Are you ready for free to play and mobile future?

[tippy2k2]

On topic: Mobile gaming has great potential, but it needs the attention of some of the better developers in the industry to get some must-have games. I'm guessing that it will happen when mobile hardware will catch up with other platforms (which shouldn't take too long). Another problem is the fact that this market is full of F2P ripoffs that overshadow the few good games. I think that smartphones can replace handheld consoles the same way they replaced MP3 players. It's more comfortable when you have everything in one powerful device.

As for F2P games - I stay away from them like from a plague, waiting for it to take its toll on its victims and eventually die out like other plagues before it.

You've heard it here folks. This mindset right here just leads gaming further into its doom. Thanks for helping kill the industry further.

How is this the mindset killing the game industry? I'm sure Doom will be around to defend himself but all he was doing was pointing out why the practical reasons I thought this wouldn't work can be worked around. While I still disagree with the battery thing, he's giving food for thought on why the OP's question is possible where I think it's not. His argument for why it's possible has just as much of a chance as my argument for why I don't think it will happen as coming true.

Hell, he even specifically decries the very thing that would put the industry in doom (F2P market taking over). He also later states that he DOESN'T think that this will happen (post #9) but has given technical reasons why it can, which is what I asked for.

 

[Doom972]

#2. They're uncomfortable
I want you to grab your Nintendo 3DS and go play any game for a few hours. Go on, I'll wait here.

Are you done? This is a device made specifically for gaming and if you're like most people, you had issues staying comfortable using it for a long gaming session. Again, a device made specifically to game on isn't nearly as comfortable as a console and we're expecting cell phones, which are not specifically designed to game on, to take this market over?

I use a MOGA Pro Power [http://www.mogaanywhere.com/controllers/propower] gamepad. it can latch itself onto any phone and is shaped like an Xbox 360 controller. There is a variety of controllers available to both Android and iOS devices in different shapes, sizes, and prices. You can also use your PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox360/Xbone controller if you wish.

On topic: Mobile gaming has great potential, but it needs the attention of some of the better developers in the industry to get some must-have games. I'm guessing that it will happen when mobile hardware will catch up with other platforms (which shouldn't take too long). Another problem is the fact that this market is full of F2P ripoffs that overshadow the few good games. I think that smartphones can replace handheld consoles the same way they replaced MP3 players. It's more comfortable when you have everything in one powerful device.

As for F2P games - I stay away from them like from a plague, waiting for it to take its toll on its victims and eventually die out like other plagues before it.

How is this monster any better than just having a portable console? It's actually bigger than my 3DS and Vita.

As I told Tippy, there are different gamepads available in different sizes, shapes and prices. If this one seems unwieldy you can get a more portable one. I also mentioned the option of getting a device like the Xperia Play which comes with built-in gamepad buttons.

As for how it is better - It has a huge library of games. Other than its native games it can run games from all consoles up to and including the PS1/N64/Saturn generation and DOS games via emulators.

 

[Fallow]

According to various developers and publishers in the gaming industry, the future of gaming is free to play and mobile.
So basically free to play mobile games.
Are you prepared for this future? Do you embrace it and do you approve of it?
Or do you think that PC and console games will stick around?
Personally i am not a fan of smartphone games. I do like to play handheld games but only on dedicated handheld consoles. As for free to play, i have logged hundreds of hours into a few free to play games so i do not hate free to play games as long as the business model is fair. So i am fine with a free to play future given fair business model but no to mobile gaming.

Mobile "gaming" is for filthy casuals. As for F2P, they seem to be comparable to every other model. Some are right down terrible(Star Control), some are decent(Planetside2, Nosgoth), some are overpriced(Mechwarrior Online), and some are good(TERA, SWTOR). I think top quality gaming is still reserved for Pay-to-play (original WoW), but that segment is rather small these days, so perhaps it's an irrelevant demographic.

This image eloquently explains the difference between mobile and non-mobile devs.

 

[Nazulu]

Oh yeah! It will be around forever like new coke and the original XBone.

I don't know a single person who wouldn't prefer their amazing looking games on a big screen comfortably in front of them with a proper controller/keyboard. These devs/pubs are probably the same 'tards who've said loads of rubbish in the past like how everything will have touch screen, or motion controls, or how everything will come through the oculus rift, or how every film will be replaced in 3D vision. A bunch idiots that only see their vision and no one else's.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I dont believe it is the future the experience is to different. Both will have a future one i.e PC and Consoles for people who actually play games and then mobiles for those who dont care much and im sure there will be a crossover i.e people playing trash time killer games on their phones and those using consoles or PC for just one or two games a year.

