EA set to throw its weight behind Android
Sees a shift in the smartphone balance — It seems everyone wants a slice of the Android gaming pie all of a sudden. — With OpenFeint bringing its social networking charms (along with 20 games) to the platform, id Software advertising …
Context & Ripple Effects
Smartphone gaming has spent two years building toward this: Apple was framed in November 2008 as soon to be a mobile gaming force, major titles kept arriving through late 2008 as iPhone gaming matured, and by April 2009 Nintendo and Sony were reported as freaking out over the iPhone. Until now that disruption has been a one-platform story.
The change on 18 September 2010 is that the second smartphone platform gets a serious content stack at once: EA confirms it will throw its support behind Android gaming, OpenFeint brings its social networking service along with 20 games to the platform, and id Software advertises its presence there too. The observation in the coverage is explicit — everyone wants a slice of the Android gaming pie all of a sudden.
First-order effects
- Android gains a day-one catalog and a social layer: OpenFeint's 20 titles plus EA's committed support mean buyers no longer have to choose between Google's platform and a real games library.
Second-order effects
- EA's move breaks the de facto iOS-first habit among premium publishers — rivals like Gameloft and smaller studios face pressure to ship Android versions simultaneously rather than as afterthoughts, doubling their porting workloads.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, handheld incumbents Nintendo and Sony stop facing one disruptive smartphone platform and start facing two competing app-store economies, weakening the case for single-purpose gaming hardware.
The trend: Premium mobile gaming is shifting from an iOS-only phenomenon to a two-platform market, with cross-platform social layers like OpenFeint carrying the same games onto both stores.