One of the most intriguing, and at times eccentric, personalities in the game design business is Peter Molyneux. The current head of the 22 cans indie development studio spoke at the Gamelab conference held in Barcelona and gave his 2 cents on mobile free-to-play games and how the games industry as a whole struggles to innovate. Molyneux calls gaming “a new form of entertainment, that will be more dominant than film, television, or music,” but questions why we aren’t closer to this goal, a goal which he says is hampered by games with big budgets, particularly console games. Moving onto mobile games, Molyneux had this to say:
“For me, mobile gaming, and especially the free-to-play mechanic, which should be the most brilliant innovation for people to play for a game, is being abused. They monetise addiction… They confuse their audience, who can’t decide if mobile games are casual, or for gamers… Lots of games in the App Store are also being defeated by discovery. If you go hunting on the App Store you can find some wonderful little experiences, but the world never sees them.â€
I’m sure Molyneux also meant to mention the Play Store in there as well. But he hits the nail on the head regarding mobile games; too often are games looking for a quick way to make a buck, rather than truly trying to innovate with the free-to-play platform, something which is financially demanding for those who are prone to investing in these types of games and demonizes free-to-play to the rest of the gaming population. Still, if more influential game designers like Molyneux can start pushing the industry in the right direction, maybe we will one day see the innovation that we’re all waiting to see.
What do you think about Molyneux’s thoughts on mobile free-to-play games? Let us know your opinion.
Source: Pocketgamer
