Activision considering all franchises for mobile
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
VP of Mobile Greg Canessa says publisher not ruling out any of its "350 different brands" for smartphones and tablets, believes company has great opportunity to innovate in action genre.
There is not a single franchise at Activision that the publisher has ruled out for a mobile game adaptation, the company's mobile vice president, Greg Canessa, told CVG in an interview published today.
"We have a rich thirty-year history from the Atari days to the Blizzard merger. We have about 350 different brands and IPs to work with," he said. "That's legacy IP, that's triple-A IP, and that's licences with other companies."
Canessa did not name any Activision properties that are in development for mobile, but did explain how the publisher will go about seeking out franchises to adapt to mobile games.
"Our strategy comes back to the gamer," he said. "We are asking ourselves: What will be the most fun, attractive, and interesting Activision property for the mobile gamer? Some IP probably maps better to mobile devices, but mobile allows for all kinds of genres. It's a broad fertile field for game creators, unlike social games. So we're not ruling out any IP."
Canessa claimed there is a lack of "great" action games on mobile, due to "user interface issues." The executive said he believes there is a great opportunity for the publisher to innovate in that genre.
Activision recently established the Activision Mobile business unit and founded The Blast Furnace, a United Kingdom-based developer dedicated exclusively to building mobile games. This studio is led by former Rockstar developers Mark Washbrook and Gordon Hall. The studio's first game, a reimagining of Atari's Pitfall, was released on iOS earlier this month.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
54 comments
Where gamers will get angry is when Activision starts putting real games on mobile phones at real game prices like Square Enix did. We'll see how bad you guys want your Call of Duty app when it costs $19.99 before the in-app purchased DLC is factored into it.
Sweet! Now we can go from "hold down trigger to kill your opponent" to "tap to kill your opponent." Call in an AC-130 gunship? Tap the upper-right corner. No skill needed!
I don't want mobile gaming to be anything more then angry birds and temple run, why? Because when you buy the game "app" it is only for that OS (Android, iOS, Windows, etc) so if you decide to get a different OS phone then your out all the games you bought and invested money into. Sure you could argue you could keep your old phone with those games but your not going to to bring your old phone with you along with your new phone so it defeats the point. You could keep your tablet of the old OS you were using to play those games but at some point your going to need a new tablet and its not the best idea to have your phone and tablet be different OS. 2 years ago I sold my FF1 and bought FF1 and 2 from iOS. I have now switched to Android but still have my ipad. However my ipad is about to go and when it does im buying an Android tablet since I have an Android phone and thus will not be able to play FF1 or 2 which I had purchased.
@toddx77 I have to laugh at this person's post. What he's saying is the equivalent of wanting his X360 games to be playable on his PS3.
Dude, get your head out of the clouds - most people have accepted that if you switch consoles, your games aren't going to transfer. They've accepted it since the Atari 2600 and it will never change per different console - especially titles made for competing devices.
Consider yourself lucky that Apple doesn't make you repurchase your entire library when upgrading your IoS device. They easily could if they wanted to and no one would bat an eyelash.
@toddx77 That problem also exists for consoles. If you switch to a different platform, you lose the ability to play all your existing games. The good news is that the backwards compatibility on mobile has been so much better so far, so if you ever return to iOS, your games will still be there waiting for you.
2 Like I do not know whether releasing established games on mobile phones is a good idea, but I am concerned over their quality.
1 Like lol activision i will not buy 007 on any phone lol now if you made it for 3ds then ya
2 Like Activision is afraid of the next gen. of consoles as they will not be able to meet up the standard of future gaming..!! Now they wanna find an excuse for that.. That sucks!!
"Activision considering all franchises for mobile"
You're kidding!? <-Sarcastic reaction worth a post.
Well that would just make sense...which I guess leaves that awkward silence for NIntendo and Sony and Microsoft to cough up their excuses barring propriety issues for legacy games.
