After a luxurious lunch at Mobile Gaming USA West 2013 in San Francisco, it was time to consider the opportunities outside of iOS and Android gaming.
'Fishing in a smaller pond: Evaluating the mobile gaming market outside iOS and Android device' was the title of the panel.
"We've been around for 12 years, and we see how fast things can change," said Kenny Rosenblatt, CEO of developer Arkadium, which has a strategic deal with Microsoft to make games for Windows 8.
"We knew we wanted to get into mobile heavily, but we weren't going to be first movers in iOS and Android," he pointed out.
"The product is good. Windows 8 lacks a good app ecosystem but Microsoft is spending a lot of money on that. In 2014, in 2015, Microsoft will have the lion share of the mobile market."
Gamers, not platforms
Of course, not everyone agreed.
"Gamers' interests are diversifying and that's why our interests are diversifying," said Sony's director of emerging platforms, Chris Mahoney, who handles PlayStation Mobile and PlayStation Home.
"I don't think there will be one dominant player in future. There will be lots of different platforms that overlap. People aren't a Sony gamer or an iOS gamer. They're just a gamer."
Abhinav Gupta, CEO of developer Game Scorpion pointed to the advantages for developers to release games everywhere.
"Nook is great market for premium games, especially for kids' games," he said.
"But you have to be aware of changes. With Nook, we really don't know what's going to happen when the Google Play market becomes available."
He highlighted that Microsoft is paying developers to port their games to Windows, something Samsung is also doing for Tizen.
"There's going to be screens everywhere," he said. "Keeping up with new, emerging market places, we'll see new ways of creating games."
Food frenzy
"People have an insatiable appetite for mobile games, so when new markets launch, there isn't enough content for players to consume," said Sony's Mahoney.
"We're working really hard to make sure we have new content in each of our categories every week. Mobile gaming is the world's greatest Happy Meal."
Conversely, the problem when app stores fill up is discoverability.
"Discoverability sucks everywhere," commented Rosenblatt.
He also took a more business approach to whether to support new platforms
"I've pushed games onto new platforms and made pennies," he said.
"I want to know if a developer has made a million dollars on that new platform, otherwise I want a minimum guarantee before I deploy my valuable resources."
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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.
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