Feature

MGF 2009: Keynote promises evolution

Forum kicked off by Vodafone Head of Games

MGF 2009: Keynote promises evolution
The first day of MGF 2009 kicked off with a Keynote Address from Suresh Sudera, Head of Games for Vodaphone. Having taken the podium to the accompanying strains of 'Smooth Operator,' Suresh set out his intentions to "provide an inspirational speech to all."

He felt confident that 2009 would be the best year yet for mobile gaming.

First, some figures. There are 4 billion mobile phones in use around the world, with some 415 million 3G subscribers. Mobile gaming makes up an impressive 15 per cent of the 48.3 billion dollar a year games industry. So where do we go from here?

Suresh points out that every year we seem to receive promises that this year is the year of convergence. Unsurprisingly, he asserts that 2009 is that year when everything will come together in a beautiful package. And I don't think he's talking about the iPhone.

There followed some Vodafone blurb, the most interesting part of which was the claim that one in five mobile phones throughout the world is connected to the telecom giant. Vodafone's aim, he said, was for "total connection" across all media. Including, of course, mobile games.

A brief history of the mobile gaming industry followed, ranging from the release of Snake in 1997 (as Suresh points out, most people would still say "that's what I know a mobile game to be") to the emergence of the first mobile games publisher in 2000 and on to the rather fragmented industry we see today.

Then comes the first mention of the day of the 'I' word, with Suresh admitting that Apple's device has been a "wake up call" for everyone. "It's providing a very good benchmark for the industry," he said, "it's certainly helped me."

The key word for the speech, it emerges, is evolution - how to progress an industry in which Suresh says revenues are "flatlining".

He outlines three key issues for game developers in 2009:

-Handset fragmentation - what are they developing for?

-Low margins for developers - "Is the business going to be sustainable? It's a serious question."

-Poor retailing - what is the best way for their games to be sold?

Suresh then made a bold claim: "It is my goal to only be able to give you (the developers) one SDK"

To achieve this, Vodafone is launching Betavine - an open community application for developers, where they can sign up, play each others' games and enjoy the benefits of peer feedback.

He finished by asserting that while mobile gaming had matured, it still had plenty of potential to evolve.

One question from the floor concerned the perceived position of game makers as being low on the food chain - did Suresh feel this had changed? "I wouldn't be here today otherwise," was the reply. "I really do want to change this business."

Someone then asked what Vodafone was doing to match Apple's ability to sell games to users, which gained a rather vague response, merely acknowledging the generally poor retail experience and promising to "target everything we can."

Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.