Discussion – The Future of Mobile Gaming
Posted By: Dave "Boris" Orosz
Since 1989, the Game Boy had no equal (as hard as the Game Gear may have tried). Games were cartridge based, and ran at costs around $30. Up until 2008, even as the console generations shifted, not much was going to change. The PSP introduced disk based games, the DS a touch screen and games were still around $20 – $40. After 2008 though, iPhone stepped in and changed my opinions about everything. The same titles that were released across all platforms were frequently 300% cheaper on the iPhone as seen in the list below.
Now, as a consumer I can’t help but feel cheated by Nintendo and Playstation though nothing has actually changed as far as they are concerned. They offer the same type of content at the same price as they always have, as I’ve always paid. I wonder to myself, how am I justified in being annoyed at their consistency? Nintendo and Playstation both clearly understood that the paradigm had shifted and both opened stores for similarly priced titles, Playstation “Minis” and DSi Ware.
I’ve bought plenty of UMDs in my day, but I have a habit of never bringing them with me, and the bulky size of even the Slim PSP-2000 stops me from wanting to carry it with me. I bought a PSPgo for that reason (with credit card reward money. There’s no way I’m paying $250 for a console that I, in theory, already own) and now I do carry a PSP system everywhere I go. I intend to buy all my games digitally from here on out, but suddenly, I find I can’t… I’d love to get Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines ($40), Dissidia Final Fantasy ($40), or Little Big Planet PSP ($40) today, but I am frozen, waiting for a price drop down to $20 that ultimately may never happen. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone else feel that $40 is no longer a valid price point for a portable title?
And what will happen from here? When the PSP2 comes out, or the DS2 (QuadScreen or whatever), will they be able to get away with selling games for just as high a price? Will they be forced to change their structures, capping games at a $20 dollar high? Will we as consumers be willing to adopt a new system for $200 or more, knowing full well that an equally priced iPod Touch will sell its software for mere peanuts?
The most comparable system to the iPod Touch is the PSPgo which offers Movies, Music, Games and is compact. The PSPgo is also the worst selling portable console on the market. Is this foreshadowing the future of the portable gaming market? If prices did have a cap, it could only mean that the console manufacturer would make less money from licenses, maybe making portable gaming consoles unprofitable entirely. At that point, would all portable gaming consoles need to include phone functionality in order to remain profitable and competitive? Playstation has been looking into doing just that. Will the PSP2 be a phone? I can honestly say, I have no idea what will happen in the future of the portable gaming market. Let’s discuss, what do you think?
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Game Prices:
Myst
iPhone – $4.99
PSP – $19.99
DS – $29.55
Scrabble
iPhone – $4.99
PSP – $19.99
DS – $21.99
Monopoly/Boggle/Yatzee/Battleship
iPhone – $12.96
DS – $49.99
Final Fantasy
iPhone $8.99
PSP – $19.82
Final Fantasy 2
iPhone – $8.99
PSP – $19.82
Sim City
iPhone – $2.99
DS – $17.99
Assassin’s Creed Altair’s Chronicles
iPhone -$4.99
DS – $19.99
Peggle
iPhone – $2.99
DS – $19.99
Civilization Revolution
iPhone – $6.99
DS – $19.99
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Wow, why do I not have an iPhone yet?
Seriously, the rise of mobile computing is going to disrupt a lot of industries, not just gaming. But I think portable gaming consoles will be some of the first casualties. There’s no way to compete with a device that 1) you already own and use constantly, 2) offers similar software for a fraction of the price (and easily downloadable).
Here’s my prediction: the next generation of portable consoles is going to be the last. Nintendo and Sony are going to become software-only companies in the portable market (like Sega did for all platforms in 2001). Nintendo does NOT want to become a competitor of Apple, it doesn’t want to start making phones, and it knows we won’t need a separate portable platform when our phones can play games just fine. Sony, on the other hand, might take a shot at a phone/game hybrid — I don’t think they’ll succeed, but it’ll be a brave gesture…
I agree with this partially. Most of Nintendo’s console success comes from first party software anyway. If there’s any company who would be most immune to its competitors, it’s Nintendo (and Nintendo makes the effort to be innovative with each new console, so either way it will be interesting). Sony however will definitely have to play a different card, be it a phone or something else. Now Nintendo has announced the Nintendo 3DS which will have some sort of 3D capability without glasses. This to me is the card they are playing.
Nintendo has a habit of recycling ideas that didn’t previously work until it finds the right time. The Wii Remote is the power glove, the Wii Fit is the power pad (originally Bandai’s Family Fun Fitness), portable 3D gaming was the Virtual Boy. It will be interesting to see if they pull off something that’s both functional and popular this time.
It depends. I would like cheaper game (who wouldnt) but… when I play quality games, I know theyre totally worth it.
Dissida, Crisis Core, GOW, Resistance, Tekken6, Monster Hunter – They’re actually better than a lot home console games. Ive spent over 60 hours on dissida, and I just bought it 2 weeks ago. Tekken6 PSP is basically the Ps360 version without the awful scenerio mode.
these games probably cost a lot to make. you wont see them on Iphone any time soon,
Thats why I dont mind paying 40 USD for them.
but cheaper games is always good.
True, but would you pay the same price for any of those games downloadable as you would for the UMD? Wouldn’t the absence of media suggest that the price of production, and therefore, sale should be cheaper?
True.. I guess i never actually saw it that way, Downloading had too many advantages for me to think otherwise. But yeah, cheaper price would be good.
I heard it was because retailers would backlash if sony made PSN prices cheaper than Store prices. which is why Im gonna be happy to see a Digital Only psp2.