Interview

Interview: Mike Yuen on cross-platform gaming in 2008

How far has it come since his GDC keynote in 2005?

Interview: Mike Yuen on cross-platform gaming in 2008
Back in March 2005, Qualcomm's Mike Yuen gave a hugely interesting presentation at the GDC Mobile conference. Titled 'The Tipping Point in Wireless Gaming,' it suggested that more cross-platform games would help tip mobile gaming into a mass-market phenomenon.

In other words, more links between mobile games and their equivalents on PC and console. Three and a half years later, we wondered what Yuen's thoughts were on the progress (or lack of it) in this area. So we asked him.

We've been zinging emails back and forth for a few weeks, and the results are below.

How far has the kind of cross-platform gaming you talked about at GDC in 2005 come since? Is it fair to say it's been slower progress than you might have hoped? If so, what's holding it back?

Yeah, I did that keynote at GDC Mobile back in 2005 in San Francisco and called cross-platform design the tipping point in wireless gaming. I was actually sick that day and also had to suffer through the Windows blue screen of death and my laptop freezing up with a few slides to go, so I still remember that day pretty clearly.

The talk seemed to generate some interest in the audience, which included Brandon Sheffield coming up to me afterwards and asking if a piece could be written for Game Developer Magazine.

Since then there have been some games released by publishers like EA that have had some cross-platform elements, including being able to earn tokens on your Pogo mobile game that could then be transferred to your account in Pogo.com. But yes, it's more than fair to say that progress has been slower than I would have liked to see.

At E3 2006, Microsoft announced their Live Anywhere vision, which has very strong elements of cross-platform design, but even this initiative hasn't fully come to fruition yet. But that doesn't mean I don't still believe in the vision, its value to gaming and its ultimate success.

The great thing is that we are certainly seeing innovative experimentation in cross-platform design. For example, SciFi Network announced back in June of this year that they were planning to integrate an MMO with a new series starting in 2010.

Although not exactly a pure cross-platform design among game platforms, it's encouraging to me to see people willing to try different ways to combine media and play across formats and platforms.

Also in June there was the announcement that Disney was combining its mobile, online and games divisions into one entity called Disney Interactive Media Group.

In a leaked memo to Disney staff, Iger said that the purpose was to "take advantage of rapid advancements in interactive digital media across all platforms as well as the convergence of connected console, Internet and mobile-based games."

So the rubber will meet the road when we actually see some true cross-platform titles, but I'm heartened by examples like these that at least show movement in this direction.

To really tip this, we'll need to see someone like Blizzard create a cross-platform title with mobile tied into WoW. MMOs seem like naturals. Or if someone like Will Wright designed cross-platform elements into one of his new games from day one. Again, these are just examples of what it would take.

However, I think the challenge is that it requires commitment from traditional console/PC/online designers and executive management to include mobile from the beginning and not just treat it as an afterthought, which is generally how it's done today in terms of bringing brands/franchises to the mobile platform.

It will also likely require more thought on the retail pricing front in that it may end up requiring something akin to a multi-platform purchase model to make it the most appealing to consumers.

Finally, in order for this to fly we also need to be sure operators are supportive and obviously have flat rate data plans. Mobile doesn't get the same level of respect as the other gaming platforms, although with mobile devices like the iPhone that is starting to change now.

What are the incentives for publishers to invest in cross-platform gaming now, and how have they changed? What's nudging them towards this?

Change always takes time and new ways of thinking also take time to be adopted. But again, if there was a titanic event, like Blizzard designing WoW in a true cross-platform manner that showed the way forward as a real example, then I think you would see others quickly doing the same thing because they have to stay competitive from a feature and experience perspective.

The publisher who moves first has a very real time-to-market advantage from a design and development standpoint because you can't just tack this on at the end if you want to do it right.

And if done right, I believe it will create even more loyalty in a publisher's titles/brands/franchises and the incentive is to do it right before someone else does. Then that publisher gets all of the accolades of being innovative and expanding the design and gameplay of its titles from being on just a single platform to multiple platforms.

I think this will also translate to more revenues, because now there will be revenue being generated on multiple platforms. Imagine if Blizzard could generate another monthly subscription from their WoW mobile companion app.

It's often said that the game industry isn't necessarily pushing the envelope to explore new innovative things because the game economics tend to reinforce risk aversion. This is why you see franchise building with sequels and licensing of proven brands.

In some ways it's tough to argue because for publishers establishing a franchise, a long series of sequels generally translates to big money in the bank. And so the cycle repeats itself and reinforces the same behaviour.

I think cross-platform design will allow publishers to break away from this even with a franchise and act as a catalyst to drive new change in design creativity. Publishers will be able to extend their brands and experiences beyond wired home devices to the ever-present mobile phone.

It will also create new types of experiences for consumers to enjoy which they're always looking for - just look at the success of the Wii as an example.

So for something like World of Warcraft, the best cross-platform play is a spin-off application, rather than a full 'play WoW on your phone' approach? But would someone like Blizzard be under pressure to do something more whizzy, rather than the sensible application?

