Mobile games developers shift to iPhone
Not good news for PSP or DS
More games developers are working on content for mobile phones - and a big majority are targeting the iPhone. There are twice as many developers working on iPhone games as there are creators of titles for the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS.
So says market watcher Game Developer Research, an off-shoot of Games Developer magazine whose readers were among the 800 folk GDR surveyed for its latest report. Attendees of the annual Games Developers Conference were included too, as were readers of the developer centric website Gamasutra.
In short, plenty of people who will be creating games professionally and commercially.
GDR found that the proportion of developers working on mobile platforms rose in 2009 to 25 per cent of the total games development base, up from 12 per cent in 2008, website GamesBeat notes.
Three-quarters of the developers working on mobile titles are creating games for the iPhone and iPod Touch - and, inherently, the iPad too.
That's no great surprise, given the Apple platform's market presence and the eagerness users have to download apps. But it's interesting that developers see a clear advantage in targeting the platform over existing, more game-oriented devices, specifically the DS and PSP.
It implies they see better financial reward in the iPhone than the others, and as GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi points out: "Once [developers] start leaving a platform, games become scarce and the users eventually follow."
Nintendo has other worries too. While the number of developers working on PS3 and Xbox 360 titles remained much the same in 2009 as 2008 - around 61 per cent for the PS3 and 69 per cent for Xbox out of the 41 per cent of games developers working on console titles - the number of Wii developers from within that category dropped from 42 per cent to 30 per cent. ®
COMMENTS
The problem of course is.
that 99.999% of iPods games are utter bollocks... It's the new shovelware platform.
Thanks, but I am happy with less, but far better games on PSP.
No threat to PSP or DS
Just because there are lots of people rushing to create basic novelty games for the iPhone doesn't mean anything to the PSP or DS.
They are in completely different leagues. If you want to waste 5 minutes while you wait for a bus then play a 50p game on an iPhone. If you want to play a proper game then play on a games console ... with proper buttons.
BAD news for gamers
Has nobody figured out, that this platform sucks for games? Some are ok.. e.g. driving games that can be fully controlled with tilt, puzzle games, and there are definitely some interesting new game concepts.. but for proper hardcore shooters, trying to jab the right bits of the screen in anger just doesn't work.
The half-arsed attempts to render keys on the capacitive screen are laughable. For starters you lose half your screen realestate on poorly imitating something that is kept separate from the screen for a good reason, you are supposed to be able to hammer the crap out of it!
You can't feel a button rendered on a capacitive touchscreen, and it's not possible to press it. Ergonomically a disaster.
Sure, some developers can make more money developing for iPhone, business schmizzness, but won't somebody think of the children?? Without the ability to release their emotional stress through the physical means of the fire button we'll have a society populated entirely of rapists and high school uzi testers. ARE YOU HAPPY YET JOBS????
Apple win in my house
The iPod Touch has pretty much killed the DS in my house. The DS simply doesn't get used any more. Cost of games is a big win. Yes, they're DRMed, but can share on multiple iPods, and they're backed up. My daughter lost her DS and a box of about 15 games before Christmas. Would cost about £500 to replace. Does the same with an iPod, and it's £150.
Sony and CIA must open their SDK
With "only" $99 (or $299) can make and publish iP{ad,od,hone} games. Sony, for example, need study your resume very well and you must have some title published. Only big companies can do that, and these company can't innovate.
Sony and CIA, please, open your mind.
