By Max Jay
Over the past 10 years or so gaming has slowly been changing. No longer are gamers hiding in their homes, waiting for their download to reach 100% while their dial-up strains to keep up with the hefty stream of data. No longer are gamers shunned for being perceived as “nerds,†or denied prom dates due to their thick rimmed Weezer-like glasses. Gamers are celebrated, demonized, appreciated and misunderstood â€" the point being we are no longer on the fringe of pop-culture. We are now sharing the center stage with comics, movies and music.
But what catalyzed this change in gamer culture? Was it the rise of the comic book movie, or perhaps the increased fidelity of home consoles?
No, and no.
It was the meteoric rise of the Smartphone. Thanks Apple!
The Past
Prior to the mainstream availability of Smartphones, gaming was relegated to the foggy depths of the infamous “mother’s basement.†It was neatly tucked away, far from prying eyes for fear of being ripped on incessantly by peers and strangers. Sure, some old school gamers bathed in the glory of judgment, but many were “closet nerds,†eagerly awaiting their next chance to pop on the Super Nintendo and attempt a speed run of Super Mario World.
The gamers of old were judged unfairly. Being that video games were an emerging market, it was met with skepticism and was often dismissed as a child’s distraction. Many misunderstood the medium’s ability to suck the player into a different reality, where it is possible to save the world, get the princess and live happily ever after. What many misunderstood (and continue to misunderstand) is that gaming is the most logical evolution of film.
Titles like Metal Gear Solid (1999) for the original PlayStation proved to the world that a video game could deliver a meaningful story while still innovating in gameplay. GoldenEye 64 sent thousands of college students home as they skipped class to play split screen multi-player with all of their friends. Mario Kart 64 broke up relationships due to an underlying competitive streak. Gaming began to grow, but it still lacked the necessary push to deliver the activity from ever-present dismissal of the mainstream entertainment world.
That was, of course, until Smartphones.
When the iPhone was released it catalyzed a jump in a new genre of gaming: The Casual.
The growth of the iPhone, and shortly thereafter the Android platform, made it possible to game anywhere without relying on a dedicated platform â€" whether that be a GameBoy or an Xbox. For lack of a better example, they put a compact portable console into the hands of everyone that owned them. Smartphones opened the doors that stopped people from playing snake on the go, and allowed them to embrace games with more meat on their digital bones. Of course, these games were and still are limited to the relatively meek power of the device. But with the tidal wave of technology, the power of the phones grew into what they are now.
Over time casual games became more profitable and more common than many console experiences. The free-to-play method (download the game and then pay to level up, get extra lives, get extra items, etc.) began proving itself as a viable business model that has made companies millions. Most notably Zynga, which began shoveling out garbage on day one and only recently began to pay for its gaming sins. Over time, huge names like Activision, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts adopted the free-to-play model, turning it into something we in the business call “freemium.â€
Freemium is essentially the same thing as free-to-play, but instead it delivers a worthwhile experience, as opposed to a misleading bank account bleeder a-la Candy Crush. Take a look at the recently released Plants V.S. Zombies 2, from PopCap. PVZ2 is a free download in the iOS App Store (sorry Android users) but the player has the option of stepping up to every challenge in the game to progress, or dropping a little bit of cash to help them squeak past the tougher parts. It has become a profitable and relatively inexpensive business model that allows huge publishers to put games like Dead Space and Assassin’s Creed in the hands of millions of people around the world.
The Present
With the rise of the free-to-play and freemium business model, games have gained, in equal parts, acceptance and disdain of the gaming community. Consumers have begun to accept gaming as more than a distraction, but many have unsupervised children that are racking up thousands of dollars while playing those notorious free-to-play games on their parents’ phones and tablets. Still, gaming has entered the mainstream’s eye largely thanks to the widespread acceptance of Smartphones and the games that can be played on them.
See for yourself: You can see people playing Angry Birds or Temple Run on any given branch of public transportation. Consumers compete for high scores and interact via Smartphone games on a daily basis. These people are now gamers â€" pretty much everyone is now a gamer. Sorry guys and gals: You’re one of us now!
With the boom in mobile and social gaming some have begun to question the relevance of gaming on a home console. Is it even worth it if you can do it on your phone? What’s the point? Many people, industry professionals and consumer alike, have said the industry is dying a slow, painful death. Truthfully, however, the increase in mobile gaming is giving the entire industry as a whole a boost that has the potential to bring the gaming community to an entirely different level.
The Future
At this year’s video game convention, E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), Sony and Microsoft debuted much-awaited next-generation consoles: The PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Yet, curiously, there was a new term uttered over and over again throughout the duration of the show: Mobile companion app.
The Mobile Companion App will tether your phone to certain games, allowing players to interact with the game while on the go. Huge upcoming titles such as Watch Dogs and Tom Clancy’s: The Division will come packed in with free Apps that will allow you to do everything from viewing a map to controlling a drone with the intention of wiping out your enemies without putting yourself in danger.
Sony has even announced a companion App dedicated to controlling and interacting with the PS4 from anywhere (providing a signal is available). They’ve touted the unique ability to wake up your console while on the go to tell it to download something, or fiddle with settings. Sony will even have free dedicated apps coming with certain first-party games (such as Knack). Knack’s app will be a completely separate game to unlock perks within the actual PS4 game.
Obviously Apps like this will adapt with the growth of technology â€" but to what end?
If recent trends hold true, the Smartphone and the home console will be inching ever closer to an unbreakable partnership. It’s unlikely that consumers will have the opportunity to run modern AAA quality titles on their phones, but it’s only a matter of time until a separate App is mandatory for certain games to be published (much like Achievements and Trophies are now).
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How these Apps function will also intensify over time. In upcoming games you will be given optional influence through the Apps, but in the future there may be portions of the full game that can be streamed to a compatible mobile device. Given that advanced technology continues to get smaller and smaller, the only limits to these companion Apps are cost and imagination.
Smartphones have become part of who we are as a society: They are forever inseparable from us from a cultural standpoint and our collective reliance on the devices will only continue to strengthen as the phones become more and more advanced. Many say the Smartphone is slowly killing the console industry; I’d have to disagree. Just months ago in September Rockstar North launched Grand Theft Auto V, making $800 million in one day, and $1 billion in only three day’s time. This is the biggest entertainment launch of all time â€" including movies and music. GTA V also launched with a companion App that was downloaded so aggressively that it bugged up? Rockstar’s system.
This is the beginning of a future where our games never have to end. Soon, video game enthusiasts will be just an arm’s length away from their coveted save files via their Smartphone or tablet of choice. Within the next few years we will see another game renaissance of sorts where the game worlds will persist even when we are not playing them â€" only to be reeled in by the companion App that the publisher heavy handedly suggested we download via an innocuous slip of paper delicately nestled within the game’s case.
The future of games does not die with the Smartphone. Yes, it is a new frontier and a change to a formula to which we have become accustomed. These kinds of changes have made waves in the industry before, but the beauty of video games is that they can go anywhere.
This is the unique nature of the video game business. Once upon a time we were hidden away, but now the splinter cell that is the Smartphone has turned everyone with a commute or a minute to kill into one of us. This new generation of gamer is quickly ripening to be cajoled into purchasing a shiny new console to continue a surreptitiously teased experience delivered via a free App that took them completely by surprise.
Things will change with the continuous rise of the Smartphone â€" but when all is said and done our home consoles will be all the better for it. Gaming on your television is as strong as ever, and thankfully, it won’t be going away anytime soon. Unless of course, there’s some apocalyptic event in our near future â€" then video games disappearing will only be our second or third most pressing concern.
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