Fun & Games

Carriers need a robust game offering to entice the consumer market.

Datamonitor estimates that four out of five mobile-phone users will play wireless games in 2005 in Western Europe and the United States. But what about today? Due to network and device limitations, most wireless games are doomed to be text-based games with long wait periods in between moves. However, with smart business strategies, carriers can generate successful wireless game offerings.

Today's Wireless Games Games designed for today's wireless devices are a far cry from the action-packed games available on PCs or Nintendo Game Boy devices. But despite their simplicity, most are fun, entertaining multiplayer games that encourage players to use their wireless phones.

Sprint PCS separates its games into six categories: action, adventure, casino, classic, puzzles and sports. The carrier has found that of the 29 games it offers, the most popular among its users is Gladiator, an action game where users adopt a character name and a battle cry, then choose different moves to attack opponents.

In January, Verizon Wireless launched its gaming capabilities with Word Trader, the flagship product from Unplugged Games. In this multiplayer game, users are served a list of five words, each of which belongs to a different category. Players try to assemble a hand of five words belonging to the same category by trading words with other players.

Cingular's wireless game strategy is to offer games in line with customer interests. For instance, since many customers who like games also are interested in sports, it offers 3Play at no cost in conjunction with ESPN and Nokia. Users register their mobile numbers on the ESPN Web site. Each day, the names of three athletes are sent via SMS to their handsets.

"Depending on how the three you receive on the handset do in their events that day, you get a ranking of points based on their performance," said Tony Aussin, Cingular director of product development and data products. "People with the most points at the end of the day win."

Although 3Play is the only game Cingular offers, the company is looking into more interactive games that would be played over the Web. It has explored a WAP fantasy-football initiative with ESPN.

"There are a couple investment games that deal with money and numbers and how stocks play that we are looking at," Aussin said.

Pogo.com, known for its success in creating games for the wired Internet (on average, each Pogo.com user plays games for more than 200 minutes per month), recently released three games for the wireless Internet. In Liar's Dice, two players have five hidden dice each, and they try to outbluff each other with increasing values. Players can lie about their holdings, but they lose if someone calls their bluff. Jabberwock requires players to move through a series of caves as they try to capture the Jabberwock while assembling clues from the environment to trap their quarry. Last, Virtual Date is a text-based adventure game that allows players of either sex to simulate a dream (or disaster) date. The three games are available on the Vodafone network in Australia and New Zealand.

NGame has created Alien Fish Exchange, DataClash and Merchant Princes for wireless devices, all three of which are available on Sprint PCS and AT&T PocketNet networks. Alien Fish Exchange combines elements of Pokemon and Tamagotchi with a stock exchange. Players manage a tank of alien fish that need to be fed and cared for in order to encourage them to breed. The aim is to breed 47 different kinds of alien fish. Different species prey upon each other, interbreed and mutate, so regular attention is required to keep various fish stocks balanced and in good health. In DataClash, a fiercely competitive cyberpunk hacking game, players try to break through each others' defenses using a selection of combat programs. Each player has four defense programs. Players can attack anybody else in the game, even if their target is offline. Merchant Princes, a medieval trading game set in Europe, encourages players to trade goods and services, the pricing of which is open to real market forces. The aim of the game is to outwit rivals to bring in the best goods at the best profits, and eventually achieve the rank of Merchant Lord.

The Gaming Strategy Granted, it's tough to offer graphics-rich content over wireless phones with black-and-white displays and small screens. However, game developers say handset limitations are not the only reason today's wireless games are far simpler than the PC- and TV-based games people have grown to love.

Erick Hachenburg, Pogo.com president & CEO, said his company focuses on the family game market - card, board and casino games - both on the wired and wireless Internet.

"This is not the `gamer' market, people who play Quake, Ultima, EverQuest and Doom," he said. "It is about games that everyone already knows how to play. People think it takes complex games to get people hooked. It doesn't. People also get hooked on very fun, simple games. Our research shows that 80% of people play these familiar games."

Hachenburg said the "gamer" type of games never would have mass appeal because they require a large time investment to learn them and develop characters.

"We realize you can't ask the broad consumer market to invest that time in a game, so when we talk about wireless games, we are thinking familiar, popular types of games," he said. "Our goal is to keep games simple and accessible. You don't want a complex set of rules that you have to learn."

But even as wireless devices mature, displaying richer graphics, Pogo.com's mantra will remain, Hachenburg said.

"People play games because they are fun, not because they look cool, so we are very focused first and foremost on game play," he said.

According to Datamonitor, wireless games will mainly address casual gamers. Gaming genres reflect this customer base, with simple games being the most popular games.

"Hard-core gamers will gradually be lured onto this platform once game quality improves with the roll-out of GPRS," the company said.

