Last week Mojang released their “biggest update ever” to Minecraft Pocket Edition. Even before this major update, Minecraft PE was already beating overall sales numbers of the PC edition. This update, which brings the game closer to parity with its PC older sibling, is sure to draw even more new players. Clearly, Mojang has tapped into something with Minecraft PE, an audience thirsty for great games on their iPads and Galaxy tablets.
Sadly, most of the top and mid-tier developers simply don’t share their view of the mobile format as a serious gaming venue. So far the major developers are largely treating mobile devices like tablets and smartphones as marketing gimmicks. They need to take mobile gaming seriously.
Nothing frustrates me more than the way AAA and mid-tier developers have largely ignored mobile. There are occasional exceptions, like Square Enix, who have done some spectacular ports and even tried to establish some new series on mobile. But in general, big game developers just don’t want to bring big games to mobile despite the benefits of the platform.
There have been bright spots. For example, EA had a lot of success with Dead Space for iPad back in 2011. It was an excellent game despite running on a first gen mobile tablet. What would Dead Space 2 look like on today’s tablets? We wouldn’t know; EA hasn’t shown us. Instead, their App Store page is awash in quick-play freemium content games.
Capcom’s release of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS was great, but it was still a mobile port of a game originally released in 2008. A look at their App Store page is a little more varied than EA’s, but there’s still a lot of freemium games and even paid games that prominently feature in-app purchases.
You can run the list of big names. Take Two? Three decent ports of older GTA games and a bunch of freemium. Ubisoft? Freemium games and one Assassin’s Creed tie-in game that was okay but not great (and just went free recently). Activision? One great COD game (released a few years ago), one good COD game (released last year), and freemium titles galore.
I get it – there’s money to be made from low skill pay-to-win freemium titles. Just look at the success of companies like Supercell with Clash of Clans. I don’t begrudge these companies chasing the golden goose of the freemium model. But why should freemium be the only thing they do there?
Tablets and smartphones in 2014 are incredibly powerful devices. With the introduction of the iPad Air last year, we’ve begun to see the introduction of 64-bit chipsets powerful enough to render PC-quality graphics. And there are excellent game engines running on these devices, such as the Rage, Unity, and Unreal engines. The tools are there, and smaller developers have done some incredible things with them. But with the money and talent that a AAA studio could bring to the table, if they so chose, games could be so much more.
If a AAA studio were to give mobile gaming a shot — a real shot, not a port of a last gen game or a side adventure to some major console release, but a real shot — I think that they would be surprised at the reaction. With the right support, the iPad and other high-spec tablets can really impress. And if the gaming giants really get behind it? The serious gamers will, too.
