Mobile games, the future of gaming? Yes, that’s what David Gosen, CEO of I-play stated at the Casual Games Association’s Casual Connect Conference in Amsterdam. He also said that in terms of gaming, mobiles would do better than the game consoles.
He said, “Its reach and multi-functionality positions mobile as the number one mass market entertainment device of the future. It will be casual gaming genres that will drive both online and mobile gaming markets, because of their mainstream appeal. The state of the mobile industry today is one of “balancing the demands of the present, with the promise of the future.” More and more consumers are beginning to recognize that they can use their mobile phones for more than just making and receiving calls.”
David Gosen also has some numbers supporting his claim, he pointed out that the number of mobile subscribers worldwide will reach 2.8 billion next year. In addition, he said that for every gaming console there are five mobile phones. Therefore, the mobile gaming market could be worth $11.2 billion by 2011, and I-play could be getting a major chunk from that pie.
But then, mobile gaming is mostly centered around causal games and the only hardcore mobile phone cum gaming device is the Nokia N-Gage. We feel there should be more mobile phone gaming devices, only then Mr. Gosen’s prediction would come true.