Electronic Arts announced that they will be releasing a broad line up of games for mobile phones in late 2005 and 2006. The company plans to release games based on its “FIFA Street”, “Def Jam” and “Simcity” franchises for cell phones from a variety of manufacturers. Currently, EA sells games through Verizon’s “Get It Now” service, which allows users of that phone network to pay for games as they download them onto their phones. The new plan would increase the number of available titles and supported phone networks.
The current software download market for cell phones in the United States is less than US$500 million, but the majority of that figure is for downloadable ring tones. Games on cell phones have been almost an afterthought, with many phone manufacturers touting the ability to play Java-based versions of old arcade classics but not investing in a serious phone gaming ecosystem. Nokia bucked this trend with the launch of their N-Gage gaming phone, but design flaws in the unit made it somewhat of a laughingstock. Even after a redesign of the unit, it failed to make serious headway in the cell phone business, or to take any sales away from portable game devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy or PlayStation Portable. Gaming on cell phones has always faced challenges. The screens are tiny, making it difficult to distinguish the action, particularly if it is in 3D. Cell phone buttons are small, numerous, and positioned right next to each other, the exact opposite of what you want in a game controller. I have even played some Java games on cell phones that don’t take into account the clock speed of the phone itself, becoming unplayably fast on certain models. Will this announcement from EA, the world’s largest software publishing company, mean a change in fortunes for the cell phone gaming industry? Without the ability to change the hardware, it may be an uphill battle.
