On the back of the announcement that Grand Theft Auto III 10th Anniversary Edition will be coming to mobiles, Rockstar looks to be taking the mobile gaming scene seriously, with the further revelation that the seminal sandbox title will be hitting a variety of devices, not just the powerhouse that is the iPhone 4S.
But according to Rockstar's vice president of creativity Dan Houser, mobile gaming is guilty of flooding the games industry with quantity over quality, with money being too much of a focus.
A rich man's world
"This is my personal opinion, but I think a lot of people in the general mobile industry are more focused on making money than making good products," said Houser in an interview with Japan's Famitsu.
"We're a business, too - we have to think about how to build revenue and we value the knowledge you need for that, but we want to conduct business with superior products. Focusing on nothing but business is depressing to me; it's boring.
"I want people to understand that we make games for more than just to make money," he added.
Who needs strategy anyway?
Houser also went some way to outline the positive nature of Rockstar's lack of a mobile strategy.
"Our mobile strategy is not at all different from our console strategy - in other words, we don't have one," he said.
"Our focus is purely on making games that we can be confident on the quality of. We've never made something because we felt it was a business opportunity or because we thought there was some niche in the marketplace we could fill.
"I don't think mobile is going to swallow up video games, but it's an important topic. The massive phenomenon we saw when portable game systems came out has already spread over the mobile market, but we've experienced successes and failures in portables in the past."
[source: 1UP]
News
When Matt was 7 years old he didn't write to Santa like the other little boys and girls. He wrote to Mario. When the rotund plumber replied, Matt's dedication to a life of gaming was established. Like an otaku David Carradine, he wandered the planet until becoming a writer at Pocket Gamer.
Related Articles
Top Stories
News
Jun 6th, 2024
SocialPeta's evolution: advancing mobile game advertising with AI, Apple Search Ads, and STEAM game insights
News
Jun 6th, 2024
As RPGs and casual genres drastically decline, Monopoly Go! gives casino a 34% revenue surge
Events
Tribeca Games Festival 2024 | North America | Jun 5th |
Guerrilla Collective 2024 | North America | Jun 6th |
Angles 24 Freeplay Conference | Australasia | Jun 6th |
Game Audio Symposium 2024 | Europe | Jun 7th |
Games Growth Summit 2024 | Europe | Jun 7th |
PitchYaGame Live 2024 | Jun 7th | |
Future Games Show 2024 | Jun 8th | |
PC Gaming Show 2024 | Jun 9th |
Popular Stories
Feature
May 29th, 2024
Supercell's big Squad Busters mistake and how they're missing out on millions
News
May 31st, 2024
Week in Views - Squad Busters goes global, broken app stores, and Hill Climb Racing gets the LEGO treatment
as
Feature
Jun 3rd, 2024