Rants And Ramblings About Mobile Technology
Anders Borg writing about the fun and crazy world of mobile and Internet service technologies.
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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Mobile game development pros and cons
This rather lengthy article mentions arguments for and against diving into the game development market. It has a US focus, and the situation in US is a bit different than in the rest of the world. E.g. the operator lock-in is much less of a problem in Europe. In Europe games are sold by independent providers via any operator's network, which is a much better approach for the game provider. Also, in Europe Java completely dominates, so there's only Java you need to care about here.
There are many issues with this market, e.g. phone funtionality fragmentation and a still dormant awareness among consumers.
The opportunity is still great though, especially for simpler games, so here is some advise:
* Forget about advanced 3D games and similar, instead focus on addictive, fast-paced, quickly understood and played, simple games. Tetris is a very good example of such a game, supposedly EA's most popular mobile game.
* Outsource multi-device testing. There are companies in Russia and India that will do this for a very low fee.
* Possibly outsource the complete development of the games, yet keep the control over design and quality assurance.
IGN: Pros and Cons of Mobile Game Development
There are many issues with this market, e.g. phone funtionality fragmentation and a still dormant awareness among consumers.
The opportunity is still great though, especially for simpler games, so here is some advise:
* Forget about advanced 3D games and similar, instead focus on addictive, fast-paced, quickly understood and played, simple games. Tetris is a very good example of such a game, supposedly EA's most popular mobile game.
* Outsource multi-device testing. There are companies in Russia and India that will do this for a very low fee.
* Possibly outsource the complete development of the games, yet keep the control over design and quality assurance.
IGN: Pros and Cons of Mobile Game Development
