-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Game developer poll finds interest in iPhone increasing, Wii decreasing
- Thread starter Tiktaalik
- Start date
Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Initially I didn't think the iPhone could function as a gaming platform, but I was proven wrong. There are actually quite a few genuinely fun and clever games. I'm sure the iPad will be the same way, but I doubt the iPad will see a fraction of the sales the iPhone did, so we're likely to see very few iPad-only games that take full advantage of the hardware.
Mayor Haggar
Banned
That's what happens when your system sells 3 million+ units in a month.
Like the hat?
Banned
in a related topic, my understanding of developers decreased 47% over last year.
Count Dookkake
Member
"dedication to the Wii"
:lol
:lol
DidntKnowJack
Member
Oh those fickle developers.
Reginald P. Linux
Banned
How long until we start seeing iPhone and iPad sales in NPD reports?
jufonuk
not tag worthy
Aint gonna take iphone/pod/pad seriously as a fully fledge games machine until they add some buttons and a d-dap/analogue stick to it.
apart from a few games I didn't find much to really play on it, hated to rotate and tilt the screen to play and the virtual joystick left me no tactile feed back.
The structure is there for a world beating handheld: the app store, the storage on the system, lots of takers to the platform, low cost development cost/ as well as the touch screen etc
just please apple for the love of Xenu!! add some old fashioned control interfaces please!!
and i will pick one up again
apart from a few games I didn't find much to really play on it, hated to rotate and tilt the screen to play and the virtual joystick left me no tactile feed back.
The structure is there for a world beating handheld: the app store, the storage on the system, lots of takers to the platform, low cost development cost/ as well as the touch screen etc
just please apple for the love of Xenu!! add some old fashioned control interfaces please!!
and i will pick one up again
Dude Abides
Banned
The Maxx said:
When you only know one song, you gotta just play it man!
The costs compared to the results are potentially much greater on the iPhone than it is on other platforms. In other words, the cost of making a game for the iPhone, and what you get in return, is much more appealing than it is, say, on the DS or PSP for instance. Cheaper, safer, easier. Why waste and risk time, money and people on a more expensive project, when you have much better chances at success on another platform?
Glass Soldier
Banned
Good riddance.
I NEED SCISSORS
Banned
It's probably easier/cheaper to program and distribute on the iPhone. Plus now that Apple can attach an 'i' to anything and it'll sell, the userbase can only grow.
The amount of horrible crap on the iphone is astounding. The trouble with the platform is other than a very narrow select games, most just sink to the bottom and never get any exposure. It's a pretty cut throat platform. Unless you're already established on it, I bet it's hard to make a break.
Also the iphone is the king of copycat genres. Soon as someone makes a game type and it becomes popular, tons of copies start popping up.
Also the iphone is the king of copycat genres. Soon as someone makes a game type and it becomes popular, tons of copies start popping up.
SecretBonusPoint
Banned
good luck with that lucrative iPhone market! Make sure you stand out.
I'm a huge fan of the iPhone but will never ever put it on a par with full on games consoles. I will never spend £20 on an iPhone game.
Appstore's closest equivalent is flash and facebook and they're probably level footing right about now. Both have some awesome games, I love word challenge and geodefense is the best tower defense game ever! But the platforms do not hold up for anything beyond time waste games.
Some people will argue otherwise that they play more iPhone games now and so on, but if those very same games were on the DS they wouldn't even buy them.
But the iPhone is a potential goldmine after all, and easier to tap into than the nintendo audience. It's the most casual games market of all so it's good for developers. For us gamers, not so much. I don't give a damn about generic sequel or cut down touch versions.
fullblown Ipad games? Maybe...but only certain genres with a heavy focus on story or graphics like monkey island or flower
Appstore's closest equivalent is flash and facebook and they're probably level footing right about now. Both have some awesome games, I love word challenge and geodefense is the best tower defense game ever! But the platforms do not hold up for anything beyond time waste games.
