Lately the developer of the well-known and highly popular Angry Birds Rovio, specifically Peter Vesterbacka, has been firing off rather brash and bold comments about the place and impact of mobile games of the gaming industry. Here is his latest quote:
"It’s interesting to see people like Nintendo saying smartphones are destroying the games industry. Of course, if I was trying to sell $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I’d be worried too."
Does this guy have any real understanding of what gaming truly is? It's an absolute embarrassment that tripe like Angry Birds are considered legitimate games, and thus a part of the gaming industry. There is a reason why mobile games are so cheap and real games are so expensive in comparison: the level of substance held by the game and the amount of time and effort put into the development of the game. There will always be this key difference, and if the casual side gradually kills off the serious side of the industry...that will be the end of gaming. I'll give an example of the level of content, say between Angry Birds and Pokemon Black Version. What do you get out of one or the other? Angry Birds gets you several levels where you launch birds into precariously built structures to eliminate pigs and thats it. How long will it be until you move on to something else? Now considering Black Version, you can get hundreds of hours worth of enjoyment out of it. From the main story, to the post-story content to the depth and sheer amount of multiplayer options there is plenty to keep the player coming back. That is how gaming should truly be, but casual gaming is putting that in jeopardy.
Not only does casual gaming put the serious side of the industry at risk through lowering value of the content of a game, it's also steadily bringing along the death of the industry through the creation of unrealistic pricing expectations. As I stated before, mobile games are so cheap because they take very little time and effort to create. When you seriously take that into consideration, you get what you pay for. The exact same thing can be said of legitimate games. Sure you pay a pretty high premium but you get what you pay for, which means a lot more game and a lot more enjoyment.
SO! Let me get it straight! You we officially say that with this post you are stating that "casual gaming" is indeed killing "gaming"?
ReplyDeleteWell, I have exactly finished the post yet.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways it is. At least for those of us serious, core gamers. Mobile games are creating an unrealistic pricing expectation when it comes to legitimate games, and it's seriously putting the industry at risk.
I don't think mobile games will have a measurably negative impact on the rest of the industry. They're just two different animals, and gamers who play "real" games, as you call them, have the sense to know that these "real" games are not sustainable under mobile-level pricing. So I think it's a stretch to say it will create unrealistic expectations.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't discount "the time and effort put into development" of mobile games, though. Especially when you lump them with casual games. For example, games like Braid, Audiosurf, or, to really up the stakes, Love, all took a ridiculous amount of effort from one-man studios, and that's the state of a lot of the casual/indie games out there today. This market needs to grow, and it needs to grow strong. The big-budget, hardcore games won't be harmed from it.
I see your point, though the lower prices of mobile games do to an extent hold back further growth of console games. Someone may first start out with mobile games and grow used to the incredibly low pricing, and then when looking to make the jump to a console get immediately turned off and away by the extreme price difference.
ReplyDeleteHmm...I guess I don't quite mean to lump casual and mobile games together, though casual and indie games like those you mentioned don't exactly figure into my points/arguments.
"Someone may first start out with mobile games and grow used to the incredibly low pricing, and then when looking to make the jump to a console get immediately turned off and away by the extreme price difference."
ReplyDeleteIf someone is going to get into gaming because of these mobiles games than it's more of a positive than a negative. A good reason that people could be turned off from real games is the high price tag attached and these mobiles games are a good way for people to see what this "gaming" thing is all about, a cheap taste instead of making an expensive leap. Maybe they'll even try to play some of their friend's real games, leading to them themselves buying real consoles and games.
Think of mobile games like pirating music. How many people have bought more music than they normally would not have because of something they pirated earlier on in their life? I sure have.
This is one of those rare occasions when I completely agree with Curtis.
ReplyDeleteHmm...great point Curtis.
ReplyDeleteI'm more than just a pretty beard.
ReplyDelete