J. F. Sullivan, AirFlash vice president of marketing, argued that the killer wireless application would marry games such as Diablo to wireless phones. Even though "gamers" would much rather use PCs, wireless gaming still has a place in their lives.

"Those guys still have to get up and go to the bathroom, and they have to go get more Chee-tos," said Sullivan, who mentioned that he is related to many Diablo players. "What you don't want to happen is to lose track of the game while you are getting a Coke and a 14-pound bag of M&Ms. If you play Diablo, and someone would let you do it wirelessly from a PDA, would you pay $9.95? You had better believe it."

Greg Costikyan, Unplugged Games chief design officer, agreed that hard-core gamers would rather find a PC to play intense games. However, the broad consumer market also will accept complicated role-playing games if they are built correctly.

"One game we are designing at the moment is intended to be played for months or years at a time, but in little 5-minute sessions so people sign on when and where they wish to do so," he said.

Alex Green, nGame consultant & vice president of business development, noted that although "parlor games" such as poker and blackjack are familiar and fun, it is important to also offer original community-focused games that allow users to compete against other players on the network. Each nGame game has its own Web page so players can chat about games and view rankings on the Web site. Additionally, giving players a forum has encouraged more play.

"Players typically log on several times a day to preserve their position in the rankings," Green said.

Add to that the fact that games continue with or without the players, and players become even more addicted. For instance, in DataClash, opponents can attack players even if they are not playing the game, so users are incited to play as often as possible. However, before they leave the game, players can set up a defensive program to counteract any attacks that occur while they are offline.

Carriers also should consider offering games that allow users to play the game on multiple platforms. For instance, if a player is knee-deep in a game on the PC but has to leave the house, he could pick up where he left off on a wireless device. By keeping user information on the server side, many game developers allow players to move seamlessly from one device to another.

Pay to Play Naturally, carriers don't want to encourage consumers to use their networks for hours unless they are making some money. The wired gaming world has proved that once people get hooked on games, they don't mind paying extra to play. Some carriers are charging users by the minute to play games. Others offer gaming for a subscription fee. Several don't charge at all.

According to Datamonitor, sponsoring will be the most lucrative business model in the wireless gaming market. Data-monitor estimates that this model will contribute $2.7 billion to the market, accounting for 45% of all revenues in 2005.

"Although the subscription business model will only truly begin in 2002, it will prove very lucrative for the market, generating $1.7 billion, representing 29% of all revenues by 2005," according to the research firm.

Dan Wilinsky, Sprint PCS director of media relations & financial communications, said Sprint PCS offers two types of games, those that are downloaded into the phone and can be played without being connected to the Internet and interactive games that require a wireless Web connection. Besides DataClash, Merchant Princes and Gladiator, Sprint PCS' interactive games include Buzztime, an interactive sports trivia game, and MysteryNet, an interactive mystery game. Players don't use up minutes as they play downloaded games such as Tic Tac Toe, but they are charged for minutes of use while they play interactive games.

Hachenburg said carriers need to adopt a business model similar to the cable industry's in order to generate revenue from gaming and encourage innovative game development. For instance, cable companies pay channels to be part of their service so their content will appeal to people and entice them to pay for the service.

"If you want compelling content, you need a business model that encourages production companies to provide that content," he said. "The idea of doing it for free and getting a lot of people using games doesn't encourage a lot of development. We would like to see a model where we are sharing in the additional minutes or the subscription revenue that we are generating."

Unplugged Games' Costikyan added that one advantage wireless offers over wireline is the ability to enable micropayments.

"Having a game where you get to a certain point and you have the opportunity to go up another level by paying a quarter or something like that is another interesting possibility," he said.

Gaming also can generate revenue for carriers and game developers through advertising. Like PC-based Inter-net games that are free thanks to advertiser support, games built for the wireless Internet enable advertising, too. Costikyan said his company's games start every 30 to 60 seconds. While new players wait to play, they are exposed to ads.

"It gives us an opportunity to do advertising in a way that is not objectionable to the customer," he said.

Pogo.com also plans to break for commercials in the future, but in the meantime the company plans to offer sponsorship opportunities.

AirFlash's Sullivan pointed out that no one is making money by advertising on wireless games just yet because the user base is not high enough to entice companies to advertise. Advertisers like to see a critical mass of at least several thousand people. In the meantime, Sullivan suggested that U.S. carriers partner with overseas carriers to achieve a wide enough audience to entice advertisers. Or, find a segment of users that will want a particular product and use the time in between games as a direct marketing opportunity.

Blocking Moves A variety of wireless games is offered today, however if the typical EverQuest or Diablo addict expects fast, graphics-rich gaming on wireless devices, he will be gravely disappointed. Pogo.com's Hachenburg noted that a combination of issues are hindering the consumer adoption of wireless gaming including technical constraints, small screen size, long latency, difficulty of use, poor accessibility, low bandwidth, poor user interfaces and limited graphics.

