As we consider the trends of the past 12 months and look forward to the next 12 months, we've asked the great and the good in the mobile gaming industry for their opinions.
Simon Parkin is a freelancer journalist, regular PocketGamer.biz contributor and co-founder of games website Hookshot Inc.
Pocket Gamer: What do you think was the most significant event for the mobile games industry in 2012?
Simon Parkin: The success of CSR Racing on iOS will have ongoing, disruptive repercussions: a free-to-play game dressed in a theme more generally associated with core, hobbyist titles that has made a gigantic amount of money.
But perhaps more significantly it was made by orthodox console game developers trying their hand at something new while bringing their previous expertise to enrich.
This will have a inspirational effect on others who, like them, have been made redundant in the past couple of years at major studios but through their example can see a way forward into potential new chapter of success.
What was the most significant event for your company?
Launching Hookshot Inc. was significant because it brought me several steps closer to indie game makers around the world and opened my eyes to a huge number of games that I might not have otherwise known about.
Launching a site in one's already meagre free time - and who really has free time in days like these? - has been a challenge, but the mistakes we've made have been important and the friendships between the four founders have deepened as a result.
What was your favourite mobile game of the year?
Super Hexagon for those short, sharp bursts of play while waiting in a queue or laying awake at night.
Crimson Shroud on 3DS because Yasumi Matsuno has made a new game and woah.
And Letterpress is now my favourite word game, something enriching that I play every day.
What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2013?
A move in free-to-play games away from 'energy' mechanics as a means to monetise to something more creative and pro-player.
What's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?
Be interested.
Thanks to Simon for his time.
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With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
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