Mobile Gaming & The Open World Crime Sim Genre

[sabitsuki]

Not sure if this is the right forum to talk about it, but it's just something I was sort of thinking about lately, and I'd love some of your opinions and thoughts on it.

 

Mobile gaming hasn't exactly had the best rep in the industry, with short-lived companies and huge conglomerates like Tencent churning out freemium games and games-as-a-service models by the boatload, with a mostly casual fanbase to boot. That said, there was a point in time during the early-to-mid 2010s where original GTA-style games like the Gangstar series were able to break through into the market and attain sort of a cult following in the field, featuring buggy yet fun gameplay with a short and over-the-top but nonetheless well-acted storyline.

 

 

With the only other alternatives out there right now being mobile ports of past GTAs and low-effort knockoffs, I can't help but feel somewhat disheartened by the lack of such games in mobile gaming, which I feel is a gold mine waiting to be tapped. Technology has advanced quickly to the point where graphics and processing power on mobile are now easily on par with the Xbox 360 (Asphalt 9, Call of Duty and Genshin Impact being great examples), and it feels like a lot of small-to-medium studios aren't willing to do it, which is a shame, since many such companies have the capital and potential to do very auteur games in this genre.

 

I'm guessing cost and the general demographic in the market are definitely factors, but even then, the standards aren't really that high to begin with, which gives a lot of devs more leeway and freedom to make the games they want to make. I'm not expecting an RDR2-tier game for mobile, and I think studios could add features and elements to their game which can set them apart from the series, maybe even turn the game into an episodic-type thing similar to Life Is Strange, which definitely compliments the drip-feed mentality of today and potentially entice more people into getting invested in the narrative. It's also a golden opportunity to add some microtransactions (as ugly as they might sound) to make a bigger profit off such games, should the developer feel the need to include them.

 

It's wishful thinking but what do you think? Should there be more quality GTA-style games in mobile gaming?

Edited September 21, 2021 by sabitsuki

[KingAJ032304]

On 9/21/2021 at 8:30 AM, sabitsuki said:

Not sure if this is the right forum to talk about it, but it's just something I was sort of thinking about lately, and I'd love some of your opinions and thoughts on it.

 

Mobile gaming hasn't exactly had the best rep in the industry, with short-lived companies and huge conglomerates like Tencent churning out freemium games and games-as-a-service models by the boatload, with a mostly casual fanbase to boot. That said, there was a point in time during the early-to-mid 2010s where original GTA-style games like the Gangstar series were able to break through into the market and attain sort of a cult following in the field, featuring buggy yet fun gameplay with a short and over-the-top but nonetheless well-acted storyline.

 

 

With the only other alternatives out there right now being mobile ports of past GTAs and low-effort knockoffs, I can't help but feel somewhat disheartened by the lack of such games in mobile gaming, which I feel is a gold mine waiting to be tapped. Technology has advanced quickly to the point where graphics and processing power on mobile are now easily on par with the Xbox 360 (Asphalt 9, Call of Duty and Genshin Impact being great examples), and it feels like a lot of small-to-medium studios aren't willing to do it, which is a shame, since many such companies have the capital and potential to do very auteur games in this genre.

 

I'm guessing cost and the general demographic in the market are definitely factors, but even then, the standards aren't really that high to begin with, which gives a lot of devs more leeway and freedom to make the games they want to make. I'm not expecting an RDR2-tier game for mobile, and I think studios could add features and elements to their game which can set them apart from the series, maybe even turn the game into an episodic-type thing similar to Life Is Strange, which definitely compliments the drip-feed mentality of today and potentially entice more people into getting invested in the narrative. It's also a golden opportunity to add some microtransactions (as ugly as they might sound) to make a bigger profit off such games, should the developer feel the need to include them.

 

It's wishful thinking but what do you think? Should there be more quality GTA-style games in mobile gaming?

I honestly think the top down market is highly underutilized despite the possibilities! Image taking what GTA 1 and 2 were doing and actually perfecting them and the beset part is you can add mechanics the 3D GTAs onwards don't get time to add.

[Zello]

Back in the day I can understand why those games were bad the technology was new and everyone was getting used to it but now that phones can run fortnite I expect more.

 

Gangstar does deserve some respect for what they managed to pull off I remember riding on the bus in middle school and the kids who could afford iphones playing this. Unfortunately they never let me play but from what I saw the games looked pretty buggy. But if they tried again with modern phones it might be more successful. I don't think companies are trying for GTA these days anymore they're trying to tap into the fortnite crowd and that sucks.

[KingAJ032304]

8 minutes ago, Zello said:

Back in the day I can understand why those games were bad the technology was new and everyone was getting used to it but now that phones can run fortnite I expect more.

 

Gangstar does deserve some respect for what they managed to pull off I remember riding on the bus in middle school and the kids who could afford iphones playing this. Unfortunately they never let me play but from what I saw the games looked pretty buggy. But if they tried again with modern phones it might be more successful. I don't think companies are trying for GTA these days anymore they're trying to tap into the fortnite crowd and that sucks.

Gangster 2 was definitely better imo. But man I hate it when game series names are like "gangster" "crime life" or "mafia" like wth?

[sabitsuki]

2 hours ago, KingAJ032304 said:

gangster" "crime life" or "mafia" like wth?

I mean tbf what else they gonna call it lol

[KingAJ032304]

3 hours ago, sabitsuki said:

I mean tbf what else they gonna call it lol

There's the Getaway, Sleeping Dogs, Watch Dogs, Saints Row, Grand Theft Auto, 25 to life (not open world tho) and even Driver. 

[universetwisters]

On 9/24/2021 at 4:07 AM, KingAJ032304 said:

There's the Getaway, Sleeping Dogs, Watch Dogs, Saints Row, Grand Theft Auto, 25 to life (not open world tho) and even Driver. 

I feel like with mobile games, you have to dumb it down for the audience. I’m not saying that the people who play these games have room temperature IQ, but consider the attention span you’d have with a mobile game compared to a console or PC game; the former you play while waiting for a bus to come, the latter you can put time and energy into. I mean I’m sure you can give a mobile crime game a poetic title like “Felony Evasion: A Thieve’s Tale” but it would be ignored by a lot of people who are just looking up “gangster” and “crime” into the App Store and want something with that theme to play while waiting for class to finish.

 

That being said, the newer gangstar games look pretty impressive. Kinda riding the coattails of other games tho like Mafia 3 with the setting and Fortnite with the graphics (isn’t the newest one just Watch Dogs Legion but in NYC?) but it’s cool to see how it went from a clunky gta clone to a much smoother gta clone