"Right now every time you want to make a move during a game on a WAP-enabled phone you have to make a new phone call and send information back," he said. "You do not have an always-on connection on your wireless phone as opposed to having an always-on connection where you can send data and get data back. In broadband networks such as DSL and cable modems, because the connection is always on, people use it more often."

Next-generation wireless technology that enables always-on connections will greatly improve wireless gaming, he said.

NGame's Green added that 3G technology will enable players to play in real time against other users.

"At the moment, you are not playing Doom or Quake where you see someone else who is on another cell phone moving around the screen in real time," Green said. "You can't do that at the moment because of the limitations in bandwidth, and 3G will allow you to play more action-oriented multiplayer games in real time, like Quake."

However, many of the issues with wireless gaming are on the device side. Wilinsky said Sprint PCS offers several game-friendly phones with wide screens, but as handset manufacturers add color screens and increase screen size, gaming usage will increase. Besides larger color screens, Wilinsky anticipates upcoming phones to offer better input controls.

"You are almost getting to where the mobile phone is like a junior Game Boy, and as phones progress this year, there will be a more robust line up of games," he said. "We are getting great usage right now, but it boggles the mind to think what kind of usage we will be getting once you get color, graphics and higher speeds."

Device manufacturers are scrambling to develop game-friendly devices. For instance, Ericsson recently invested $7 million in Red Jade, a start-up developing next-generation wireless entertainment products with a heavy focus on gaming. Although Red Jade will not disclose details about what the device will look like, whether it will offer color, or whether it will run on CDMA, TDMA or GSM networks, the device "will do everything that you would expect converging technologies from the video game side to the music side to the PDA side to do, together with wireless connectivity," said Fredrik Liliegren, Red Jade president & chief content officer.

"On current devices, the graphical and musical representation and interactivity is so limiting that it is not an interesting experience for the user," Liliegren said. "There is a very wide gap between what you have at your home today and devices that you carry with you. Third generation itself is not the savior unless the initial devices connecting to 3G networks are built the right way. We are building a device that will actually use 3G networks correctly."

Liliegren envisions bigger, color screens, touch screens and better input interfaces for Web surfing, entertainment and games.

Developers said adding Java to wireless phones will help turn handsets into gaming machines. Java 2 Micro Edition will enable users to download games and updates to games onto handsets, as well as allow developers to place richer graphics that move around the screen on handsets.

"It won't be such a static environment," said Unplugged Games' Costikyan. "You can design the interface to support the best possible game experience instead of being stuck with what WML gives us."

Running more code on the client side also reduces the load on the wireless network, which could speed up use, he added.

However, Hachenburg warns that moving gaming applications off of the server and onto phones could cause problems. First, the amount of RAM in handsets is fairly limited, and Java takes up a lot of RAM. Moreover, carriers must be concerned about cheating when offering multiplayer games that run on the handset rather than the server. For example, someone playing slots could write a program that brings up three bars every time.

"If you don't keep stake on the server side, people that are sophisticated can send results that are manipulated and always win," he said. "You have to have a server-based solution that you can put behind a firewall and make sure you control the game, not the user."

Location-specific games will be one of two main themes that will contribute to an upswing in wireless gaming, according to Datamonitor.

"Linking wireless games to everyday life, notably through location-specific features, will ensure that customers will be more inclined to indulge in gaming," the company said in its report, Wireless Gaming: Playing on the Move.

Recently, AirFlash and nGame agreed to develop multiplayer games for wireless devices that are built around users' locations. So far, nGame is evaluating which of six location-based games it should take live. It expects to have its first location-based game available to mobile carriers and portals in 2Q01.

"AirFlash's SmartPhone technology will enable us to create interactive entertainment, which really leverages location-based elements," said Alex Green, nGame consultant & vice president of business development. "For example, you can create a treasure-hunt game so you might have to go to a particular location like a McDonald's and get a code, which you can input to show you have been there."

Location-based technology allows players to play against other players in the immediate vicinity or from different towns, which could spur microleagues and communities based on game themes.

J. F. Sullivan, AirFlash vice president of marketing, added that game developers can incorporate location technology such as "buddy finders" into their games (with permission from users, of course) to create games of tag and hide-and-seek via wireless handsets.

"In places like malls you could use a game service to pick up your location, and as people come into your area, it sends a message that X is in your proximity," Sullivan said. "Any game that has the Marco Polo or laser-tag genre will be very interesting in the near term."

Not all game developers are believers in location technology, however. Greg Costikyan, Unplugged Games chief design officer, does not find the case for location-based wireless games such as scavenger hunts very convincing.

"You have to redesign the application for each specific location, so I could do New York and then redesign it for Helsinki," he said. "Also if you are talking about getting users together in the flesh, you run into all sorts of liability issues."