Tag: ea mobile games

EA adopts a focus on mobile games

| August 30, 2013

EA puts mobile games before PC titles

The global game industry has been seeing some turbulence recently as profits fell below expected levels for many developers and publishers around the world. This downturn seems to be restricted to console games, however, as the PC gaming market has been seeing a relative boom. A recent report from the PC Gaming Alliance shows that the PC gaming market grew by 8% in 2012 and this is supported by the latest financial report from Electronic Arts, one of the world’s largest game publishers. Despite the apparent success of the PC gaming market, Electronic Arts has only modest plans to pursue PC titles. Instead, the company is looking to focus more on mobile games.

Game industry evolving to embrace mobile titles

Mobile games have become a major part of the game industry in a relatively short amount of time. Developers around the world are beginning to focus more heavily on mobile platforms because of their popularity among consumers. Indeed, many consumers have shown a great deal of interest in gaming from their smartphones and tablets. The value of mobile games is not lost on Electronic Arts and the company has been working to establish a more formidable presence in this sector in recent years.

EA Mobile Games FocusEA to focus on next-gen consoles alongside mobile games

While mobile games have become a major focus for Electronic Arts, the publisher’s top priority is next-generation consoles, such as the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One. While next-gen consoles are the priority, the publisher will be looking to support cross-platform games for these consoles as well as mobile devices. Electronic Arts has a chief interest in free-to-play mobile games, which are, quite literally, free to obtain. These games typically include some form of in-game shop that allows consumers to spend real money to unlock additional content.

Major titles likely to have a mobile companion

Electronic Arts intends to make the free-to-play mobile games experience a part of its various franchises. This likely means that every major game published by the company will have some sort of mobile game attached to it. These mobile games will include a cash shop that will sell virtual content  to gamers. Typically, games that are overtly cavalier when it comes to in-game purchases are not well received among consumers.

Mobile games graphics could rival that of current consoles

| July 11, 2013

EA has high hopes for next generation mobile games

Major game publisher Electronic Arts believes that the next generation of mobile games will have the same graphical capabilities of games for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. This would have been a bold claim, if mobile technology had remained relatively stagnant over the past few years. Technology has, however, advanced at a very rapid pace and modern smartphones and tablets are equipped with hardware that could rival the current generation of consoles.

Mobile games manage to gain popularity with modest graphics

Mobile games are already quite popular among consumers, so much so that they have begun to cut into the sales of console games in some parts of the world. These games have not won consumers over by offering high quality visuals, however, as most mobile games are designed with very simple, approachable graphical content. The modest graphics of most mobile games is directly linked to the hardware capabilities of smartphones and tablets. Until very recently, these devices have not been designed with gaming in mind, thus did not boast of high performance graphics processing units (GPUs).

Mobile Games - Mobile game graphics may rival current console graphicsNew technology enables games to become more visually impressive

Because smartphones and tablets have become major entertainment platforms for many consumers, device makers have been working on making these devices more accommodating of mobile games. Electronic Arts notes that the progress these devices have made in terms of graphical power has improved significantly over the past two years and could lead to a new generation of mobile games that provide a visually stunning experience as well as one that is enjoyable for consumers from a gameplay standpoint.

Graphics engines could signal a bright future for mobile games

Electronic Arts notes that many of the graphics engines that it uses for console games can be modified to be used on mobile devices. These engines are common in games that have been made for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, but have seen minimal use in the mobile sector. As these engines become more available to developers and help usher in a new generation of smartphones and tablets, mobile games may soon become a much larger and more prolific part of the game industry in the near future.