At the start of 2012, we ran a set of interviews with developers of location-based games.

Then, it was a somewhat nascent genre, albeit with localised successes, but with little evidence of mass gamer appeal.

So nine months on, we've re-interviewed developers who remain focused on location-based games to see how the market has changed and what they hope for the future.

First up is Ken Seto, CEO of Massive Damage, which recently signed a deal with DeNA for its Mobage platform. 

Pocket Gamer: Since our interview in January, what's your view on how the location-based gaming market has developed during 2012?

Ken Seto: I think we're still in the infancy of this particular sub-genre.

The biggest change I see is that people are less hesitant to use location-based games and apps. So many other apps are using location, that it's become common-place to see that 'use your location' prompt, and people are now a lot more savvy and accepting.

Do you think location-based gaming is a good niche or does it still have the potential to be truly mass market?

I truly believe that location-based gaming can be mass market. Even Apple is pushing for location-based apps in a big way. A lot of its own features such as 'Find Friends' are pushing people to become more comfortable with using location services.

If you build a great game that is approachable and use location in a delightful but non-demanding way, it's entirely possible for it to be a hit.

What do you think are the key challenges in the space?

My take on location-based gaming is that we're only scratching the surface in terms of how we can effectively use location. Games that are designed to ask people to physically move around will not lead to mass market acceptance.

Our games have always approached location as a feature that we apply when it works well within the context of our games.

Our next game will be location-based as well but we're taking the integration in a very unique manner. It will use an isometric display but we are not going for a 1-to-1 relationship with the real world.

As you probably noticed, we don't actually use maps within Please Stay Calm. I think maps are a double-edged sword. They tie the player to the real world in a very visual way, but can also be very distracting from the game world you're trying to present to the player.



Having said that, it's entirely possible that one of our future games may end up using a map, but probably not in the manner that other developers are using them.

What variation do you see in the take up of location-based gaming in terms of global reach? It seems very US-centric at present?

From our data and talking to other location-based game developers, we're seeing quite a good reception in European countries like Finland, the UK as well as Asian territories such as Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

Our game isn't localised (yet) but I don't think location-based gaming is a barrier in countries outside of the US.

How are you attempting to push the market?

We've recently re-focused our company vision statement to reflect what we're actually setting out to achieve: Massive Damage is building the future of massively multiplayer RPGs on mobile.

Some people don't realise that Please Stay Calm is a persistent MMO game.

When you're killing zombies in your local drugstore, any other players will see the reduction in zombies as well as your character in that location. Everyone plays on the same game world and their actions impact that world.

What we're trying to do is distil the best parts of great MMOs such as Ultima Online, Eve Online, World of Warcraft and Guild Wars and bringing these amazing multiplayer social experiences into MMOs that are specifically designed for mobile.

We're not interesting in awkwardly cramming a desktop experience onto your phone.

Thanks to Ken for his time.