The Mobile Video Game Bubble
Earlier this month, for TheFeature, I wrote a piece pointing out that, for all the talk about mobile video games it wasn't at all clear that the space would be as big as some expected. The point was that most of the games being offered were simply retreads of old games -- and while they might be fun to play for a little while, it wasn't clear that many people would actually pay for such games. The games were designed as timewasters -- a la Minesweeper and Solitaire on a desktop computer. And, of course, it's worth noting that no one pays for those games. Russell Beattie has tried to visually prove the same point by putting up screenshots of a ton of mobile games, none of which are anything new or special -- and all of which can apparently be found for free as cracked versions. The mobile video game space can do well, but providers would be much better off focusing on apps that actually take advantage of the mobile nature of the user, rather than just moving old video games to a mobile platform. Update: Another article at Red Herring notes that mobile app firms are having trouble differentiating themselves.
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