Recently I’ve seen some talk among indie developers that the ‘end is near’ for small developers being able to making a living off mobile games. I think there are various reasons people may believe this to be true but one of the most recent ideas was summed up in an article on Pocket Gamer a few weeks ago.
Entitled “iPhone 4S spells ‘beginning of the end for indie developers on iOS”, the article was an interview with indie developer Andrew Rollings who believes that the greatly enhanced horsepower of the 4S will bring an end to indie development. Here is the money quote…
Now I’m not against technical advances – and it would be a fruitless pursuit anyway – but in my opinion this could be the beginning of the end for the independent lone developer for iOS. Although the iPhone revived the ‘bedroom-programmer’, history looks set to repeat itself and the iPhone is poising to kill him off again just as mercilessly as the first time, back in the mid-90s.
Overall, I think this will be a bad thing for the iPhone – and definitely for indie developers.
And it’s not just the iPhone 4S, the new Tegra 3 from Nvidia provides an incredible amount of power for mobile developers. Check out this video that shows off some the graphical power developers will have available to them as the next round of Android devices are released this month.
We’re definitely somewhere between PS2 and PS3 levels of graphical fidelity now, and at this rate of progress we’re going to have mobile devices that rival the current consoles by next year. How can an indie compete?
Why you shouldn’t fear the future
The argument that increased power in mobile devices will put development costs out of reach for indie developers is simply a case of people trying to look into the past to predict the future. Because increased technology in consoles caused developers to become more risk adverse in the past it must also happen in the mobile space, right? No, not even close actually. While it is possible that this new technology will put ‘AAA mobile’ development out of reach for small studios it doesn’t at all mean that there won’t be a market for games that don’t push the graphical envelope. In fact, high-end graphics squishing innovation didn’t really even happen in the console space! I was at E3 when Nintendo unveiled the Wii, I heard everyone dismiss it as inferior technology that couldn’t compete with the Xbox 360 and PS3. Then the Wii was released and proved that inventive gameplay, even with older graphics, was more important than the latest GPU tech. Graphics don’t make games great, they just make them prettier.
Even without the example of the Wii, there are also a vast number of market forces at work in the mobile arena that completely change the game, and make this a very different playing field than the console market of the last few years. The dynamic pricing of mobile games allows deves to price their games where they can make the most money. A ‘AAA’ game that really pushes the limits of the latest tablets can command a premium price because some gamers will pay for the flash. But that doesn’t mean that a game made by a couple guys with 2D graphics can’t sell for $0.99 or free with in-app purchases and make a nice return ( or seven figures ). I don’t think anyone will look at Pocket Heroes and think; I can’t download that! The graphics aren’t nearly as good as Infinity Blade! While both games are RPGs, Pocket Heroes is built to do a lot of things that Infinity Blade can’t ( like have more than one enemy on screen at a time!).
Don’t worry about trying to compete in terms of polygons and pixel shaders, but do take advantage of the incredible advances in technology that developing in the mobile space affords you. Take advantage of the persistent data connection, GPS, AirPlay, things that don’t require huge development teams but can make your game feel cutting edge.
There is no better time to be an Indie than right now…
Well almost, the only time better than right now was yesterday. This market is so big, growing so fast, and still so early, that the sooner you can get involved the better. The people who have an advantage over you aren’t the guys with the flashiest graphics, it’s the guys who released their game yesterday. Take advantage of the incredible expansion of smartphones and tablets to establish a large base of players that you can create great games for.
With that in mind I’m happy to announce that IncrediBlox will soon be available for Android phones and tablets! We’ve ported IncrediBlox to Android specifically for the new Kindle Fire but it plays just as great on 4in and 10in screens. We’ve submitted the game to the Amazon AppStore and are waiting for review, but hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy IncrediBlox on your Android device within the next week!
So no, these new and crazy powerful mobile devices do not foretell the end of the indie developer. If you’re an indie developer don’t focus on trying to impress with flashy graphics, just make a great game and ride this mobile gaming wave. It’s going to be a crazy ride.
3 Comments
Great post! I think that another main difference for the indie dev now is reach. It was hard to get your game on a 5 &1/4 disk and into stores across town, let alone across the country/world, and we can do that now by a simple upload, putting the game in front of people in a trusted (virtual) store front.
Fantastic read, and from someone who does not get to keep as up to date on current advances as I would like, thanks for the insight.
Great post! I think that another main difference for the indie dev now is reach. It was hard to get your game on a 5 &1/4 disk and into stores across town, let alone across the country/world, and we can do that now by a simple upload, putting the game in front of people in a trusted (virtual) store front.
+1