Do we really need PC and console games on mobile platforms?
Today, large companies are actively trying to curb the mobile gaming market. Projects such as TES: Blades, PUBG Mobile, as well as Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo: Immortal on the way to release show that publishers want to penetrate the mobile segment using their well-known and successful brands. But do we really need it? Perhaps there are other ways to conquer the mobile market? These are the questions asked by the editor of the Pocketgamer website Harry Slater. He pondered whether mobile receivers of famous games should try to win the audience with a name, or go their own way to attract PC and console players to mobile devices. Slater recalls Titanfall: Assault and EA's Titanfall: Frontline, a successful example of brand adaptation to mobile gaming. Assault Slater calls the most interesting MOBA ever to hit mobile. And Frontline, in turn, although it was devoid of dynamism, became a cozy adaptation of the game in the genre of card battles. Today you can no longer play them, since the first project was closed, and the second was canceled. Harry says the reason for the failure is that the developers did not try to repeat the mechanics of the original game.
The new wave of mobile projects, on the contrary, looks like an attempt to bring them closer to the original. After all, TES: Blades is a first-person fantasy RPG, while Diablo: Immortal is a hack'n'slash with dungeons. Despite the fact that these games do their best to be like their "older" brothers, their wrapper will still look unfamiliar. For example, the same TES: Blades failed to give fans of the series what they love the original The Elder Scrolls for. By the way, this is exactly what we wrote about in our review.
“If you've played TES: Blades, then you know what I mean. The controls work well, but all of this creates a linearity that TES fans won't put up with. And The Elder Scrolls without exploration is The Elder Scrolls game? ”
Imagine if Street Fighter came to mobile platforms, but the game did not have streets and fights. You would definitely be pissed off that such a game bears the name of the Street Fighter series. The author admits that this is a rather extreme and grotesque example, but thanks to him we can ask the main question: “What do we really want from mobile versions of games?” Players are definitely not satisfied with just the familiar name of the project, which, as a result, will not give him the gaming experience that the PC or the console original gave him, and will turn out to be only a faded copy of it without a soul. At the same time, we can notice that creativity can also play a cruel joke - remember Titanfall.
As a result, we are faced with the fact that such games have a very severe identity crisis. They do not want to deviate from what made the brand famous, but at the same time they cannot convey the essence of the "senior project" and fully unleash their own potential. And all of the above examples only indicate that we have an interest in mobile games, but we are not ready to accept mobile conventions within the brand. The situation looks hopeless, but there is a way such projects can go. This dilemma can be solved by analogs of large projects that do not bear the burden of a promoted AAA title and are sharpened for the capabilities of the device. Slater recalls the Afterpulse shooter, which he believes was definitely inspired by Call of Duty.
"The game is perfectly adapted to the touchscreen, and the level design is made so that the game can be easily played on the road," says Harry Slater. There are tons of hack'n'slash dungeon games on the App Store and Google Play Store that perfectly capture the Diablo gaming experience, but aren't part of the Blizzard brand. As an example, the editor cites the mobile game Gigantic X - an ARPG in a sci-fi setting, which is filled to the brim with loot and enemies. It has everything we could expect from Diablo, but the developers are not afraid to experiment and introduce new features, and most importantly, they avoid the criticism that would inevitably follow if it were Diablo.
The author summarizes his thoughts as follows: “So do we need PCs and console projects on mobile? What do we want to see from them? I would say that the creators of AAA games should dive deeper into the study of the possibilities of mobile platforms, and not try to squeeze an already well-known and well-known brand into mobile gaming, causing the popular anger of fans. Do not hope that it will be possible to successfully transfer the proprietary gameplay, mechanics and fanbase of the AAA project into a framework where it will hardly be comfortable. It is also worth focusing on how such projects are generally received. There are already many games on mobile devices that work perfectly within their capabilities and at the same time are something interesting and original. Developers should still think not about the limitations for a large old project, but about large spaces for a new one.
On our own, we add that what the editor of the Pocketgamer site says is really possible given the imminent opening of the Apple Arcade site, which will specialize in mobile games. It has invested about $ 500 million, and also attracted hundreds of indie studios to collaborate, giving them creative freedom. This approach can really develop mobile gaming and give birth to new trends, standards and fashion for quality games. The Topic of Article: Do we really need PC and console games on mobile platforms?. |
