Tracking gaming through solo and massively multiplayer now to the social-mobile era, Richard Garriott gave the final keynote of GDC Europe 2011.
Entitled '3 Grand Eras of Game Development', he broke down this stages, pointing to the trends the industry is now experiencing.
"Almost every game I've played in the last two years has been on a phone, and I'm playing more games than I've every played before," Garriott said of the current social-mobile era.
His new company Portalarium is working in this area, too.
Get in, go big
The reasons for the success of the sector Garriott argued is the ease of getting into games in terms of time and cost, and the fact that people are playing with their existing real world friends.
"There are hundreds of millions people playing some of these games, and as many women as men are playing," he said.
Talking to the criticisms of hardcore players of social-mobile, Garriott said graphics and gameplay are developing fast.
"Get involved or get left behind," he said to developers. "Players are evolving fast in terms of the quality of games and the depth of gameplay they want to experience."
"There is a brief window to build new companies in the social-mobile space, but it's closing quickly."
Baby steps
In terms of Portalarium's activity, Garriott pointed to understanding and using the social graph as being the key to success.
"Of course, we plan to make great games. I want to reinvent role-playing once again, but to get us there, we're creating a series of products to hone our skills and evolve the market," he revealed.
The first game announced is Ultimate Collector, that's about collecting and selling virtual objects.
"This playloop is very similar to the Ville-style of games," Garriott explained.
His ultimate goal however is to create another largescale alternative world experience.
News
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Related Articles
News
Aug 16th, 2011
GDCE 2011: We want to help Unity devs make $20,000+ of extra revenue per platform says Union's Bruning
News
Aug 16th, 2011
GDCE 2011: Mike Capps on why it made Infinity Blade not Shadow Complex 2, and other Epic stories
Top Stories
News
6 hours, 22 minutes ago
Apple reins in Vision Pro plans following dwindling demand and disappearing apps
News
7 hours, 56 minutes ago
FTC bans noncompete work clauses to encourage entrepreneurialism and higher pay
News
8 hours, 56 minutes ago
The amazing companies you could meet at next week's Dubai GameExpo Summit!
Feature
9 hours, 56 minutes ago
48 top mobile games in soft launch: Squad Busters, CSR 3, Plants vs. Zombies 3, LEGO Hill Climb Adventures, and more
Feature
12 hours, 56 minutes ago
Mobile Mavens: Analysts share insights on Embracer Group's "rapid dissolution", "mature" split and nervy future
Events
App Promotion Summit London | Europe | Apr 25th |
Esports Future Summit | Middle East | Apr 27th |
Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024 | Middle East | May 1st |
The MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 | Middle East | May 2nd |
GameDev Atlantic 2024 | May 4th | |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
Popular Stories
News
Apr 23rd, 2024
Supercell’s Squad Busters soft launches today with over 100,000 Google Play downloads
News
Apr 17th, 2024