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[IMG News]

Macworld has posted an article discussing comments made by Travis Boatman, vice president of world wide studios for EA's mobile division. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Boatman mentioned the potential for a slow down in the mobile games market in the short term due to the number of users purchasing iPhones, and the associated difficulty of transferring game titles to new platforms.

Apple’s iPhone is a capable phone that holds promise for the future of gaming, said Travis Boatman, vice president of worldwide studios for Electronic Arts’ mobile division, speaking during a panel session at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “But it’s a replacement for someone who had a Razr before. They still want their content but there’s no distribution platform in place so there’s a negative impact on the industry,” he said.

Because Apple so far hasn’t allowed iPhone users to download just anything, iPhone users may be giving up games that they played on a phone they previously owned, he said. “These devices are capable and powerful,” he said. “They’ll be great in the long term but it will take some time as people adapt to devices.”

The problem of transferring games to new phones has actually plagued the mobile gaming industry since its inception. When users upgrade to a new phone, they most often can’t bring a game that they bought for their old phone along with them.

To read the rest of the article click on the link below.

Return to Full Article - InsideMacGames News

[NAG]

Oddly I've played more games on my iPhone (web games) than the games you buy using a phone's store (read: none). Of course, I believe that the ones with the problem of losing their "distribution platform" is the industry rather than the consumer (not saying whether that is good or bad, just that any informed iphone user knows where to find web games/look at Apple's directory or even a google search).

[gbafan]

IMG News, on January 8th 2008, 05:03 AM, said:

The problem of transferring games to new phones has actually plagued the mobile gaming industry since its inception. When users upgrade to a new phone, they most often can’t bring a game that they bought for their old phone along with them.

And this is why I've never purchased a single mobile phone game.  Mobile phone game DRM is evil.  You pay $5 for a game that is tied to a single device forever.  No thanks.

I hope that come February that there will be some native iPhone games.  The web versions are nice diversions but without high scores or saving they become more like trial games than real games.

[nagromme]

I'd say that slowdown is very short term. The iPhone, integrated as it is with iTunes, SOLVES the "distribution platform" problem, it doesn't make it worse.

And we're probably days away from a full SDK, ready to take advantage of the gaming power an iPhone has that no other popular device can match (fast processors, mass storage, big screen, multitouch, tilt sensor, WiFi, standard unlimited Internet, and especially Leopard with its graphics and animation power awaiting developers).

[NAG]

Actually many phone games (including iPhone web games) are written in java. This reduces the compatibilty problem and frankly makes the biggest difference loading times/whether it is stored locally (high scores and such are doable online). I think the biggest thing for them though is that the iPhone doesn't have a centralized store on the phone to increase visibility and thus impulse buying. The iTunes store doesn't have quiet that effect.

PS: iPhone web games can use the tilt sensor in the iPhone (there is a demo of this in Apple's webapps directory).

[digt]

NAG, on January 8th 2008, 05:36 PM, said:

Actually many phone games (including iPhone web games) are written in java. This reduces the compatibilty problem and frankly makes the biggest difference loading times/whether it is stored locally (high scores and such are doable online). I think the biggest thing for them though is that the iPhone doesn't have a centralized store on the phone to increase visibility and thus impulse buying. The iTunes store doesn't have quiet that effect.

PS: iPhone web games can use the tilt sensor in the iPhone (there is a demo of this in Apple's webapps directory).

Good point about the Java. On a few of my old phones I could transfer apps easily because of this and did not have to re-purchase them.