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>SAN FRANCISCO — Most of the room of game-industry insiders raised their hand after Spry Fox founder Daniel “Danc” Cook asked them if they own more than 10 games on the PC software portal Steam. Smiling, Danc told them “you don’t matter.”
For years, mobile gaming has fended off the idea that is for “casual” consumers as opposed to the “core” audiences of more traditional platforms like Xbox One or PlayStation 4. But during a panel at the Game Developers Conference today, several mobile developers argued that this distinction is tribalistic and incorrect. In total, gaming is a $99.3 billion industry and mobile gaming alone makes up more than a third of that at around $34.8 billion. And while consoles and Steam gamers spend a lot, the most “core” people who make up those audiences aren’t worth chasing after for most studios building games, according to the panel.
“You are novelty seekers,” Danc told the crowd at GDC. “You are the smallest demographic in gaming.”
This is why so many companies are making games for iOS and Android. Danc’s fellow panelist, Storm8 product manager Ramine Darabiha, clarified that games for Steam’s “novelty seekers” keep coming, and he used Devil Daggers as an example. But he used this as an opportunity to make to point out that “casual” audiences on mobile are not only viable, they are equally important to what is coming on smartphones and tablets.
I am a failure as a human being.
http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/15/if-you-own-more-than-10-games-on-steam-you-dont-matter-to-the-99-3b-gaming-industry/
>>330985929
1/3 of the revenue being from mobile games doesn't mean 1/3 of the customers ONLY play mobile games. That's just fucking stupid.
>SAN FRANCISCO
There is your problem. Retards the lot of 'em.
I agree. PC consumers do not matter to the mobile market. So mobile games should not be catered to these people.
However, that also means people who play mobile games do not matter tothe PC market, so companies producing for the PC need to focus on PC gamers.
The other 60 billion dollars have to be earned as well.
Sure mobile is a big market, but it's also by far the hardest to actually break into and even if you do succeed with one product it doesn't really help your chances for future products. Because people who play video games casually aren't the type to follow video games. They'll play whatever is the most popular.
Mobile games have the potential to be incredibly successful, but it's like winning the fucking lottery. You're not going to do it twice.
If publishers are looking for a stable source of income, they need to look at a traditional model on traditional platforms, and I don't see this changing in the future.
Mobile is inherently limited in a way that games on proper platforms are not. Touch input just isn't as versatile or reliable as traditional controls and more than that, the processing power you get with portable devices will always be less than you would on other devices.
This is on top of the fact that the very idea of portable video games lends itself to something you won't be playing for very long.
If you're on the go you won't sit down to play an 80 hour rpg. You'll boot up angry birds, play for 15 minutes and then put it down.
'mobile is the future' people are fucking delusional. Youtube didn't replace Hollywood, mobile isn't going to replace AAA development.
Mobile games are less interesting and exciting than Solitaire, though. There's a reason why we call them casual shit.
>>330985929
smug cunt tries to justify his cancerous existence on humanity as a skinner box creator. There is no dignity involved in his sterile craft. He has no high ground to stand on.
>>330985929
>“You are the smallest demographic in gaming.”
So I buy 10 games a year and I'm a small demographic???
>>330985929
>“You are novelty seekers,”
The fuck does he think the 'core' members of a hobby are?
>>330985929
>Daniel "Danc" Cook
Am I supposed to know this faggot?
>>330987431
This. It's like when tablets were fairly new and people claimed they were going to completely replace desktop & laptop PCs. Yeah fucking right.
>>330985929
>SAN FRANCISCO
stopped reading here
>>330987856
There are more people that don't play games than people that play games. They are obviously the most important part of the games industry.
Take that mobile developer.
>>330985929
Was I supposed to know that faggot?
>>330985929
>mobile gaming is 1/3 of the market
>1/3
>2/3 isn't
So... how is the other 2/3 a minority?
>>330988354
Maths is hard okay?
Why are San Franciscans such shitheads? No one would miss that city if it sunk into the sea.
>>330988460
go ahead and sink california too
>The minority that pays for F2P games is less important than the majority of freeloaders.