Some people will argue otherwise that they play more iPhone games now and so on, but if those very same games were on the DS they wouldn't even buy them.
But the iPhone is a potential goldmine after all, and easier to tap into than the nintendo audience. It's the most casual games market of all so it's good for developers. For us gamers, not so much. I don't give a damn about generic sequel or cut down touch versions.
fullblown Ipad games? Maybe...but only certain genres with a heavy focus on story or graphics like monkey island or flower
Glass Soldier
Banned
Safe Bet said:
Walmart or Burger King?
Chris Remo
Member
Yeah. I compiled this survey, and this is pretty much exactly what it reflects.Opiate said:
Opiate said:
I'd like your take on this, as I respect you and your opinions very much: how come developers would shun 2 platforms that are all about novel controls, de-emphasis on graphics/immersion and fairly reasonable development costs (or, in the case of the DS, very low costs), and are both extremely successful dedicated platforms designed to reach out to new audiences, only to support another successful platform (the iPhone) which more or less shares the same values (low costs, novel accessible controls, etc.)?
By the way, I expect the same outcome. Just trying to make sense out of it.
D.Lo said:
Looks to me like demands for the Wii platform are too high. I doubt many would describe Gameloft as an A list studio, yet their games on the iPhone look great, play well and sell well. With that in mind it's obvious why developers are going to the platform with the better development environment.
DiscoJer
Member
kaizoku said:
Well, that's the thing though. While the bulk of the games are like that, some of the bigger companies that used to publish mostly on the DS and PSP are taking their PSP and DS games and putting them on the iPhone for $9.99 or less.
The most recent notable example is Take Two with GTA:Chinatown and Beaterator. But it's been going on a while, with games like Civ Revolution and even, I guess Puzzlequest (which launched on the PSP/DS as full priced titles, but now are $6-10 on every other platform). (Square's apparently also going to do this with the PSP Final Fantasies, I&II)
And on the flipside, the DS/PSP are getting the facebook/flash type games via DSiWare/Minis, but generally at 2-4x the price. (Worst case is EA's Scrabble, $19.99 on the PSP as a full title, but it's the same as the iPhone version as near as I can tell)
Anyway, I guess my point is, eventually this sort of stuff is going to alienate DS/PSP gamers. So any gains in the iPhone market might cause declines in the DS/PSP market (at least for third parties, Nintendo doesn't have anything to worry about).
@ Kilrogg:
I think that part of the problem is that the opportunity costs are too great on the DS and the Wii are too great (especially on the Wii). Sure, it is cheap to develop for these consoles, but profits aren't great enough (and costs aren't low enough) to prefer development on the Wii over development on HD twins, where, although game development is more expensive, the return is suitably greater.
I imagine that the situation with the iPhone and the browser market is that costs are low enough that settling for less is worthwhile. The Wii (and the DS) seem to be stuck in an unfortunate middle ground.
I think that part of the problem is that the opportunity costs are too great on the DS and the Wii are too great (especially on the Wii). Sure, it is cheap to develop for these consoles, but profits aren't great enough (and costs aren't low enough) to prefer development on the Wii over development on HD twins, where, although game development is more expensive, the return is suitably greater.
I imagine that the situation with the iPhone and the browser market is that costs are low enough that settling for less is worthwhile. The Wii (and the DS) seem to be stuck in an unfortunate middle ground.
velvet_nitemare
Member
we need an appstore recommendation thread or something. I've owned an iphone for like 17 months and never bought a single game or app.
Tiktaalik said:
This should be seen as a threat to DS and PSP as gaming platforms, but in no way should this have ever been seen a threat to Wii. The survey is bunk: the only reason developers would leave the fastest-selling console ever is because they wanted to, not because the market wills it. It's impossible to suggest that the market is actively willing the Wii to death at the same time that it's buying more Wiis than any other system to have ever existed.