This interesting article over at
BusinessWeek covers a recent "24-hour race" to create - from scratch - a mobile video game in order to win a
competition. What struck me from this article was the data it relayed - 5 to 6 million customers in the U.S. are
downloading a game to their wireless phone each month, and this metric has been unchanged since 2004? Those are pretty
staggering numbers if you think about it. No wonder mobile gaming is receiving more attention. At $4
to $5 a pop and very short development times compared to home console gaming systems, the mobile platform must be awash
in cash.So, with mobile television and ringtone downloads getting all the attention these days, perhaps the focus should shift somewhat to mobile gaming and the possibilities it brings? The golden rule of thumb in entertainment seems to be "create compelling and interactive content, and the audience will come". With TV, that can be a little of a misnomer for much of programming (which is just filler it seems). But for mobile gaming, that could be the ticket to ride - it probably already is. There's a reason console gaming has surpassed the movie industry in terms of revenues - the compelling content of most released movies is about as flat as a Texas prairie.
