The mobile games industry is thrashing it out over the issue of sideloading.
The issue is at the top of the agenda due to the imminent launch of Nokia’s N-Gage platform (for which sideloading plays a central role) and comments made last month by EA CEO John Riccitiello, who called for alternatives to over-the-air distribution.In theory, sideloading - transfering games to a phone from a PC as opposed downloading them over the air - allows consumers to buy games with large file sizes through D2C channels without having to worry about data charges.
Simon Protheroe, new media and IT director at Eidos, welcomes it. He said: “One of the biggest problems facing mobile gamers is that somewhere between purchase and installation, the system fails. By allowing them to download apps to a PC and upload them to a phone they will feel more in control.”
Now that consumers are more familiar with sideloading – thanks largely to iPod and the growing popularity of transferring music to handsets – the feeling is that the time is right for mobile games to get in on the act.
I-play president David Gosen said: “Sideloading could be great for the mobile content industry and is just one of the ways in which distribution models need to evolve. As a general rule, the more choice and quality that we can offer the consumer the faster the market will grow.”
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But sideloading is not without its detractors, many of whom argue that the technique is too niche for the mass market at the current time and takes operators out of the value chain, not to mention the fact that it goes against the over-the-air norm that makes mobile unique.
“Sideloading is strategic for publishers and handset manufacturers if they have the marketing muscle to bring consumers along,” said Matthew Bellows, GM and VP of marketing at Floodgate Entertainment. “At some point, however, the increased budgets required to make the kind of 30MB games sideloading enables will need to be recouped, either through a higher purchase price or a bigger market. Neither of those conditions exist right now.”