I'm not gonna be a hater about it, admittedly i wouldn't mind playing black ops on my iPod.
Yeah..., I'm a bit surprised they haven't updated the H.E.R.O. (Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation) game to next-gen consoles. Capcom did it with Bionic Commando, so it wouldn't be to hard to do the same with "H.E.R.O.". Activision has a slew of older games like Frostbite, Pitfall, Kaboom, River Raid, CrackPots and other great games.
3 Like Activision, before you get your stuff on my phone, think you could get me some stuff on my 3DS first? Stuff that's worthwhile?
@Petman8246 i never got why they could but a COD game on the iphone but never one on the 3ds, the 3ds needs some fps and they could make some money by putting COD on the 3ds
@redluigi11 @Petman8246 I wish they would include 3DS and Vita in their new mobile strategy. They were even supporting CoD on the DS as recently as Black Ops.
@theKSMM @redluigi11 Let's not also forget Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2, and World at War on the DS as well.
2 Like Considering how little effort Activision puts into their handheld console games (Most recently evidenced by Black Ops Declassified), who really cares what these clowns think they can bring to the mobile space?
If Activision were to exploit an old franchise, HERO is the one I want them to bring back from the dead. It was probably the best Atari 2600 game ever made, though Solaris was a close second. Truthfully, I think HERO remade for 3Dish play with the KINECT would be the way to go (assuming they take the proper time to polish the motion controls).
NOTE: Playing old Atari 2600 games with there original graphics is a form of torture. The memory of those games is far better than the reality of playing them. When you bring back Atari 2600, put some effort into it and improve the graphics to at least PS1 levels.
@Suaron_x I've got that game on my ColecoVision. Looks great, and I'd love to see it remade into some sort of XBLA, PSN, or Nintendo eMarket title.
2600 graphics truly suck. PS1 graphics are good. But, Hell, I'd be happy with SNES quality graphics -and the dev costs would stay low too.
Saw this coming from a mile away. Whether publishers will crank out GOOD games or just throw away crap is another conversation. I take it that it'll be a mixed bag -just like on consoles, handhelds and PC
Activision ain't the only company ready to cash in on the smartphone & tablets market. Look at Square-Enix: released FF3 (at $15, ouch!) for Android and iOS. Rockstar re-released GTA3 for Android and iOS this year. Sega brought their Genesis Classics Series to iOS, and Sonic CD to iOS and Android.
I expect more big publishers to grab at the smartphone & tablets market real soon. The dev costs are dirt cheap, and many of these games are ports to begin with. And the market is freaking huge; not everyone owns a console; but damn near everyone owns a PC or smartphone; many more potential buyers.
give us wow on mobile phones (sarcasm), Seriously They don't know how to make more money from crap and now they hit mobile phones ahahaah.
Will they have already blown it. They make a Pitfall game on the iPad and never thought about making the original. Next they will make Barn Stormer and have it play like MOH. They should make their old Atari games with the same game play but with updated 2D graphics.
How is rehashing old games and IPs innovative. Last I heard that's called a remake.
Why not make a brand new IP specifically for mobile devices.
Seems a rehash of what they said a while back...they explore any and all platforms, but have not determined the which, how, why, or when of it. Maybe they should just dive in instead of dipping their toes at the private pool.
Who knows maybe they will figure out something fun. More power to them.
PS: I doubt anything good will come of this ;)
1 Like @Sanguis_Malus You'd also have to pay for time on the microwave. They can be stored for later, but you have to purchase 5 minutes of use for $15.
This company's going to hell if they actually put something like Elite on the tablets. They should really fix the flak they're getting with messing their games each year and stop being money grubbers greedier than the likes of Capcom or EA before you get "innovative".
didnt bought any of ur damn games whio cared if u move to a bus travel company console or to the space move wherever u want since tony hawk 1 cant even remember any good games from you actually was with coopeartion with Neversoft but well ur funeral
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