Neil Young has some fighting words for the 3DS and Sony's forthcoming NGP. Not the legendary musician, mind you (although that would be all shades of awesome), but the head of iOS publisher ngmoco who believes any system aiming to compete with the app gaming market is either dead or dying.
“I think they are hurt; I think they're clearly hurt,” declared Young during a GDC interview with Industry Gamers, clarifying, “I think PSP is done and the new [NGP] is dead on arrival. It's really difficult to compete with an app store that has hundreds of thousands of applications and a wide range of options where the average price paid is around $1.20 and there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of free applications that are really high quality. So I just don't think Sony's going to be able to compete with that.”
Young later shot down the notion that the NGP's reported ability to play PS3 quality games would be a competitive advantage over the average app, claiming the iPad and iPhone's bevy of features make up for any graphical disadvantages.
Turning his attention to Nintendo, Young admitted the 3DS' chances were slightly higher, but its success relies less on 3D technology and more on developer support, saying, “"I think Nintendo will likely be competitive. My personal opinion is that the 3D piece of the puzzle is kind of gimmicky. But Nintendo has great franchises and there are tens of millions of people who want to participate in those franchises, so that always helps... But the real question is the degree to which there's a third-party community."
To re-iterate, ngmoco is a publisher with a considerable stake in the iOS market. It also knows a thing or two about what sells, having released iOS hits like Rolando and We Farm. So while Young's comments may be biased (thousands of "high quality" free apps? We don't think so...), they're also somewhat informed. Regardless, it'll take a few years to determine whether his latest predictions have merit or if he's just stirring the pot.
[Source: Industry Gamers]
http://www.gamesradar.com/3ds/nintendo- ... 2754448006If anyone should understand the importance of the immediate 'That's cool!' factor, it should be an iPhone dev I'd have thought, but it's true both those companies didn't serve their last-gen customers very well.
