach to change soon, I think for the short term it is likely to remain for a number of reasons. Firstly, as fragmented as the mobile market has always been, I think it will get worse before it gets better. It’s clearly from the emergence of apps stores from Google, Microsoft, Nokia and RIM that all the major players in the market want as much of the pie as they can. This will only hinder companies trying to develop games for the market. On top of this, if Google and Apple are anything to go by, gaming companies will be left out in the cold, unable to make the most of the opportunities that new technology brings. It physically pained me when I saw the latest features that will come in iPhone 3.0 update as I could see the potential for them to allow gaming companies provide users with a much more engaging and exciting experience.
However, all is not lost. The abundance of (non-gambling) games released recently has allowed us to get a better understanding of what works for mobile and what doesn’t. These learning are already being applied by some developers. For example, Charles Cohen’s own Probability has released the first head to head game for the mobile. I think this format is prefect for the mobile as it allows for short games against real opponents which provides for an excellent user experience.
Another great development is Mfuse’s new NOVO Open API which will make it a lot easier for game developers to reach hundreds of thousand of gamblers. Increased competition in the developer market is likely to help companies push things forward.
If you’d like to hear more on this please download Interview with Charles Cohen podcast, 17.5mb. It’s the first of many podcasts in our new ‘Innovations in eGaming’ series so subscribe to the feed if you’d like to get each episode as it’s released.