As the year draws to an end, it's time to look back at what happened in the world of mobile gaming during 2009.
Equally, the lessons of history are useless without a future to demonstration what we've learnt, so as well as asking various notables about their view on the past 12 months, we're also getting them to look ahead to 2010.
You can see the full list of our end of year interviews here.
Scottish mobile developer Tag Games demonstrated a range of business models during 2009, successfully bringing its mobile GTA-style game Car Jack Streets to iPhone, while also doing work-for-hire, and announcing it would be publishing thirdparty content in 2010. It will also be releasing games for DSiWare and PSP Minis.
Its MD is Paul Farley.
Pocket Gamer: What was the most significant event of 2009?
Paul Farley: It may have been a fairly underwhelming launch but the arrival of Sony's PSPgo, a video game platform that only supports digital downloads is surely a sign of things to come for the industry as a whole.
Mobile and handheld continue to lead in terms of future business and distribution models and the PSPgo reinforces this position.
What was the most significant event for Tag Games?
After three years of developing original IP, we had our first hit with Car Jack Streets on iPhone earlier in the year. It was a landmark title for us as it also demonstrated Tag's evolution from simple 2D Java mobile games to fully 3D console quality titles.
What was your favourite mobile game of 2009?
I'm still playing Harbor Master six months after release. It took the line drawing mechanic from Flight Control and made the gameplay faster and more immediate. It's an example of great arcade game-play sensibility in a contemporary form.
What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2010?
Iphone will continue to dominate smartphone hardware sales but will start eating into the mass market as exclusivity is eroded.
The large, touchscreen format will start to become the norm for all mobile phones and users will start to drift away from operators for mobile content as mobile search and the app store concept takes hold.
If you could enforce one New Year's resolution, what would it be?
Operators moving to a 70/30 revenue share model across all mobile content including games.
Thanks to Paul for his time.
To keep in touch with Tag Games, check out its website and Twitterfeed.
Interview
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Top Stories
News
May 4th, 2024
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Views E10 - Brawl Stars smashes 2023 revenue, Square Enix’s extraordinary losses, and Haaland signs for Clash of Clans
News
May 3rd, 2024
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
News
May 3rd, 2024
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
News
May 3rd, 2024
Mobile Movers: All the latest appointments and job moves from around the industry
Events
LA Games Conference 2024 | North America | May 6th |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Develop: Brighton 2024 | Europe | Jul 9th |