MEM: Qualcomm's Mike Yuen urges mobile developers to "get creative"

Delivering a keynote at MEM yesterday, Mike Yuen, gaming group director at Qualcomm, explained how innovative, cross-platform game design could lead to mass-market adoption of mobile gaming.

Applying the principles of Malcolm Gladwell's 'The Tipping Point', Yuen explored the steps game developers needed to take in order to reach a tipping point in mobile gaming, mass-appeal, he believes, comes down to fundamentals in actual game design.

Yuen illustrated the importance of innovation in game design, the character driven Pac-Man (1980), side-scrolling Super Mario Bros (1985), learning curve of Tetris (1989) and user-generated content in Doom (1993), all highlighted as tipping points in the history of gaming.

Similar innovations are expected in mobile gaming, "it's like the beginning of the gaming market, but all over again". Yuen is a firm believer that the growth explosion of increasingly sophisticated handsets, and higher customer expectations will force all developers to find new ways of thinking about mobile game design.

Urging developers to consider mobile from the outset, Yuen continued to identify six design considerations that would lead to the mass adoption that so many publishers covet. Leveraging mobile DNA and utilising the uniqueness of the platform, incentivised play, pre-launch teaser content, loyalty programmes, viral marketing and, most importantly, integration with other traditional gaming platforms.

Through cross-platform design, Yuen believes additional revenue streams can be achieved and a wider audience reached. An SMS short-code found in Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow was used as an example, a simple illustration of how developers are integrating mobile into the 'development mix'. "Simply re-branding for wireless isn't enough," he added.

The tipping point in generating mass-market appeal of mobile games is through creativity in cross-platform design. "Ideas, products and messages spread just like viruses do", a notion Yuen believes holds true in mobile gaming, if the idea is compelling, a word-of-mouth epidemic will result, taking the industry to "a whole new generation in gaming" he concluded.