Man, what the fuck happened to San Francisco?
Used to be a cool funky city, now it's filled with faggots.
>>330988889
It was never a good city
t. 60's hippie
>>330985929
theres a very simple reason why this is wrong and it can basically be summed up in one word
Diversification
its a concept that anybody who knows anything about economics or business understands
this a large entertainment industry we're talking about here
it doesn't matter how successful mobile gaming is nobody wants or needs 100x as many mobile games as are being produced at the current pace
people who buy games on steam or any other platform matter just as much in the same way that people who buy strawberry jam matter just as much to Smuckers even if they're the minority compared to people who buy grape
simply put when any business or in this case an entire industry gets big enough that it has the capacity to reach a global market diversity matters far more than sheer volume
who cares what is main stream? Just do what you love and enjoy it.
>>330987047
>>330988231
>>330988460
>>330988889
>>330988964
what does anything this guys saying have to do with this?
probably pulls this same kinda speech all over the place
can't you fags just find somewhere else to vent your butthurt about irrelevant shit
its obvious he's biased in this topic because he's literally the founder of a mobile game studio so of course he thinks thats all that matters
>"Core gamers don't matter, says increasingly angry man for the 9th time this year"
That's actually quite the opposite of what the developer of Steamspy claims here. Unless you create a megahit, your fate is very much in the hands of quite a small group of hardcore players who buy a lot of games.
1% of Steam members have 33% of all games, 20% of Steam players have 88% of games.
Of course Mr. Cook talks about the industry beyond Steam, but I can't imagine the principle is much different there. You either develop a mobile megahit, or you must appeal to niche gamers.
https://medium.com/steam-spy/your-target-audience-doesn-t-exist-999b78aa77ae#.67nae981x
Is that picture from the setup or were all the chairs in the front row empty during the presentation?
>>330988069
>Daniel "Danc" Cook
literally who
>>330990391
I have no idea, that's why I'm asking.
>>330990331
1% of Steam members have 33% of all games because most games are really really cheap shovelware. People like Palmdesert buy them for cards. That skews the statistics.
>>330985929
>And while consoles and Steam gamers spend a lot, the most “core” people who make up those audiences aren’t worth chasing after for most studios building games, according to the panel.
I already knew this but sure nice of this faggot to remind me.
"making good games" is now considered a novelty because you can make shit games on mobile and have 3x the consumerbase who will buy it and spend money on it no questions asked
I play mobile games, PC games and console games. There's a huge difference between mobile and the the other two: I essentially play ONE mobile game. On other platforms, I finish my games and buy new ones to keep playing.
A consumer's need for entertainment is renewable. What this means is that a single game as a service can continue to fulfill this need, whereas games as a product need to be bought in large quantities. This is why the mobile business is so hard to get into nowadays. A great new game may come up, but I'm not going to drop Puzzle and Dragons for it. And middle-aged women aren't dropping Candy Crush in favor of something else when all they want is a distraction while riding the train to work. It still gets updated with content and features and there is no real reason to drop it. It's the same for non-mobile games. Why would anyone drop WoW for another MMO, or League or Dota 2 for another game of its kind?
So yeah, people who buy several games do matter. We are the big spenders that give a chance to multiple developers and allows new games to be developed.
Besides, in fucking GDC, I can guarantee no one, absolutely NO ONE, uses the term "casual gamer" to deride a demographic. Just to classify older gamers that do not spend much time or money on games. Everyone wants this audience because it's the mass audience.
He's just mad that people only play his game when taking a shit
Is it even possible to make a mobile game with something to offer better than a traditional handheld game could?
>>330987856
yes because that only adds up to like, $600 bucks for them. whereas a mobile gamer will spend money every single day to unlock more e-cash in clash of clans or stuff for the sims mobile or whatever the fuck. it's unquestionably a more PROFITABLE market but at the same time
I think the audiences of core gaming vs mobile gaming are very clearly separated. should not be grouped together.
>>330988460
Little Tokyo is pretty cool. Fuck the rest of the city though.