When I talk about cross-platform design for something like WoW, I'm not saying you should expect an experience on a mobile phone like you would get on a PC. There's no comparison there. What I'm talking about is having a complementary experience on another platform that would add to the overall experience.

For example, with WoW it could be a companion app that would allow players to remotely access the in-game world, participate in secondary market trading, conduct mini side quests or even train their characters.

From a blue sky perspective, what if the phone was GPS-enabled and the game design allowed players to travel to actual physical locations to "pickup" or "deposit" items? Taken a step further and adding a marketing spin, what if players could go to a certain coffee house and buy a certain drink, which would be akin to drinking an elixir.

Sure there are questions to be solved from a game design standpoint, but this again is the whole idea of trying to inspire designers to think through the many possibilities cross-platform design provides in elevating the consumer experience and pushing the medium forward.

Blizzard might feel they'd be under pressure to do something completely whiz bang and over the top, but I think if they did nothing more than the sensible second option it would still shine a spotlight on cross-platform design and trigger others to follow.

The window of opportunity is open; it's just a matter of who wants to climb through because that's the company that will receive the recognition.

Is there a danger that mobile, because of its technical complexities, could end up squeezed out of the interesting cross-platform stuff? Disney is looking at converging online and DS, for example, while that Sci Fi Channel project is TV and online, not mobile.

Certainly it's a possibility, but isn't that the whole point? Part of what is being attempted here is to break new ground and show an innovative way of doing things, as cross-platform design reinforces and creates more consumer interaction with the brand/franchise on multiple platforms.

This can also mean promotion and marketing, in that cross platform on a mobile device is more dynamic and can allow the publisher to start introducing new elements of the core launch platform in advance of it coming out.

I think companies in the mobile space already understand the complexity on both the technical and business side of creating games for multiple handsets, operators, and languages - the so-called tens of thousands of SKUs exercise of launching globally that many companies like Glu have spoken about - and now this adds yet another layer on top of that.

However, in order for cross-platform design to really have significance and succeed, it will require commitment from the top levels of the companies as well as from the creative designers and their teams to build it in from the start as part of the development of a title.

What about the barriers that the owners of the different gaming platforms put in place? Developers tell me it's been impossible so far to make DS games connect out to other platforms, for example. Could the platform owners' protective instincts stymie attempts to make more cross-platform games?

For cross-platform designed titles that tie together console, PC, web and mobile to really take off, there is no question that there will have to be better and more interoperability between the various platforms. It's a tough question to weigh if you're a successful platform holder with an installed base.

On one hand, from a conceptual and innovation standpoint, cross-platform designed titles might make a lot of creative sense, but on the other hand the question is whether you really want to open your platform up to make it more accessible for this to happen.

For example, a platform holder like Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo may conclude that because it has such a strong installed base of devices and users, perhaps it makes more sense to keep it confined to their own ecosystem than to open it up to other platform holders, which is usually the primary barrier to cross-platform design.

In this case, a business decision wins out over potential creativity, which is what generally happens when these types of decisions are made. It's a similar scenario for the mobile industry, although it's obvious that this is changing at a much faster pace than console gaming with the rise of the open platform.

Given this reality, I still believe that even if a cross-platform designed title was done just within the confines of a single platform owner, this would still be a big win for cross-platform design. And if it were ultimately successful, then it will spawn the domino effect and you'll see more of it being done, and then we're off to the races.

What do you think of Nokia's Reset Generation, which has the whole mobile to web thing going on, with a community around it? And the serious point - does it take someone of Nokia's size to throw so much money at cross-platform to make it work right now?

I like the fact that Nokia has said they were going to do something like this (Project White Rock) and made the commitment in resources and money to actually do it.

While they do have elements of cross-platform design in their title, I think they're somewhat limited because they're starting from scratch with a new brand. If they can grow their installed base fast, particularly on the web side with folks who aren't even aware of the mobile aspects, I think that's a key first milestone.

The challenge they face is they don't get to turn on an instant rabid base of users from say an existing community like WoW.

That's why I still believe the tipping point will come when a well-known brand/franchise from the core industry moves first. A close second to this would be a well-known established casual title. However, in the absence of that I believe what Nokia is doing is great for the industry, and their size and resources make them one of a handful of companies that can attempt to this.

Bringing it back to what you do at Qualcomm, what concrete things can Qualcomm do to make this stuff happen, if anything? What sort of things are you pursuing with your company hat on to make your personal vision come true?

Although Qualcomm isn't planning to develop and publish any cross-platform titles, the company's heritage and strength in providing core enabling technologies and partnering with other companies to help execute on their strategies allows us to make this stuff happen from a non-application level standpoint.

Certainly, we'll continue to provide faster and more capable wireless network connectivity as well as improve other basic building blocks such as more advanced multimedia capabilities in our chipsets and improved secure content delivery and monetization services. All of these things need to be leveraged from the mobility aspect for a true cross-platform designed title to work.

And lastly, we'll continue to evangelize the concept within the industry to encourage other publishers and developers to expand their thinking when it comes to what mobile can enable in terms of their own brands and franchises.

Contributing Editor

Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)