Common limitations of mobile games

Mobile games tend to be small in scope and often rely on good game play over flashy graphics, due to the lack of dealing out power of the client devices. One major problem for developers and publishers of mobile games is describing a game in such detail that it provides the customer enough information to make a purchasing decision. Currently, Mobile Games are mainly sold through Network Carriers / Operators portals and this means there are only a few lines of text and perhaps a screenshot of the game to animate the customer. Two strategies are followed by developers and publishers to combat this lack of purchasing information, firstly there is a reliance on powerful brands and licences that pass on a suggestion of quality to the game such as Tomb Raider or Colin McRae and secondly there is the use of well known and established play patterns (game play mechanics that are instantly recognisable) such as Tetris, Space Invaders or Poker. Both these strategies are used to reduce the perceived level of risk that the customer feels when choosing a game to download from the carrier’s deck.

Recent innovations in mobile games contain Single player, Multiplayer and 3D graphics. Virtual love games fit in to both of single player and multiplayer games. Multiplayer games are speedily finding an audience, as developers take advantage of the ability to play against other people, a natural extension of the mobile phone’s connectivity. With the current internet gambling boom various companies are taking advantage of the mobile market to attract customers, Ongame the founders of Poker Room developed in 2005 a working mobile version of its poker software available in both play money and real money. The player can play the game in a single player or multiplayer method for real or play money. As well, the MMORPG boom appears to hit the world of mobile games. According to their website CipSoft has developed the first MMORPG for mobile phones, known as TibiaME. SmartCell Technology, a mobile applications developer, is in growth of the first cross-platform MMORPG called Shadow of Legend. Shadow of Legend will have the capability to play on both a PC and a mobile device.