Shift to Low-Tech games Bad

With ultra-realistic video games like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Crysis being developed by major video game companies it is surprising to see the strong pull for two dimensional flash games offered by smart phones. The popularity of these games has been a source of concern for video game producers as reported by Joshua Brustein of New York Times.

The emergence of smart phones in the video game market has disturbed the progressing video game experience. With every year, video games become more challenging and more realistic however the recent pull for the games on smart phones has pushed back this development significantly. Video game producers who are creating games based on the progressing video game experience are suffering because of the abnormal trend that hit the video game market due to smart phones.

The smart phone market is forcing video game producers to delegate resources within their company to cater to recent pull to lower quality games. Nintendo, creator of the notorious Super Mario Series and interactive Wii system, told game developers that “smart phones were driving a trend towards lower quality, and economically unsustainable, video games.” These lower quality games are not economical because resources put into creating these game end up losing their appeal relatively quickly whereas a quality game lasts for a longer time.

As a gamer I tend to agree with the Nintendo. Games on smart phones last for a couple weeks before they lose their appeal. I appreciate challenging and realistic games like StarCraft 2 and Call of Duty over overly elementary/repetitive games like Angry Birds. Games like StarCraft 2, ten years from now, will continued to be played which goes back to what Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s chief, says regarding video game development, “Maintaining high value games are top priority.”