James Delahunty
2 May 2005 18:41
According to the former head of games firm Capcom US, Greg Ballard, mobile games are about to take-off at a pace that will resemble console gaming's growth. Ballard is now boss of mobile games firm Sorrent/Macrospace. "We're seeing results that are reminiscent to me of the early console days in the 1990s," Mr Ballard told the BBC. "There are titles now in mobile that will do between $6-10m, that's half as big as the console business was in early 1990s yet it's only in the second or third year of business".
He stressed that the guarantee that some games will do well is vital to mobile gaming companies. "If we can say we believe that this title will do $10m it allows us to spend more money developing and marketing that game," he said. "This is the first year I can look the marketing people in the eyes and say they may have a budget." A major advantage for the mobile games industry also is that pretty much everyone has a mobile phone in many places in the world.
"What's exciting about this is that lately everybody has a cellphone - even 10-13 year olds have them." he said. Research by Sorrent/Macrospace shows that younger mobile phone owners are the biggest users of ringtones, games and other mobile content. Also it is important to point out that some games that would be unsuccessful on consoles seem to do much better with mobile phone users. Card games like poker are very popular for mobile phones.
Source:
BBC News