If it ever did take over I would stop gaming Ive tried playing games on mobile before they range to man wish I was playing this on the TV to this game is actually hurting my soul to play.

Funny thing is I know less people who play on their phones now than when I did when the Nokia greenscreens were all the rage. The few I know who do play these type of games tend to play on their tablet while watching TV they are not that interested in games its just a time killer they want and its hard to market to people who dont care about what you are selling, you just gotta get lucky and quality has little to do with that unfortunately and more down to brand awareness which is very hard if you dont have one already established and are trying to establish one in the mobile market.

 

[Pseudonym]

According to various developers and publishers in the gaming industry, the future of gaming is free to play and mobile.
So basically free to play mobile games.
Are you prepared for this future? Do you embrace it and do you approve of it?
Or do you think that PC and console games will stick around?
Personally i am not a fan of smartphone games. I do like to play handheld games but only on dedicated handheld consoles. As for free to play, i have logged hundreds of hours into a few free to play games so i do not hate free to play games as long as the business model is fair. So i am fine with a free to play future given fair business model but no to mobile gaming.

And according to others PC-games will do just fine and allow for more creative vision. So I'll just buy the games of those others. I'm quite happy without a smartphone with twelve more ways for friends to bother me when I'm trying to play a game. (a PC or possibly consolegame, that is) The games on there, look, without exception, like there is nothing to them. (emulaters aside)

And screw free to play. I just want to buy my games and then after that have my games. I don't want commercials in them, or be bothered about microtransactions or have parts of the game locked away for unclear and two large amounts of money. Even the few f2p games I played, I didn't like the businessmodel. Not because it was unfair but because I felt like the only reason to buy any of their shitty microtransactions was to help the company that made the game. I didn't really want any of it.

 

[Phlap]

The possibilities of mobile gaming excite me, but the realities of the mobile gaming market absolutely do not.

On one hand, you've got amazing releases like XCOM:EU, with a feature set comparable to the PC version. But you'll never see it at the top of any best-seller lists.

Alas, the mobile market is a casual one, through and through.

Games like Flappy Bird, Candy Crush and whatever the next big thing is are all people really seem to go for. They don't want long, engaging games that suck you in. They only want something they can play on the bus for 10 minutes and forget about. (And given the battery life of the things, who can blame the average mobile gamer?)

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

The future of gaming isn't mobile or free to play. It's UGC, or user-generated content, sold between users, with the lion's share of revenue going to the owners of the licenses and pipelines involved in the exchange. The future is Bethesda providing a framework and a few assets, Valve providing hosting/promotion and store interface, and amateur "devs" (or customers, as they were originally known) providing the bulk of labor, product, support, liability, and, of course, money. In the end, we'll be selling stuff to each other while the corporations sit back and collect 75% of the transaction for doing next to nothing.

And you thought it was about modders getting a few well-deserved bucks for all their hard work?

 

[balladbird]

F2P and mobile games are definitely here to stay, and they're markets that'll likely grow with time, but I don't think we'll ever find a time when games as we know them today are completely gone. As long as there's a market for them, there'll be devs to create them, if nowhere else than on the indie scene, where nostalgia alone guarantees a good 20 years of traditional game design.

Granted, the budget for such games will probably pop eventually, but eh, the loss of spectacle isn't the worst thing that could happen.

 

[babinro]

Considering the main games I've been playing for the last year are both free to play and available on mobile devices I'd say I'm ready for that future. (Hearthstone, Marvel Puzzle Quest)

Even if it's true that gaming goes the way of mobile devices in the future there's no reason to believe that the delivery methods of free to play will remain unchanged. Devs are bound to realize that you can have a 100% non-pay to win experience like Path of Exile and still make money. Not everything needs to follow in Dungeon Keeper Mobile's footsteps.

 

[Doom972]

#2. They're uncomfortable
I want you to grab your Nintendo 3DS and go play any game for a few hours. Go on, I'll wait here.

Are you done? This is a device made specifically for gaming and if you're like most people, you had issues staying comfortable using it for a long gaming session. Again, a device made specifically to game on isn't nearly as comfortable as a console and we're expecting cell phones, which are not specifically designed to game on, to take this market over?

