Anet's Mobile Game

[Shylo.1426]

Let's pretend we actually do have mobile phones for a minute...

 

If Anet did come out and say they are making a mobile game would it be a bad thing

_take a step back and picture this_

**Guild Wars: Prophecies Retold** for mobile

I think Guild Wars 1 could be perfect for a mobile port.

[Trise.2865]

If by "perfect" you mean "plausibly adaptable", then yes, it is. Touch controls work nearly as well as mouse-driven, and handheld PC's (let's be honest, they're not really phones) are just as powerful as desktops 14 years ago and use much of the same code structures anymore.

 

But there are three problems. First, network usage. Not everybody has infinite or unlimited network, and ISP's (thanks to idiot government) can and will charge triple or more for phone and mobile service. More universally, for whatever reason, mobile networking hardware is simply inferior and lags behind running anything more complex than videos and simple programs. This could be circumvented by making it a fully single-player experience, but that both defeats the purpose and cuts out half the game.

 

Second: Precision. Touch controls and small screen size are massive handicaps when it comes to precision, and GW1 requires some pretty precise movements and controls, even if you're just Necro-rolling everything. There's a reason the best mobile games are RPGs or single-axis arcade games, and imprecise controls are it.

 

Third, and this is a big one, is stigma. Simply put: the great majority of mobile games are trash. Even ports of good games onto mobile end up greatly inferior to previous iterations, for no apparent reason (why, SquareEnix?). Now, the same could be (and has been) said of Steam releases, but there's enough established quality in PC games that the glut of tat is outshone in comparison. Not so on mobile. While there would undoubtedly be some renewed interest were it to release in some mobile form, it will just as undoubtedly become a major strike against the brand. Nobody wants that.

[Shylo.1426]

I suppose you're right when it comes to having to face another backlash from the community, but would you give it a chance?

Ive tried Runescape, Ragnarok, Conquer Online and even seen PUBG and Fortnite on mobile.

not to mention the LoL and WoW clones that dont completely charge you an arm and a leg to play.

You didn't say it couldn't be done or even if it shouldn't be done; I think you're simply implying as to why it isn't being done.

 

Maybe OG-GW on the go isn't in the foreseeable future but the idea of it is possibly exciting.

I would think tap control interfacing and targeting would be easier in GW than in say something like Fortnite or LoL ( and the FN & LoL clones are successful ).

 

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

We cannot say if it is bad or not, because this is more, as usual, a matter of opinion. Personally, I don't see the point to play such a game on a mobile phone. I prefer to sit in front of my screen, with a keyboard and mouse available, to enjoy it properly. But that's me :3

Generally, I believe that games like GW2 cannot be really enjoyed on a mobile phone with a small screen and no keyboard/mouse. Maybe it could work, but it would be probably completely different, sort of a minimized version. From there, each would have to decide if they like it or not.

[Justine.6351]

GW1 would translate to tablet pretty well. Idk about phones though.

[Adenin.5973]

I don't play games on my phone unless I plan to spend a considerable amount of time on the toilet.

 

With the mobile market being so huge that it completely trumps the PC and console market combined I am worried that this will drive studios that received money from us PC and concole gamers, money which we as consumers usually would like to see reinvested in improvements to current games or entirely new PC games, to create mobile games with that money.

 

Mobile games that do cater for the most part to an entirely new customer base that has not really that much in common with their current one. Mobile games that I do not ever want to play.

 

So yes. Anet making any mobile game whatsoever would mean that I will no longer support them, unless I know for a fact that they're about to release a good quality PC game, which I don't see anywhere atm.

 

Guild Wars 1 on mobile would in no way be on par with the PC version. And why would I want to play it then on mobile if I can already play it on PC? I don't know about your daily life. But I don't see me having 1hr+ of time where I would want to play GW1 on my phone somewhere in public.

[Gehenna.3625]

phone screens are too small to game on for me. I like being drawn into a world which doesn't work for me on such a small screen. Also controls are generally very basic and/or scripted on mobile games. I don't care or mind if they made a mobile game but I certainly wouldn't play it. And if there's one thing about mobile games is the even worse monetization in those types of games. I get that people are melded into one with their phones a lot these days but it seems you end up paying more for an inferior experience. That just makes no sense to me.

