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Wireless Gaming

Wireless Gaming Mass Market Gaming over Internet- Enabled Mobile Devices Greg Costikyan Chief Design Officer, Unplugged Games costik@ungames.com http://www.costik.com “Mobile phones could account for as much as half of the game industry as a whole.”

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Wireless Gaming

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  1. Wireless Gaming Mass Market Gaming over Internet- Enabled Mobile Devices Greg Costikyan Chief Design Officer, Unplugged Games costik@ungames.com http://www.costik.com

  2. “Mobile phones could account for as much as half of the game industry as a whole.” — Kagemasa Kozuki, founder and President of Konami, MCV $6 billion market worldwide by 2005 — Datamonitor

  3. Technology Today • Mobile PhonesEurope: SMS, WAPUS: HDML, SMS (sort of)Japan: iMode • Small Screen sizeB&W bitmaps (at best) • No application managementStatic browser model • Non-Standard “Standards”

  4. Technology Today • PDASPalmWinCE devicesPsion • “Pull” Data model • High Price • Few with Wireless Connections As Yet • Color Still Rare

  5. Technology Tomorrow • J2ME HandsetsNo integration with WAP • Fuller WAP implementationWMLscript, WTA, etc. • Color, Larger Screens • Location-Based Services

  6. Technology Tomorrow • GameBoy AdvanceCable-Connectible to Cellphone (in Japan at least)Japanese don’t get online • Improved Wireless PDAsColorFaster ProcessorsBetter Wireless Data model • Special Purpose DevicesCybiko, Red Jade

  7. Technology A Little Later • 3G2Mb data transfer ratesStreaming video (irrelevant to games)Color, Large ScreensFully packetized voice & data • Bluetooth • PDAS: Pervasive computingQuite likely voice integration (Visorphone)Desktop integration

  8. Technology a Little Later • Handheld Console Convergence PlatformGameBoy Advance doesn’t do the trickVoice chatSubstantial persistent data storageBluetooth for “LAN” playTCP/IP stackDownloadable appsPossibly PDA-based[Red Jade?]

  9. Strengths • UbiquityPlay Any Time • PortabilityPlay Anywhere • NetworkedMultiplayer Rules • Voice CommunicationCommunity

  10. Weaknesses • Latency of 1 sec+Desktop in µmecs; Internet 200-400 msecs3G does NOT solve the problem • No Simultaneous Voice & DataPacketized data could solve problem, but carriers haven’t been interested. • Signal Coverage & BandwidthMore of a problem in North AmericaMust handle drops gracefully

  11. Game Styles • Skill & Action: Fuggedaboudit • Pacing:5 minute gamesTurn-BasedSlow UpdatePersistent World • StylesPrize-BasedSimple Social“Gamers’ Games”

  12. Community • Vital for Online Games • No integration of community features at present. • Features:Buddy ListsMicrocommunitiesVoice Call & SMS supportInvitations/BansFind-a-Friend (“Lovegetty”)

  13. The Case for the Operators • Games Drive Usage Like Nothing Else30-70 mins/visit (Lycos Gamesville, Uproar, Flipside)30-40 hrs/month (EverQuest, Gemstone) • Customer RetentionAnother ‘Switching Cost’Community Persistence • Gamers Lead Hardware CurveSpurring UpgradesMaking Wireless Data a Consumer Norm • People will PayThe only successful for-fee services on the Internet: Porn, Financial services, and Games

  14. Competitive Landscape • EuropeDigital Bridges/Wireless Games ($17m round) [Scotland]Riot-E (Nokia, Softbank) (Licensed-based) [Finland]In-Fusio (looking for 2nd round; BT, FT, Telefonica, T-Mobil) [France]Ludi WAP (Ff60m funding from Guillemot family) [France]PicoFun (soccer game; ties to Ericsson) [Sweden]SpringToys (Sonera et al.) [Finland] • Nokia Mobile Entertainment Service platform

  15. Competitive Landscape • North Americapogo.com (Nokia major investor)iWireless (iEntertainment spin-off)Unplugged GamesSega preloaded games for Motorola handsets • JapanCapcom, Bandai, Sony developing for J2ME iMode handsets

  16. Business Models • iMode Model:customers pay by the 256 byte block9% of revenue off the top to DoCoMoRemainder split with service provider • Airtime Shareproblematic as packetized data spreads • Turn-Key Licensing • “Cable-Tier” Model • Pay-Per-Play • Advertising & Sponsorship

  17. Conclusions • “Wireless carriers have solved the basic business problem Internet firms have never solved; extracting revenues from customers.” — The Economist • Yes, Virginia, you can do good games with a tiny little b&w screen. • Someone’s going to make a lot of money here.

  18. Presentation may be downloaded from: www.costik.com/pres/iirLondon/ Questions & Queries to: Greg Costikyan Costik@costik.com

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