Mobile games coming of age?

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With Jamdat in the fold, EA finds itself in the enviable position of owning a top producer of mobile titles that now has access to EA's deep pockets and well-established technology.

For example, Lasky said, Jamdat can leverage the fact that EA uses a common rendering engine across its many franchises, something that Jamdat could never have had on its own. Further, Jamdat now can access EA's impressive library of intellectual property as it works on future titles.

With the ability to make mobile titles like "Madden NFL," "The Sims," "FIFA Soccer" and many other platinum hits, EA is putting more pressure than ever on its competitors.

"It's going to put a lot of pressure on companies that haven't yet achieved profitability," Lasky said. "Before, (competitors) were having trouble chasing Jamdat, and now they're going to have to chase Jamdat and EA. I would love to say it's going to be puppies and kittens and roses for everybody, but it ain't."

But for Tercek, as an evangelist of mobile games, EA's newfound strength in the space is nothing but exciting.

"It's a huge statement" of EA's intentions in mobile games," said Tercek. "They were buying a successful company, buying market share, protecting their flank and buying expertise they did not have internally."

And for small mobile-game design shops, the only path to survival is going to be to create brand new games that cannot be easily copied.

In any case, with tens and even hundreds of millions of mobile-phone owners who have not warmed to playing games on their handsets, Tercek acknowledges that publishers like EA and its competitors have a serious dilemma on their hands: which direction to go.

On the one hand, companies like EA can keep doing what they're doing and continue marketing currently successful mobile games like "Jamdat Bowling."

On the other, they can work to create all-new titles.

But Tercek doesn't think publishers can do both, and as such, this is a crucial time when it comes to choosing which route to take.

And that's what several thousand people are here for this week: to attend one of dozens of panel sessions about mobile-game development and to help augur the industry's next moves.

Still, to Tercek, the small guys in the industry had better move quickly in the creation of their category killers. Otherwise, they're going to find themselves too far behind EA to catch up.

"With Vivendi Universal opening their own mobile-games group," said Tercek, "and every major Japanese console and arcade game publisher coming into mobile, it is abundantly clear that mobile is the next big growth opportunity for the games industry."

[bluemist9999]

Not as Easy as EA Thinks

I think mobile games have totally different requirements than traditional PC or console-based games. Fundamentally, I think mobile games need the following:
- Easily-understood controls
- Piecemeal play---I'd imagine people play mobile games in 5-15 minute bursts, instead of squinting over a cell phone for 3 hours
- Simple graphics and game logic so they don't overwhelm current cell phones or look stupid on 1.5 inch screens

From what I've seen, most new games on the market don't meet any of those criteria. They're designed to be as lifelike as possible (sports games anyways), provide a great deal of complexity and may require hours of play at a stretch.

It's almost the opposite mindset developers need to create good mobile games.

I think there are many opportunities for innovative mobile games providers to succeed in the marketplace. The companies that provide easily playable, unique and entertaining games (much easier said than done) will succeed.