Mobile offers better chance to develop new IP, says Eidos

Eidos believes the mobile phone offers much more scope for new and creative games, compared to the crowded and expensive console market.

Simon Protheroe, director of new media and IT at Eidos, believes that the high cost of console games development means there is less creative risks begin taken, and that mobile phone gaming offers much better opportunities to introduce new IP and take creative risks.

"As console games are getting more and more expensive to develop, and as the industry is wrestling with what that means in terms of content and franchises, it's getting really difficult to introduce a totally new IP and to take any real creative risk with anything," said Protheroe, speaking exclusively to our sister site MobileIndustry.biz.

"I think because the financial risks for mobile are smaller you can take a few more creative risks and try things that might work or might not."

"The financial outlook for the mobile market is exciting but also there's scope for creative freedom, to generate new ideas and break through to a new market," he stated.

While some believe that the massive installed base of mobile phones means that gaming on handsets can one day become as big as its console counterpart, Protheroe is realistic about any such expectations.

"We can't forget that these devices are bought primarily for voice and text, not for games. A percentage will use them for games but that's not the primary use," he said.

"I wouldn't say, from the position of a traditional publisher, that the mobile industry is going to outstrip the mainstream games industry. But it's certainly growing healthily - it was two billion dollars this year and it's growing pretty well every year."

The publisher, which recently signed a deal with Nokia for embedded Tomb Raider games on N-series handsets, is confident it can seize opportunities in the market, aided by the rate at which mobile technology is growing.

"There's a real market there, it's no flash in the pan - particularly when you see some of the newer handsets, and how good content looks on those," said Protheroe.