An insult to the market's potential, or the first step towards a studio more comfortable on console acclimatising itself with the mobile scene?

Either way, 'companion apps' – titles designed to tie in with and support big releases on console – have made regular appearances on mobile marketplaces over the last few years, with big hitters such as Halo, Crackdown and Fable all getting in on the action.

Such is their allure, BioWare CEO and co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka says the studio is actively considering launching further companion apps in the future, despite the somewhat lacklustre response that greeted its last effort, Mass Effect: Galaxy.

Getting past Galaxy

"We're doing more stuff [on mobile]," said Muzyka, whose company was acquired by EA in 2007.

"EA as a whole is doing more mobile games, and at BioWare we're looking at mobile extensions for our franchises as well."

The launch of further companion apps may trigger a wider assault on mobile if comments by Dr. Greg Zeschuk's are anything to go by.

While BioWare's GCO said the firm has "nothing to announce specifically right now", he added mobile was going to be "one of the dominant platforms going forward".

"It's going to be right up there with anything else – it already is in a sense," Zeschuk continued.

"In terms of dollar share, maybe not yet, but we're just starting down the hill on free-to-play on mobile devices. That's a big thing right now. So yeah, we take mobile pretty seriously."

Risk and reward

Mobile also affords developers a certain freedom, Zeschuk added, pointing to the smaller financial risk associated with projects on smartphone platforms.

That's no excuse to serve up something shoddy, however, he concluded.

"One thing we've learned is that you need to lead with gameplay – making sure the core gameplay is really tight," said Zeschuk.

"And another thing is just understanding the platform well enough that you really are state of the art in terms of what you're delivering relative to what's there. And sometimes it's just experimental too, and on mobile with something of that scale it's actually a lot safer to explore ideas."

[source: IndustryGamers]