Mobile: Just flapping about?
Contemplating the demise of yet another game.
No, this is not a review of Flappy Bird. Firstly, Flappy Bird does not need any review. I mean, the game is so incredibly simple (you tap to fly between pipes) that you could form any opinion of it faster than you could read it. Secondly, I still wish to have a life and Flappy bird seems to kill time like nothing else. Lastly, it is actually impossible for me to review this game, as its not available anymore. Yes, the creator. Dong Nguyen, couldn’t deal with internet furore that accompanied the meteoric rise of his game. Surprisingly this means that he gives up 50,000$ a day. Furthermore, this has lead to phones with flappy bird still installed being offered up for exorbitant amount of money on Ebay.
If we look past all the media attention, what does this mean for mobile gaming? Well, this uber successful game was made by ONE guy. One single man sat down and created a game that was top of app stores around the world. This may encourage more budding creators who may not have the inclination to write an app, which may lead to other great ideas that will become as successful. Furthermore, it showed that a game doesn’t need a great premise, it doesn’t need a story or character development. In fact you can rip off someone elses idea, reimagine it a bit, and it will not influence how successful you are. All that matters if you win in the mobile gaming world is if you are lucky. Yep, it’s that simple dumb luck influences if your game is a flop or if you earn 50k a day.
The last thing we should learn is that mobile gaming is fickle. Remember Words With Friends or Draw Something? More so than console or PC gaming, due to the nature of mobile games. They are meant to be played on the go, only about 5 minutes on average invested at any given time. Perhaps this relates to entire sector itself. If you only play a game for about 5 minutes, why should you remember about it 6 months down the line? This area is so incredibly fast moving, that no one will even remember what flappy bird was 1 month down the line.
