Mobile gaming

[charlesr]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-03-24-nexon-were-letting-consumers-down

A third (!!) of all games approved on the iOS appstore over the last couple of months were Flappy Bird clones.

Is this because it's too easy to self publish? Or is it the inherent flaws of touchscreen controls making basic flash games (touch and let go) desirable, along with shmups (slide and autofire) and RTS (whole screen is pressable - no need to hit virtual buttons fast).

Seems like a bleak future.

[Dogg Thang]

No, that's because it was a Flappy Jam event among devs once word got out that Flappy Bird was being pulled. It was a fun thing that happened. This article would be like going to a hotel during a Star Trek convention and then claiming that the entire world is overrun by nerds.

Edit: More on the Flappy Jam - http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/feature...-clones-494123

[chopemon]

Not totally true. I'd guess most of them are more like this.

[charlesr]

The world is overrun by nerds.

Cheers for the link and the clarification!

[wakka]

This article would be like going to a hotel during a Star Trek convention and then claiming that the entire world is overrun by nerds.

You can get the same effect by spending too long on here

[Duncan James Waugh]

I'd agree with much of the site linked to by Chopemon - the majority of games in app stores are clones. Cheap, badly produced ripoffs of other titles that are released without quality control. Often produced by people happy to make below what we would consider minimum wage in the west. The stores are clogged with rubbish and the casual gamer doesn't read review sites.

[Lebowski]

Not totally true. I'd guess most of them are more like this.

agreed there seems to be a flappy bird cash grab, mobile gaming seemed so full of promise a few years back games like spider and the room, gave us hope, now the marketplace is drowning under, flappy bird clones, 2000 different versions of angry birds, match 3 puzzles and wait or pay games.

[eastyy]

not a fan of mobile gaming seems like most games make a nice diversion for a few min and thats it (hence why android consoles do not appeal to me ) what really gets my goat is the way they set games up to try and make money at the cost of the actual game itself

Lets take for example marvel puzzle quest a fun little game but you need gems and gold coins now gems are not to bad to get but gold coins on the other hand would take forever

now can be between 50 and 4000 coins to get characters (or packs of them) and 500+ to upgrade characters so you can level them and to get that amount of coins would literally take forever but oh wait can buy them 2900 for 17.99 or the best "value" pack 25000 for 89.99.But you would use the coins very quickly

And i guess thats what really irks me i just want to pay upfront for a game and not be limited

[Dogg Thang]

the casual gamer doesn't read review sites.

The casual gamer also rarely goes digging deep for the hidden gems either and very few poor-quality clones will get featured by the various app stores. So yes, these games are there and, yes, a massive glut of rubbish made by people who are just hoping for a quick cash-in or just trying it out or genuinely want to do it right but had no time or resources and so thought they'd start somewhere but that rubbish rarely actually does anything beyond rot away in the stores. Really, they may as well not exist. The app stores are a difficult, competitive space but not because of the amount of poor content - it's because of the amount of good content offered at next to nothing.

[FelixofMars]

not a fan of mobile gaming seems like most games make a nice diversion for a few min and thats it (hence why android consoles do not appeal to me ) what really gets my goat is the way they set games up to try and make money at the cost of the actual game itself

Lets take for example marvel puzzle quest a fun little game but you need gems and gold coins now gems are not to bad to get but gold coins on the other hand would take forever

now can be between 50 and 4000 coins to get characters (or packs of them) and 500+ to upgrade characters so you can level them and to get that amount of coins would literally take forever but oh wait can buy them 2900 for 17.99 or the best "value" pack 25000 for 89.99.But you would use the coins very quickly

And i guess thats what really irks me i just want to pay upfront for a game and not be limited

When the iPhone was released and people started to create apps there was a race to the bottom with how much people charged and how much users were willing to pay. This is the problem with having a market place that accepts mostly anything without any real quality control past not allowing clones of their own apps or 18 rated +

The app games developers realised that to make a game they would have to use other methods to get money out of users and so F2P was born. As you say the issue with it as you point out that the games are limited so further play requires you to pay an unknown and often a extended amount against even triple A games.

I am with you, I don't think I have ever paid for a F2P game as I would rather have set upfront cost, and I think as many people as they say don't mind the F2P method an equal number would rather just pay upfront. But I think they have discovered that this is the best way to extract a higher percentage so for the near future on handheld at least this will be the system for playing and paying for games.

It will be interesting to see if the EU rules and a general shutdown of rampant and dishonest F2P methods means more games with pay upfront options. I think the F2P advocates will tell you this is the future of all gaming though :P

[VR46]

A third (!!) of all games approved on the iOS appstore over the last couple of months were Flappy Bird clones.

One of the reasons is someone with knowledge can rip off the images and code the "game" in about four hours I read somewhere, then just wait for the money from the ads to flood in.

[eastyy]

When the iPhone was released and people started to create apps there was a race to the bottom with how much people charged and how much users were willing to pay. This is the problem with having a market place that accepts mostly anything without any real quality control past not allowing clones of their own apps or 18 rated +

The app games developers realised that to make a game they would have to use other methods to get money out of users and so F2P was born. As you say the issue with it as you point out that the games are limited so further play requires you to pay an unknown and often a extended amount against even triple A games.

I am with you, I don't think I have ever paid for a F2P game as I would rather have set upfront cost, and I think as many people as they say don't mind the F2P method an equal number would rather just pay upfront. But I think they have discovered that this is the best way to extract a higher percentage so for the near future on handheld at least this will be the system for playing and paying for games.

It will be interesting to see if the EU rules and a general shutdown of rampant and dishonest F2P methods means more games with pay upfront options. I think the F2P advocates will tell you this is the future of all gaming though :P

funny thing is i work for a credit card company call center and have got calls where the kid has been making app purchases far to easy

last week some kid had wracked up over ?1000 on there dads credit card for in app purchases alone ....and i just couldnt help thinking could have got a ps4/xbox one and games for that

[FelixofMars]

Yeah I personally think once they have to lock down because of issues like you mention then F2P will not be as popular as it currently is with studios. I have to laugh at all the places asking for "monetization experts" most of them seem like frauds.

[wakka]

Monetisation consultant for mobile game studios sounds like an amazingly easy job.

[FelixofMars]

I find it strange there was no such thing until F2P was devised.