February 19th, 2008 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial | No Comments »
Michael Guillemot took the opening stage over at GDC Mobile and explained how Gameloft sees consumers consume media in the 21st century.
Gameloft’s Past
Michael first looked back at his vision when he started Gameloft. With Gameloft, he wanted to build a gaming company that didn’t just produce hardcore games, but games that are accessible to everyone. Mobile phones where the ideal platform for this in his eyes. Though at the early Gameloft days, they expected that by 2010, 2bln mobile phones would be in the market, 4bln is more likely these days. By 2012, Michael Guillemot expects that everybody will be connected.
Technical Evolution
Over the past years, the market has seen a lot of change. On a technological level, we moved from simple monochrome devices like the Siemens M50, to full multimedia devices like the iPhone. Mobile phone development is moving five times faster than consoles. Carriers went from simple mobile game catalogues to full stores where consumers can read more about their game, look at screenshots and even download trial versions before making the final purchase.
Primary Problems Survive
Over all this time, with all these developments, two problems managed to survive. Distribution to the hundreds of operators out there, and device fragmentation. To simplify the distribution model, Michael hopes that operators will switch to remote hosting so the publishers themselves can make sure the latest versions of there software are always available including the latest ports. Something that is already happening in Japan.
Market Growth Slowdown
Over 2007, market growth slowed down according to Michael. He mentioned several reasons like the weakened US market which impacts the whole world, the closed box model which a lot of operators maintain, the iPhone not opening up to developers (Every iPhone owner is one less mobile gamer) and the delay of Nokia’s OVI platform. Michael showed also to be really happy that Apple is opening up the possibility for developers to start reaching the iPhone audience, though probably only over iTunes.
Another problem is that data plans often remain a mystery to consumers. Though they think they buy a mobile game for $5, they might spend another $15 on data charges. If something like that happens to a teenager, you loose a good client.
Though the market growth has slowed down, we are following the console market model. The console market also slowed down in periods of big technical transitions like the move from 2D to 3D, but a large period of growth awaits us.
Consumers Know Mobile Gaming
Michael Guillemot also explains that the period of educating consumers is over. Consumers know that mobile gaming is one of the possibilities of their handsets. Publishers and operators will have to start working to serve to fulfil the demands of the consumer. “Fast Life, Fast Media”, the industry must develop media that fit the fast life of the consumer.
2008 and Beyond
The market potential of mobile games still is much smaller than it could be according to Michael. If parameters like the price point, accessibility and the network change, the market will grow more. Gameloft has positive experiences in this field.
Along 2008, advanced devices with big screens and wi-fi connections will start making a real difference. Also, consolidation will continue.
For this editorial, we used the following sources; GamesOnDeck & MoCoNews.
