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Analyst Pachter Says Mobile Games "Definitely Not A Fad"

We spoke with Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter this week, and he had a couple of choice statements about mobile gaming. "The ubiquity of smart phones has made access easier, and limited the ability of carriers to capture the lion's share of profit," he said. "I think the business is real now, and think there is tremendous opportunity."

However, he expressed doubt over whether or not publishers will see much success from the current mobile gaming market, saying "It's hard to say that publishers will benefit (other than EA), since most don't participate in a meaningful way." As the mobile gaming market continues providing out-of-nowhere success stories, it'll be interesting to see if gaming's big publishers start taking a serious look at the medium.

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Comments
  • Well of course mobile gaming isn't a fad, I just wish my iphone had quality games like the DS and PSP have. Also, I don't know why but, without buttons it's hard to get into the games on my phone.

  • I love my little iPhone game time wasters and will be using them for the next 10 to 15 years.

  • i love mobile games..they keep me distracted while im waiting in line for something or on a trip somewhere...i really enjoy Pocket God on the ipod touch and i want more games like that...i wish big time developers would take time to make more quality games on mobile devices

  • Mobile gaming is here to stay, but like xXsuperbananaXx said, we need real controls.  Take Pac-Man on the iPhone for instance.  It's arcade perfect and priced right at $.99, but all three control schemes offered for it suck and seriously handicap the experience.  Angry Birds works great with only touch controls, but some games need a stick or d-pad.

  • Mod

    Every time a news outlet quotes this Pachter fellow he's just stating the obvious.  Only he's saying what was obvious months or a year ago.  All the editors at GI should add "analyst" to end of their job title.

    And form now on, all Game Informer Online Members shall be known as "Game Informer Online Member Analyst"

  • Analyst Patcher Once Again Is Late To The Show When It Comes To Common Sense That Gamers Have Known For A While Already.

  • I love how you pick the same garbage model pose of Patcher for every PatchAttack...this guy has some(occasionally) good insight...but lets get some variety on that pic...he looks like a pornstar...or a pet-er-ass

  • I am getting the next gen iPad, and am really looking forward to that. I think all mobile gaming needs is a little tender loving care from other big gaming companies than EA.

  • Who knows?  They might.  After all, Sony has a phone subsidiary, even though their phones are all teh suck. (and mind you, I usually love Sony products, but in this case, it's Samsung, LG or maybe HTC all the way)

  • Well, I don't see it moving beyond smartphones, or even really that much beyond the iPhone/Pad, but I generally agree.

  • I've personally given up on traditional hand-helds in favor of "mobile gaming." DS and PSP games are too expensive and are often harder to find reliable reviews for -I can't take the word of someone who eats up DS games, because their tastes for that sort of thing are going to be way out of whack with mine.

    iPhone games have an average cost bellow 5$, with around 15$ being the max and the 1-3$ range for most paid apps. While there's plenty of shovelware, an experienced gamer can tell between a Pop-Cap game and an "everyone-else" cash-in ripoff.

    Someone was wishing for DS or PSP quality games on iPhone, well they exist, you just have t find them (and expect that they're going to be in the 5-15$ range). GTA:Chinatown Wars on iPhone is arguably better than the DS version (it has better and more music and some added mission type stuff- the controls are not as solid as playing on DS, but they're still very good).

    At any rate, I can spend 1-3$ on a potentially not-great game and not blink, paying 25-35$ for the exact same game on DS is ludicrous.

  • Has Pachter been right about anything?

  • I agree.  I play social games on Facebook and mobile games on my iPod all the time.

    However, console gaming is my first love and always will be.

  • Yea I don't think it's a fad,  but I hope more solid titles come out for the iPhone.

  • I really don't use my phone for portable gaming that's what my GBA, DS,and psp is for.

  • Mobile gaming is a total joke. It might be getting close to a high now, but it's going to crash as more and more people realize that about 1 in every 25,000 apps are even worth buying, and that designing apps is a colossal waste of time.

  • MKobile games make doctor appointments easier.

  • Mobile games make doctor appointments easier.

  • Crap I double posted.Sorry.:(

  • I think games must be fads because there made to get more cash for the industry the games would be like playing a game on the ds touch screen only without butttons I'd say the PSP Go has done the download only game idea iPhoneish game concept a whole lot better like Andy said in issue 211 (Current Issue I think)He said Nintendo and Sony need to make a gaming phone(But not like N-Gage). But he said even if that dosen't happen it will eventually happen which after reading this I agree.