The 2011 Tokyo Game Show was just a little while ago, and while there weren’t any mind-blowing surprises there were still a number of important announcements from the usual attendees as well as some newcomers. In the mobile gaming realm, both the Playstation Vita and the games for the Gree social network were attracting a lot of attention…
What Did Vita Offer?
The mobile gaming industry has changed significantly over the last few years – a lesson that Nintendo had to learn the hard way. One of the biggest complaints about the Nintendo 3DS was the lack of impressive launch titles. When games should have been showing off the new 3D features, most critics felt like they were mediocre at best with an unimpressive 3D effect. Sony, it seems, has learned this lesson well, because they announced that there will be 100 titles available in the Vita’s launch window.
Sony listed more than 70 of those games during this Tokyo Game Show and they said that 26 will be available on launch. A lot of triple A titles were previously announced (including Bioshock, Little Big Planet, Resistance, Uncharted, and others), and at this conference Sony showed off many more. Some of the most notable additions included a Metal Gear Solid HD collection, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and a Final Fantasy X remake.
The $250 price tag on the Vita surprised everyone at launch, since it was expected to be much higher. While we don’t know what all these newly announced games will sell for, we can hope that Sony will surprise us again with some reasonable prices. Whatever the price point, though, the mobile platform will still be competing in a whole new arena.
Going Gree
Gree made its first appearance at the Tokyo Game Show this year with an impressive attendance at their fairly large booth. Gree is a popular social network in Japan that has been providing smartphone games for free, and they are forcing traditional game companies to change the way they think about the industry. Gree already has over 140 million members, and their appearance at TGS is definitely a sign that they intend to branch out even further.
Gree uses the same business model we have seen in the States quite often with social games. The games themselves are available for free or for a very small price, and they make their money by selling in-game items for real-world money. The sheer number of people buying small items for small amounts adds up really fast, and the major game companies are taking notice.
The games that you can get on Gree are, of course, quite different from the list that Sony announced at the conference. These are simple games that can be played for a few minutes on a phone. They rely on simple gameplay mechanics rather than stunning graphics and deep (and probably confusing) storylines. This trend toward casual, mobile gaming isn’t exactly new, but a couple years ago we would have never seen a social game maker with such a huge presence at TGS.
Where Will The Gamers Go?
Just a few years ago, the competition for mobile gaming was pretty much exclusive to Nintendo and Sony. Both these companies rely on getting as many systems out to the public as possible so game companies will have a big enough consumer base to justify the growing development costs. Games on smartphones and social networks have gone circumvented this process, though.
Companies that make social games or mobile phone games already have a customer base of millions. They don’t have to rely on the platform manufacturer to get the systems into people’s hands. They’re already there. And with such a large audience, they can make some pretty good games and sell them for much less than even the cheapest Vita games will be.
So what will gamers choose in the future? It’s hard to say exactly where this social gaming trend will take us. Phones are getting more powerful every year, and soon they’ll rival the kind of power that Sony has crammed into the Vita, but they will still lack the kind of interface that makes serious gaming possible. In the end, it will come down to the gamers motivations. Do you just want to pass the time (Gree) or do you want to play a game (Vita)?
