Analyst: More MMOs on cell phones in 2008

by Mike Schramm Jan 7th 2008 at 10:30PM

Filed under: Business models, Game mechanics, Leveling, Opinion, Mobile, Casual

If there's one trend so far in 2008, it's mobile MMOs. Last year, we heard about both a Japanese game and a mobile platform, and already this year, John Carmack has says he wants to do an MMO on-the-go. And now, analyst and VC Baris Karadogan says MMObile games are only going to get bigger.

And not just in terms of games you play on the phone. He does say that casual phone games will become more social, but he also says that huge MMOs like World of Warcraft will attempt to develop casual, mobile versions that can be "played" from a phone, and have an effect in the game itself. As in, you'll play a quick casual game on your phone, and how you do on that game will give you XP or skill points or even some extra cash in the online game.

I doubt Blizzard will be the first to jump on such a bandwagon-- their history is releasing polished games on established platforms, not breaking new ground. But it's easy to see how a smaller, up-and-coming, very API friendly game might try to duck into the mobile software space, and put together a model for how MMObile or MMO-to-go games might work.

Tags: 2008, analyst, cell-phones, innovation, mmo-to-go, mmobile, mobile, speculation, trend, world-of-warcraft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Aaron said on 12:15AM 1-08-2008

It's an interesting concept that I would like to see take off. The hardest part I would see is adapting it for different phones and platforms.

K Whitt said on 3:45AM 1-08-2008

Actually, the Korean made MMO "Ragnarok Online" by Gravity came out with a few Cell Phone games that gave you in game items and gold based on your performance in the Cell Phone games. It was pretty interesting. They had the "Kafra Quest" (Kafra Corp being the organization of Maid Outfit wearing NPC's that stored your gear and sold Teleports and other such things) where you were a Kafra agent and you went around and killed monsters and collected lost things. Then they made Class based games that were similar: Mage, Merchant, Acolyte, etc etc. I think a few of the cell games got ported to other territories than Japan and S.Korea, and 2 came to the US for a short bit on only one carrier and a limited amount of phone types.

It was a very nifty idea on a way to extend the influence and charm of the game to places where you couldn't always have a PC available.