I use a MOGA Pro Power [http://www.mogaanywhere.com/controllers/propower] gamepad. it can latch itself onto any phone and is shaped like an Xbox 360 controller. There is a variety of controllers available to both Android and iOS devices in different shapes, sizes, and prices. You can also use your PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox360/Xbone controller if you wish.

On topic: Mobile gaming has great potential, but it needs the attention of some of the better developers in the industry to get some must-have games. I'm guessing that it will happen when mobile hardware will catch up with other platforms (which shouldn't take too long). Another problem is the fact that this market is full of F2P ripoffs that overshadow the few good games. I think that smartphones can replace handheld consoles the same way they replaced MP3 players. It's more comfortable when you have everything in one powerful device.

As for F2P games - I stay away from them like from a plague, waiting for it to take its toll on its victims and eventually die out like other plagues before it.

How is this monster any better than just having a portable console? It's actually bigger than my 3DS and Vita.

As I told Tippy, there are different gamepads available in different sizes, shapes and prices. If this one seems unwieldy you can get a more portable one. I also mentioned the option of getting a device like the Xperia Play which comes with built-in gamepad buttons.

As for how it is better - It has a huge library of games. Other than its native games it can run games from all consoles up to and including the PS1/N64/Saturn generation and DOS games via emulators.

Show me one that's actually portable and still usable compared to another handheld.

There is the MOGA Pocket, MOGA Hero Power and several iPega gamepads which are very portable. If that's not portable enough for you, you have devices like the Xperia Play which have the gamepad buttons built in to them.

 

[Fox12]

There will always be a demographic that's not satisfied with freemium games, and there will always be a group targeting that demographic. Besides, phone games just seem to throw ideas at the wall to see what sticks. It's highly competitive, and I got the impression that most aren't even that successful.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

The thing is, most mobile games go for the cheapest, most bottom-of-the-barrel-esque monetization models imaginable, and a lot of games, all formats considered, don't really treat their players as people. They treat them as a convenience to be exploited. For example, see Konami and its decision to refocus on mobile gaming, its Pachinko parlors and its Japan-only fitness centers. Two of these are based purely on the luck of the draw, the third one is a service that most people will visit multiple times, anyway.

Most freemium games don't give a shit about the player, they only care that you'll create the most dramatic cash windfall on the shortest time period possible. Fuck, when a company focused on entertainment starts to refer to its audience and customers as "whales", when they're big spenders, I think something's just come up.

I know AAA gaming is verging on being unsustainable, but maybe if most publishers stopped thinking that graphics trump design or that lazy sequel-baiting works wonders, we'd be in a different situation. I don't need Destiny's three-berjillion dollars budget to be entertained, honestly. Heck, some of the stuff I snag for pennies from Indie developers during Steam sales give me more entertainment than Actiblizzion's crap shooter!

 

[TallanKhan]

According to various developers and publishers in the gaming industry, the future of gaming is free to play and mobile. So basically free to play mobile games.

Well, they would wouldn't they? I mean, why wouldn't they want to promote a system whereby games can be cranked out on a production line, at a fraction of the cost of a current AAA title, with the potential to get people to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars over the course of play?

Are you prepared for this future?

As I tend to prepare for things in order of their likely occurrence, this appears on my list of things to prepare for just below preparing for Skynet taking over.

Do you embrace it and do you approve of it?

Hell and No, to both questions. As far as I'm concerned it's a fad. All you need to do is look at companies like King and how their share prices are plunging to see that most analysts already think that the mobile games and F2P market are already over-saturated and the bubble is bursting.

Or do you think that PC and console games will stick around?

Not indefinitely as they exist now but in some form yes.

Personally i am not a fan of smartphone games. I do like to play handheld games but only on dedicated handheld consoles. As for free to play, i have logged hundreds of hours into a few free to play games so i do not hate free to play games as long as the business model is fair. So i am fine with a free to play future given fair business model but no to mobile gaming.

Personally I think the two are inexorably linked as people have different expectations depending on how they play games and I don't think Free to play would get the same reception on PC or Consoles. I don't mind mobile and F2P games as something happening on the side of gaming, (hell I have logged some serious Clash of Clans time) but I don't believe it will ever take centre stage, however much some publishers would like to push it there.

 

[Lunar Templar]

lol, all it means is I'll be buying even less 'mainstream games' (buy that I mean acquiring new games) then I already do, and a lot more indie stuff.

 

[Amir Kondori]

It is not the future of gaming though, not for me. People always make the mistake of thinking a new market is going to kill the old market, but that is often not the case for creative works. There will still be plenty of traditional games for the rest of my life.