| HappySqurriel said: From a quick google search, the average price of an iPhone game is $1.66 ... Being that a publisher (probably) makes around 10 times as much from the sale of a PSP or Nintendo DS game Capcom will (probably) only have to sell 350 Million iPhone games at the average price to make the same revenue they earned on the PSP and Nintendo DS. Who thinks that is likely? |
Don't forget that the average price is bogged down by a lot of repeat crapware.
When it comes to real success on the iPhone, sales aren't usually to the $0.99 titles, but the $2.99, $4.99 and $5.99 titles.
In response to the OP, I'm not surprised. I've been a big believer of the downfall of portables for some time. I honestly believe, and have believed for some time, this coming generation is the last you will see of the dedicated portable gaming device.
Its kind of like Steam vs. Retail PC. Steam is superior in almost every way for publishers and developers (higher freedom to promote/sell content, pricing schema, much higher profit margins). With phones its the same way - you can put the app out, and make a cool 70% on it. Comparatively, that DS title may earn you 50% if your lucky, and it will only stay on market for so long. Bit different with the major Smartphone OSes.
The killer advantage with smartphones is their always-on capability to download content. It is a market advantage that is unparalleled. Not even the PC has the 100% connectivity of a smartphone, which is why its so lucrative - 100% of devices are able to install gaming applications.
There is a massive amount of growth to the platform, and huge upsides. Despite iOS having huge leads, its still in its infancy. Google has some right ideas with QR codes. I think that there is a long way that can go with QR codes, and content promotion. For example - an ad in a video game magazine could have a QR code to the beta of Resident Evil on a smartphone. Or VGC could add a QR code in the browsewrap for a new Civilization title. There is a lot more innovative marketing that can happen, as you can drive content purchases anywhere and everywhere.
Its still not perfect - future leaders like Google's Android need to get their butt in order and push more uniformity concerning hardware fragmenation to make it easier on developers. Once that is in place, and easier billing, it'll blow up. Its a scary thing to think of a system like iOS or Android selling more phones in a year than Nintendo sold of its entire DS line in 6-7 years, but its coming very soon - 2011 should see Android sell well over 100 million phones.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
