To see the usual big ticket console/PC games outdone by things like The Simpsons: Tapped Out and the mobile version of The Sims is an interesting turn of events and it leads us to the big question... Is this just EA dropping the ball or is it a sign of incoming dominance of gaming by the mobile sector?
First up we need to look at EA's recent history because, seriously, they haven't been doing themselves many favours. In mid 2011 they made the rather brash move of stating they were going to stop publishing their new games on Steam and instead set up their own web store Origin, where essentially they could charge what they like since they would only be competing with their own products. Two years later and people still complain about Origin's service and it certainly has not been much of a competitor to Steam.
Secondly EA is one of the main pushers of online pass and always online requirements which has led to a number of their titles, which has led to things like the recent Sim City launch where gamers who put their money down on pre-orders couldn't play the game due to the servers not being able to handle the demand. How rude of those players wanting to play a new game straight away. There was also the recent dropping of support for Dark Spore which made the single player game impossible to play as there was not server verification available. EA has fixed these (and many other) issues, but it doesn't inspire much confidence in their products.
Thirdly, the AAA games industry seems to be going through a "we want to be like Hollywood" phase and you better believe EA is at the forefront of this as well. Huge amounts of money are being pushed into development and promotion of titles meaning that sales figures that would have been considered astronomical successes in the past are now met with disappointment. For example so much was invested in Dead Space 3 that even though it sales figures were just 2% lower than it's successful predecessor it was considered a flop since it needed to top 5 million sales to actually make a profit... madness.
Finally let's consider the mobile gaming market. Here we have an explosive market always looking for new content to tap-tap their way through the daily commute. Here is a market where "freemium" titles can cash in on players who want more content without having to move on to a new game or spend too much time unlocking content through gameplay. This is a market where for minimal investment you can get a game made, published and literally into people's pockets in a very short space of time.
At the end of the day I don't consider this as a sign of an upcoming games apocalypse, more a restructuring. Mobile games are really stepping up to fill a void where the consoles and PCs could not go. I can't really lug my PS3 and HDTV onto the train with me, but I can always tap and swipe my way through a game that will distract me enough to pass the time on my daily commute. The AAA market however is in bad shape. With the insistence of needing gargantuan sales figures to make up for huge budgets I cannot see how it can remain self sustaining. It is strikingly reminiscent of the lead up to the video games crash of the 80s however this time we have a thriving and growing indie scene with great flexibility in development and distribution.
There is no reason why mobile and "mainstream" games can not co-exist, but I think the big developers need to take a step back and consider the sustainability of their approach.
