Is portable gaming the future of video games?
By MrPickles 64 Comments
I originally posted this on Gametrailers, but I felt it would be significant posting it here as well.
After watching the recent Bonus Round (A talk show on Gametrailers) discussion on company layoffs, it got me thinking. Aside from Downloadable games that grace every platform in existence now, how does an independent developer survive? Sure, downloadable games are the future, there's no denying that, but there are still a large number of people who are either without internet or are unwilling to purchase products through the internet.
These developers just can't go and develop a title to grace one of the many home consoles, it's expensive, requires a large amount of manpower and as the gentlemen on Bonus Round pointed out, Publisher's are less willing to take a risk on games developed by studios other than the one's they have in-house. It's not something that's financially viable and the publishers aren't willing to risk it. This not only will have an effect on the number of games that are released annually, but will likely affect the innovation and fun-factor of many future games. But how can a smaller developer survive if they don't strictly design download-only titles and publishers are less willing to risk publishing a AAA-title on a home platform? The answer is portable gaming.
Why Portable Platforms?
Publishers benefit from publishing on a portable platform for many reasons.
- It costs less to develop for portable platforms.
- Smaller development teams can be utilized.
- Big publishers are more likely to take risks on a portable platform.
- Smaller publishers often focus more on the portable market.
- There's a larger market for portable gaming.
- ????
- Profit.
Lets go into detail on these things.
It costs less to develop for portable platforms.
This statement may not be entirely true, but in general, portable titles wouldn't need as large of a budget as a console title would. Graphically, portable gaming is generally less powerful, this is not generally a negative thing as sprite-based gaming thrives in the portable market and even games that use a 3D engine are still capable of looking gorgeous, even due to the limited graphical capabilities a portable console has to offer. (A good example would be the DS version of Final Fantasy IV.)
A less expensive budget could also support a smaller staff as well, which gets into the next reason.
Smaller development teams can be utilized.
Independent developers tend to be made of smaller teams, from a profit standpoint, smaller teams would likely make more money per person, and it would be more affordable for a developer to enlist a smaller development team as well. On portable platforms, due to graphical limitations of the hardware, the developer doesn't need the personnel required to produce great graphics and gameplay, especially when compared to a developer on a more powerful home platform. Also, when compared to home platforms, there isn't a requirement to create a game that has Cutting-edge, 3D graphics. and more can be put into gameplay that is both innovative and fun.
Big publishers are more likely to take risks on a portable platform.
Due to less expensive development costs on a portable platform, larger publishers would probably be willing to take a risk on a game that does something out of the ordinary, something you wouldn't likely see on a home console unless a publisher is sure that it would sell.
Smaller publishers focus more on the portable market.
There are little to no publishes that focus exclusively on the portable market, but many smaller publishers seem to have shifted focus to the portable market over the home console market. It's possible many of these publishers feel that there's less competition with larger publishers and more opportunities to market their products.
There is a larger market for portable gaming.
The market is probably the most important thing of all and portable gaming has a larger variety to cater too. Portable gaming covers everything, the young and old as well as catering to ever sort of gamer, be it a casual gamer, a hardcore one, or a senior citizen, there's something for everyone and all publishers seem to notice this.
This is strictly my opinion of things based on what I see and it makes sense. I'm no way an expert on the subject, but when you think about it maybe portable gaming is the future, especially for small and independent developers who don't want to be constrained to the smaller download-exclusive style of releases.
Now I want to hear what you think, do you agree with me? Is there something that you would change? Do I have it all wrong? Leave your opinions and criticism, this is something that could be discussed thoroughly.