Windows Phone and games

Absrtact: 4 years ago, Apple launched the App Store, which permanently changed the mobile gaming market. After Apple's success, many other companies began to follow suit. At present, Apple iOS is no longer the only competitive platform in the market. Almost all

4 years ago, Apple launched the App Store, which permanently changed the mobile gaming market. After Apple's success, many other companies began to follow suit.

At present, Apple iOS is no longer the only competitive platform in the market. Almost all mobile phone users, whether they use Android, iOS or BlackBerry systems, have played games on their phones. There is no doubt that mobile games are developing rapidly, and every year there will be new trends and changes in the market. The main change now is the attitude towards free games, social networks and game controllers.

Free Game mode

Currently in the top 10 of iOS games, there are 8 free games. When Apple launched the App Store in 2008, developers were not sure what pricing would be accepted by the market. In the past few years, many game prices have been slashed to attract users to download and improve their game rankings. The 99 Cents game is the market mainstream.

More popular than cheap games is free games. The idea of a free game is simple: the basic version of the game is free, but players can spend money on games to upgrade or buy virtual money. "Dragonvale" and "Tiny Tower" are two popular free games, and realize the profit. In games, players often spend 5 to 10 dollars to speed up building their own virtual villages or buildings, not just 1 dollars.

In recent years, the game is free, the premium content charge mode is becoming more and more popular. In May this year, a study by information FX group showed that 2/5 of players ' spending on mobile games was used to get extra content or virtual currency.

In addition to focusing on free-mode developers, other developers are starting to do the same. "Fruit Ninja" developer Halfbrick recently launched a game "Jetpack joyride". This is a completely free game, the player can buy virtual currency in the game. While the Fruit Ninja still sells 1 of dollars on most platforms, Halfbrick also introduced the virtual currency function in the game.

For game developers, after the initial investment, they want loyal players to continue to spend small amounts in the game.

Although the free game model seems to be good for the players, the whole gaming industry will actually benefit from it. Free games offer players two choices: spending a long time getting good grades, or speeding up the game with pay. Halfbrick and other developers have found a good way to keep players out of boredom, but others are still working on a simple game-addiction cycle that allows players to perform a series of tricky operations and provide meaningless rewards. Games like this can only bring results, but not the ability to measure player skills or bring fun.

However, as long as this addictive but meaningless free game model can still be profitable, traditional technology-based games will gradually lose their market to developers and distributors.

Fragmentation of social networks

In the 2008, this kind of game was a surprise to many people when the mobile game was just beginning. Players hope that mobile games will provide an experience similar to Xbox Live, helping them track friends, achieve success, and compete for the highest score. Unfortunately, Apple did not release the game Center service until 2 years later, and Google (Weibo) has so far not launched a similar service in Android devices. During this period, companies such as OpenFeint and Chillingo filled gaps and launched their own mobile social gaming services.

In the iOS system, the presence of Game center greatly affects the user's demand for similar services. No one wants to maintain two similar logins and buddy lists.

Recently, in the "3 a" level of game publishers, the development of independent social gaming services is emerging. Game publishers such as EA and Blizzard are no longer using Apple game Center, but are developing similar services on their own. While players are reluctant to remember additional login information, this can be a convenience. EA's Origin service allows users to track progress and buddy lists between platforms such as Android, iOS, PCs, and game consoles, while game Center applies only to IOS and Mac users. Blizzard recently unveiled a similar plan. A unified mobile service like Xbox Live is becoming a reality.

Windows Phone and games

Microsoft (Weibo) launched its Windows Phone 8 system last month. So far, these games are facing two big problems. On the one hand, Windows phone platform games are released late, and some games are even more than a year behind the iOS platform. On the other hand, the Windows phone platform has a higher game price, reaching 2 to 3 times times the same game as the iOS and Android platforms.

In terms of market share, Windows phone device is less than 10%. The situation is expected to change after Windows Phone 8 is released later this year, but players will still have to wait until Microsoft releases a more powerful game product line.

Controller will dominate host battle

Apple is about to subvert the game market to a large extent, which poses a threat to game-hosting vendors.

Imagine a scenario where Apple designs and sells traditional physical controllers like the Xbox 360 and PS3, and iOS devices can be connected to the TV. In this case, the only problem is that Apple needs more non touch screen games. If Apple comes up with a physical controller, then there will be a lot of action-adventure games and first-person shooter games priced at only 1 to 2 dollars.

If casual gamers find that they can get a game host experience after buying a 50 dollar controller and plugged into the iphone or ipad, they won't need to spend another 300 dollars to buy a game host.

Apple may not necessarily win over Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo, but it is certain that Apple will change the market. When Apple pushes game prices down from $60 to $1, the market will be more competitive.