Mobile phone games on the rise

THE $25-million-plus Australian mobile phone games market is expected to grow by 30 to 40 per cent next year, according to games maker Digital Chocolate.

The rapid growth is likely despite Australia being one of the more expensive countries in which to buy games for mobile phones, with prices averaging about $5, putting it in the top 20 per cent by price.

As mobiles were now in the hands of a large percentage of the population, most of the growth in mobile games was expected to come from “casual gamers” or people who wouldn’t regularly play on dedicated games machines or desktop computers, Digital Chocolate sales vice-president Tomi Torri said.

“Consoles and handhelds are mostly for hard-core gamers,” he said, adding that attempts to squeeze well-known console-style games on to mobiles were not always successful. Games for mobiles tended to be simpler, but this did not mean they were not attractive, he said.

Digital Chocolate will today announce the first in a series of Brain Juice games, which rather than traditional gameplay, offer mathematical and memory exercises – a genre pioneered earlier this year by Nintendo’s Brain Training titles for its DS handheld.

With a mobile, “you have a lot more opportunities to play the game”, Mr Torri said. “Yes, they are technically more simple, but in customer satisfaction and perception mobile gaming is very positive.”

The majority of games being developed for mobiles were based on the J2ME Java platform.

Source: Australian IT

Related Links: Digital Chocolate