5 ms·

>The problem is nobody is willing to pay $30 - $40 for a mobile game People spend way more than that on subscription models and micro-transactions. Look at Fal

by Zelmor 10y ago

>The problem is nobody is willing to pay $30 - $40 for a mobile game People spend way more than that on subscription models and micro-transactions. Look at Fallout Shelter, Crossy Road, Fallen London (really niche, but still has a strong active base of around 30k MAU).

noxToken 10y ago
But that's not a bulk $30-$40 up front. If I buy a game for $30 and play it for 5 hours over 1 month before calling it quits, I'm out $30. No way around that. If I download a free game with a $4.99 subscription model and spend the same amount of time over the course of 1 month, I'm out $4.99. $30 is a hard sell on mobile games, because most people understand that app store is full of incomplete, unpolished, dishonest, over-hyped or some combination thereof apps. There are terrible Pac-Man clones where the AI is too dumb to even touch you [citation needed]. Conversely, there are ported popular franchises where your game play is severely limited by micro-transactions or artificial time limits. Ignoring bad control schemes, mobile is damn near the perfect platform for gaming. Everyone carries a phone or tablet. Even kids carry phones. Too bad it remains somewhat tainted by bad developers and greedy companies alike.
- Fej 10y ago
  > Ignoring bad control schemes That's the whole point. Mobile devices aren't the perfect platforms for gaming. They have the worst control scheme, which makes it all but impossible to pull off great games in "traditional" genres (platformers, shooters; in fact, now that I think about it, anything with a movable camera). So we get new things that don't require a decent controller, but have the gameplay dumbed down to compensate. This is why the 3DS still sells. It's incredibly difficult to put out a good AAA game on a phone (and forget about selling it for a reasonable price).
  - noxToken 10y ago
    Hence why I said near. Touch will never replace traditional controls in some genres. Others, as you've said, require game play modifications to account for lack of physical buttons. My point was not that mobile > mobile console. My point was that companies want to capitalize on mobile since is always available by most people. Even though you can make a lot of decent ports for mobile (e.g. swipe input instead of a joystick for Pac-Man or turn-based menu combat like Pokemon entries), a $30 price point is too high for nearly all games specifically for reasons that we have both cited: am I getting a full game or a watered down POS, are the controls sane, do I have to put up with ads after every event, etc.
criddell 10y ago
I'm a big fan of the model where the initial game is reasonably priced and DLC in the form of additional levels or missions is available. If I don't like the game, no big deal because I'm out $10 or less. If I do like it, I can keep buying more of it.

by Zelmor 10y ago

noxToken 10y ago

But that's not a bulk $30-$40 up front. If I buy a game for $30 and play it for 5 hours over 1 month before calling it quits, I'm out $30. No way around that. If I download a free game with a $4.99 subscription model and spend the same amount of time over the course of 1 month, I'm out $4.99. $30 is a hard sell on mobile games, because most people understand that app store is full of incomplete, unpolished, dishonest, over-hyped or some combination thereof apps. There are terrible Pac-Man clones where the AI is too dumb to even touch you [citation needed]. Conversely, there are ported popular franchises where your game play is severely limited by micro-transactions or artificial time limits. Ignoring bad control schemes, mobile is damn near the perfect platform for gaming. Everyone carries a phone or tablet. Even kids carry phones. Too bad it remains somewhat tainted by bad developers and greedy companies alike.

Fej 10y ago
> Ignoring bad control schemes That's the whole point. Mobile devices aren't the perfect platforms for gaming. They have the worst control scheme, which makes it all but impossible to pull off great games in "traditional" genres (platformers, shooters; in fact, now that I think about it, anything with a movable camera). So we get new things that don't require a decent controller, but have the gameplay dumbed down to compensate. This is why the 3DS still sells. It's incredibly difficult to put out a good AAA game on a phone (and forget about selling it for a reasonable price).
- noxToken 10y ago
  Hence why I said near. Touch will never replace traditional controls in some genres. Others, as you've said, require game play modifications to account for lack of physical buttons. My point was not that mobile > mobile console. My point was that companies want to capitalize on mobile since is always available by most people. Even though you can make a lot of decent ports for mobile (e.g. swipe input instead of a joystick for Pac-Man or turn-based menu combat like Pokemon entries), a $30 price point is too high for nearly all games specifically for reasons that we have both cited: am I getting a full game or a watered down POS, are the controls sane, do I have to put up with ads after every event, etc.

criddell 10y ago

I'm a big fan of the model where the initial game is reasonably priced and DLC in the form of additional levels or missions is available. If I don't like the game, no big deal because I'm out $10 or less. If I do like it, I can keep buying more of it.