On mobile games, cloud gaming, comic books and more
TLDR:
New upcoming Western mobile games
Apex Legends announces new arena game mode
Diablo 2 Resurrected is good fun
Marvel’s Disney+ shows are peak comic book
On new Western mobile games, cloud gaming and value bundles
New Western mobile games afoot. Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal just went into another round of Alpha testing; DICE just announced Battlefield for mobile, and Respawn inches closer to the release of Apex Legends Mobile. There’s whispers on the grapevine of Riot releasing Valorant on mobile, and of course, Epic’s Fortnite Mobile keeps chugging away.
Where once, plenty of “hardcore” gamers on PC and console balked at the idea of their favorite games being played on mobile devices, more are now coming around to the notion that being able to spend every single second in their favorite “core” games anywhere, anytime is not such a bad proposition.
I’m incredibly curious as to how they’ll fare in Asia though. Wild Rift (Riot) launched in late October last year, a good move if a little late, but they have still not broken into the top 10 mobile games in many Asian markets. Some believe it is more to do with how complex their game is, while others believe it is a lack of language, game design and cultural localization in key markets, compared to incumbent Mobile Legends Bang Bang (Moonton). Making Uniqlo tie-ups or whipping up esports tournaments may satisfy the hardcore League fans, but it won’t be enough to convert gamers who are looking for games that reflect their everyday lifestyle and culture, as well as give them the instant gratification they are looking for. It’s also likely a little too late, and we all know pulling away entrenched players from the games they’ve spent a ton of time and money in is incredibly difficult.
I also consider the advent of cloud gaming and what it means for mobile games. Windows Central wrote a great coverage piece with David Nisshagen, an executive producer at Mojang Studios, on the concept of “lift and shift” in which they take their Xbox game, Minecraft Dungeons and within minutes, create a compelling mobile experience for it, standard mobile game controls overlay and all.
Porting high quality PC and console games to mobile will become easier than ever before, and will upend traditional mobile game development cycles. Microsoft achieved this once before, when they made it easier on developers to port traditional PC-only games to console (Xbox), and now is doing it again for the mobile age.
Microsoft’s goal of “de-fragmenting” the gaming experience by allowing low-power PCs, tablets, and mobile devices to have nearly the same experience as traditional PCs and consoles is the biggest disrupter to the space.
This will have a knock-on effect where every single traditional mobile games company will have to evolve their own development capabilities and processes to keep up, or deliver as quality of an experience as traditional PC and console games (which companies like Mihoyo have a headstart on), as well as jump on the cloud gaming train as another means of distribution.
Coming hot on the heels of cloud gaming is value bundles - and we’ve seen Xbox Game Pass become a dominant force in the past year or so, but every major game publisher with a formidable backlog of games wants to monetize their own walled gardens without having to rely on third-party distribution much longer. The Netflix/Disney+ effect is taking shape in gaming; and I suspect this may spill over into mobile soon.
This will have a major impact on LTV (user lifetime value) models, where recurring revenue and “assured” retention will reduce the pressure on mobile game publishers to heavily invest in ongoing digital advertising and marketing spend as the primary means to acquire new players or re-engage existing ones.
Looking forward to seeing the transformation in this space soon. Everything’s moving so fast.
Apex Legends announces new arena game mode with upcoming Legacy season
Apex Legends, which I’ve been having a blast with again, recently announced their new arena (team deathmatch?) game mode coming with their next season update - Legacy.
They just announced hitting 100M players, hot on the heels of Warzone’s own 100M just a month earlier; I’m very excited to see if Apex Legends and Respawn can eat into more of Call of Duty, Valorant and CS:GO’s market share. The thing is, this isn’t new territory for Respawn either - Titanfall’s multiplayer was an arena-style deathmatch, only with the addition of giant robots. As Titanfall 1 and 2 never really quite succeeded during their time, I’m glad that Respawn can show gamers their “legacy” before Apex Legends through this upcoming game mode.
Diablo 2 Resurrected is good
I had the privilege of participating in the Alpha test for Diablo 2 Resurrected a few weekends ago, and I honestly did not expect to have as much fun with it as I ended up having. The moment I booted up the game, standing once more in the Rogue Encampment, it made me feel like a kid again.
The good news is that a lot of the joy I experienced wasn’t just driven by the shiny new graphics; it’s that the core Diablo 2 gameplay from all those years ago still holds up today.
Going out into the unknown, no quest markers to show you where to go next, killing monsters methodically with just your left and right mouse buttons, compulsively picking up loot, playing inventory tetris with the limited space, and then running back to the safety of town to sell, stock up and head out once more - this is what makes Diablo 2 great.
A lot of that rhythmic gameplay loop got lost when Diablo 3 favored a more hyper-frenetic, always-be-grinding, always-be-killing approach, expanding the number of skills on the hotbar, throwing hundreds more enemies for you to cut through like butter, and making the endgame grind about stepping onto a never-ending hamster wheel of loot and power creep.
I have a good feeling Diablo 2 Resurrected will do very well when it comes out - on two fronts, the “old” fans like myself will most definitely having a blast revisiting this game in full - especially since Vicarious Visions have done such a service to this remaster; but I do believe it will also introduce a whole new generation of gamers to the godfather of the genre.
Marvel’s Disney+ shows are peak comic book, and in a good way
It wasn’t until half way through Falcon and the Winter Soldier that I realized Marvel’s Disney+ shows were starting to remind me of comic books in the best way possible.
Light spoilers ahead. In one episode, Sam and Bucky go to Madripoor - the fictional lawless city that all Marvel comic book writers send their superheroes when they want them to do shady underbelly type stuff. In the episode, the place looked like a badly dressed set, with lots of half-baked cosplay of shady people standing around to give the scene some life. So comic-book-y was its depiction of the city and denizens that it stood in stark contrast to the high gloss production of the rest of the show.
The inclusion of a chaotic neutral Baron Zemo is reminiscent of comic book plotlines where superheroes have to occasionally team up with the odd anti-hero or not-so-bad villain especially if their goals line up. I personally thought it felt a little jarring for him to have some light brevity to his character given how dark and dangerous he seemed in Captain America: Civil War. Even U.S Agent felt a little off at times, one moment he looked like he could go full unhinged, and other times, he’s providing weird comic relief for the audience by being off-brand Captain America.
Overall I enjoyed Wandavision a whole lot more than Falcon and Winter Soldier, as a story to follow week to week, but also from a narrative standpoint; the interiority of a person’s grief made external in the form of a magical “prison-of-the-mind” is super fascinating to me versus the hot-cold-buddy-cops-take-down-superpowered-misguided-teens; but the Falcon and Winter Soldier’s underlying subplot involving Isaiah Bradley, the narrative around systemic racism and what it means to carry the “flag” of America on shield or suit was the best part of the show.
That the show riffed off the Red, White & Black run of Marvel Comics that introduced Isaiah Bradley, and the complexity of African American politics, demonstrates Marvel is willing to take risks with its mainstream audience around the deeper explorations of what it means to be a superhero in today’s society (just as Wandavision did for death and grief), something comic book fans have enjoyed through the range and depth of the books for decades.
Looking forward to what they bring to the table with Loki next.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read through this edition of Cross-Play. It’s taken me awhile to get this issue out, apologies, I have been busy with moving house and settling in. The new place is great, and now I’m getting back into the groove of thinking, writing and producing more content.
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