 

That doesn't stop many other people I'm sure but I'm loathe to call them gamers because yes they are games but no there is little challenge in there with how basic the controls are. I'd rather play tetris then.

 

The mobile market has grown enormously but that's because it's largely a different crowd than traditional gamers and they are just looking for a pass-time, not an in depth experience. Perhaps it would be good if the likes of Ncsoft, EA and Activision go full mobile and do the happy dance with their investors and let new companies who are not so driven by share holders take over making proper games. In the end there is still a market for that sort of thing but not with the type of profit margins share holders demand. I like the idea of these big publisher being "promoted" away out of proper gaming. Now they block the market instead of progressing it.

[Danikat.8537]

Biggest problem with GW1 on phones for me, other than the screen size, is that it's a game you really need to give a chunk of time to. If you log out you're put back to the outpost, so you have to finish a quest or whatever else you're doing in one go, which doesn't fit with a platform designed for playing when you're out and about.

 

Admittedly the same is true of a lot of Nintendo DS games (and Gameboy games before them) but I always found that a disadvantage of those too. Some games I had to wait until I was at home, or away over-night with nothing to do before I had time to play it.

[Justine.6351]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> Biggest problem with GW1 on phones for me, other than the screen size, is that it's a game you really need to give a chunk of time to. If you log out you're put back to the outpost, so you have to finish a quest or whatever else you're doing in one go, which doesn't fit with a platform designed for playing when you're out and about.

>

> Admittedly the same is true of a lot of Nintendo DS games (and Gameboy games before them) but I always found that a disadvantage of those too. Some games I had to wait until I was at home, or away over-night with nothing to do before I had time to play it.

 

GW1 has a reconnect feature for DC (15min cap) which a dev could maybe repurpose by extending that to idk 12 hour cap?

[Dami.5046]

I'd rather have a game like a polymock than a re-told Guild Wars for mobile.

[Yannir.4132]

I guess mobile games are great for those that are always out and about doing things. Personally I only play mobile on the bus on my way to work, which is like 60 mins of my day. But when I'm home, I barely touch my phone for hours.

[Dami.5046]

adds, i am not saying i want a mobile game.

[lokh.2695]

People aren't upset when it comes to mobile games because of the controls or by the possible lack of processing power in a modern day cellphone. Ppl are upset because most of the mobile games are pay to win cashgrabs.

[Psycoprophet.8107]

Mobile games are toilet fodder and only when my switch isn’t available lol

[TheQuickFox.3826]

Just focus on GW2, its expansions and maybe GW3 in the future plz. The last thing we need is another side project.

I hope you have seen about the Diablo Immortal debacle? Mobile games may not be the best option for a community of PC gamers.

 

In Dutch, we have a saying: _"Shoenmaker blijf bij je leest"_ which translates to _"Cobbler/Shoemaker stick to your last"_ to warn people to not deviate too much from their core business.

[alcopaul.2156]

^ Mobile games can be played while you're doing your thing in the toilet seat. Like seriously.

[Randulf.7614]

No it wouldn't be a bad thing in itself. It's the taking away of resources which is the issue

[Naxos.2503]

PC players have Zero interest in Mobile games. Much like Console players have Zero interest in PC. If they made a new product entirely, and it somehow escaped the usual falacies of mobile games, such as repetitive, boring tasks, predatory microtransaction, and lackluster quality in favor of long term hooking, then -maybe- it could catch the interest of perhaps 10% of the existing playerbase, As opposed to continued support to this product which has so far proven to have a loyal playerbase, who appreciate the work going into it, as well as how microtransactions and expansions are handled, which would have a Much higher percentage of revenue on the basis of loyalty alone. The only way mobile games work is within the specific Asian market, China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, where mobile has a different place in gaming. In other regions, Mobile games are frowned upon, specifically because most players play on a console, or a computer already, and have no interest in lesser quality product, and certainly dont want another time sink, more so if boring and expensive.

