Mobile gaming powerhouse Gameloft is not happy with Electronic Arts, criticizing the publisher for itsholiday iOS sale, in which a huge amount of games were offered for a measly $0.99 apiece. According to Gameloft head Michael Guillemot, such a sale threatens innovation and makes it hard for smaller titles to compete.
“There is a high uncertainty for the future anytime somebody can steal the market at Christmas,” he states, adding that it will lead to a “good enough” attitude where developers rush games out of the door for a quick 99 cents, rather than develop a better title that costs more money.
Frankly, as much as I respect Gameloft, this guy is talking out of his ass. I’ve argued for a long time that major publishers need to start charging less for their games, because iPhone gamers generally don’twanta lot of $10 titles. Guillemot acts as if the iPhone top ten chart hasn’t always been full of $0.99 games, when it nearly always has.
Indie developers have been competing just fine with their dollar games. The fact that EA reduced so many prices to a buck only tells me that the publisher is finally starting to “get” what mobile gaming is about. EA isn’t changing the market — it’s fitting into it.
