Mobile Entertainment

NOTICE anything missing from the E3 games show this year? Okay, maybe not entirely missing, but barely evident at best. I speak of course of the mobile games sector – even though I’d contend it’s the biggest growth area in games.

As the Hispanics in LA might say: ‘Si que pasa hombre? Santa Monica sin juegos?’

There are a few explanations for this strange case of the missing mobile. Firstly, the 2006 show wasn't exactly a great showcase for mobile, with only Namco and Gameloft attempting to compete in the same halls and at the same level as the big console boys. Everyone else was banished to the low budget basement hall (a brisk walk away along the long hot corridors).

The organisers simply did not provide value for money, so no wonder mobile companies deserted E3 this year. Spending €200,000 on a good marketing effort generates far better yields from carriers than a second rate display at E3.

Secondly, based on last year’s poor experience the mobile games industry realised it simply doesn’t need the public platform that the console firms do. A demo on a small phone can be done anywhere. So maybe mobile games don’t suit big tradeshows. Maybe separate PR launches work best with careful attention to invitation lists and venues.

Or maybe the mainstream console industry still thinks mobile games are not worthy – too limited and too basic to be worth any attention. If this is the case and the big boys do not spend marketing dollars promoting their mobile cousins, they are missing a key segment of the market: the novice gamer.

It is much easier to get a newbie to try a mobile game on their phone for a small cost rather than go to the effort and cost of acquiring a console with pricey software. If they dip their toes into a mobile title and like it, they may progress to the console version with the promise of ‘better’, richer things.

The world is full of ‘would be’ gamers waiting to be inducted into the pleasures of gaming.

This is why I believe separate events are the way to go as mobile companies will never have the cash to compete for eyeballs at such big budget events. Mobile is a separate space, a slightly different demographic and a different experience. So let’s promote it differently also.