[perilisk.1874]

> @"Shylo.1426" said:

> Let's pretend we actually do have mobile phones for a minute...

>

> If Anet did come out and say they are making a mobile game would it be a bad thing

> _take a step back and picture this_

> **Guild Wars: Prophecies Retold** for mobile

> I think Guild Wars 1 could be perfect for a mobile port.

 

I think it would be a good way to get more mileage out of an existing property (assuming monetization is similar to PC GW1), and the controls and graphics lend themselves more to mobile. Ideally, you could still use it with the same servers and an existing account, though, after paying for the new client.

[Caedmon.6798]

I dont own a phone to play games on,so no i won't.

[perilisk.1874]

> @"Naxos.2503" said:

> PC players have Zero interest in Mobile games. Much like Console players have Zero interest in PC. If they made a new product entirely, and it somehow escaped the usual falacies of mobile games, such as repetitive, boring tasks, predatory microtransaction, and lackluster quality in favor of long term hooking, then -maybe- it could catch the interest of perhaps 10% of the existing playerbase, As opposed to continued support to this product which has so far proven to have a loyal playerbase, who appreciate the work going into it, as well as how microtransactions and expansions are handled, which would have a Much higher percentage of revenue on the basis of loyalty alone. The only way mobile games work is within the specific Asian market, China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, where mobile has a different place in gaming. In other regions, Mobile games are frowned upon, specifically because most players play on a console, or a computer already, and have no interest in lesser quality product, and certainly dont want another time sink, more so if boring and expensive.

 

I play mobile games sometimes. Well, I play actual games that have been ported to mobile, not clicky-clacky microtransaction garbage.

 

Hopefully if they ever did a port of GW1 (which seems a bit less likely now), it would connect to the same servers, have the same gameplay, and therefore use the same B2P+ monetization as GW1. It would give a new audience a reason to buy the GW1 campaigns, character slots, bank tabs, and so on.

 

[Gehenna.3625]

> @"TheQuickFox.3826" said:

> Just focus on GW2, its expansions and maybe GW3 in the future plz. The last thing we need is another side project.

> I hope you have seen about the Diablo Immortal debacle? Mobile games may not be the best option for a community of PC gamers.

>

> In Dutch, we have a saying: _"Shoenmaker blijf bij je leest"_ which translates to _"Cobbler/Shoemaker stick to your last"_ to warn people to not deviate too much from their core business.

 

And what about "wie niet waagt, wie niet wint" which means that if you never risk anything you won't win anything...

 

But then I think they took some risks and lost.

 

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

I'm not going to sit here and say that mobile gaming isn't gaming because that's just dumb, full stop. i will say though that mobile gaming as a viable income stream is a dumb idea built around the idea of short term gain. I will also point out that most gaming done on phones is reserved for times when people are looking to pass time in boring situations, like bathroom visits or being stuck at airports, and not when people are looking to enjoy a more robust gaming experience. in short, any game developer that already makes PC games trying to "break into" the mobile gaming market as means of additional revenue is already on the wrong track.

[TexZero.7910]

Thanks, but no thanks.

 

If i want to re-play GW1 i have it for PC. I don't need to take it with me nor have i really understood why people feel compelled to game everywhere.

[Leo G.4501]

> @"PookieDaWombat.6209" said:

> I'm not going to sit here and say that mobile gaming isn't gaming because that's just dumb, full stop. i will say though that mobile gaming as a viable income stream is a dumb idea built around the idea of short term gain. I will also point out that most gaming done on phones is reserved for times when people are looking to pass time in boring situations, like bathroom visits or being stuck at airports, and not when people are looking to enjoy a more robust gaming experience. in short, any game developer that already makes PC games trying to "break into" the mobile gaming market as means of additional revenue is already on the wrong track.

 

And this will continue to be the case if no one ever attempts to make mobile games robust.

 

If say, rather than try to pin why you feel mobile gaming isn't appealing, there are people that aren't armchair pop culture critics doing actual work to push change.