Smart watches can come, but can they be used to play games?

The word "mobile game" makes us think of smartphones, tablets and Nintendo 3DS or Sony PS Vita, but we usually omit another game device: smart watches, according to Yahoo's website. Although the current sales of smart watches are not big-smartwatch group, a market-research firm, shows that the 2014 smart watch sales are less than 7 million, but that will change.

The April 20 sale of Apple Watch the first year of sales will be around 20 million yuan. LG, Motorola, Huawei and other manufacturers support the Android Wear. Pebble time Watch is the most expensive project ever financed on the Kickstarter site, with $18 million in two weeks.

Big and small technology companies spend a lot of time, energy and money on smart watches, but can smart watches be used to play games?

A device with a display can play games.

"No matter what kind of devices there are games, players like to play," says Scott Steinberg, TechSavvy CEO of game Consulting. The advantage of the smart watch is that the game is everywhere at the user's side, and the user can enjoy the convenience of not having to hold a smartphone, a tablet, or bring the game handheld. ”

Steinberg warns that most smart watches are not designed to consider games, and that the experience of playing games is not good enough. But he thinks Apple could change all this, "Apple helps fill this gap and make smart watch games mainstream".

Other experts, such as Michael Pachter, managing director of Wedbush Nomura Equity studies at the investment company, say otherwise, "only games that don't require large screen displays-such as trivia crack-can play on smart watches, Most other games are uncomfortable to play on small size displays. It is possible to develop a new gaming experience for smart watches, such as location-based scavenger games, but overall, he "believes that the potential of traditional games in small size display devices is slim".
Some obstacles

Although the audience size is still relatively small, some developers have released a smart watch game. Teensy UBM recently released 6 Android Wear games, the company's CEO Fozia Ashraf said, "We decided to try different types of games on the Android platform and plan to release the game for Apple Watch, So far we have had a reasonable success. However, people seem unwilling to pay for wearable equipment games. ”

This is an important issue. Mobile gamers have become accustomed to free Value added mode, game free play, players will see ads during the game, or need to buy content, props and so on-but, the 2-inch display on the screen advertising is challenging, and undoubtedly need to occupy the entire screen. In the same way, it's also difficult to cash in on-app shopping, as it may require a mobile phone to close the deal.

Real-time advertising is also a Barroth, and smart watches have limited endurance. "Apple Watch focus on energy saving, which limits our options," Ashraf said. ”

Another challenge: Apple watch does not support unity--'s popular mobile game development tool. As a result, smart watch game developers need to solve the challenges include small user size, display small, battery time limited.

Gibeau, executive vice president of Art electric mobility, said he thought "one day playing games will be as popular as listening to music, and smart watches and wearable devices are an exciting step in this direction".

Gibeau said, "Excellent mobile game design provides users with the ability to participate in recreational activities anytime, anywhere." With smart watches and wearable devices, users can play the game all day. ”

The current smart watch game can only provide a basic experience, smart watch games only dozens of, rather than smartphones or tablets as there are tens of thousands of games for users to play.