Who’s Been Paying Attention?
Gathering the world’s gaming journalists in Barcelona led many of them to ask what Nokia was going to talk about. Put simply Nokia said at E3 2005 that they would keep everyone in touch with what they were doing, so this was a chance to go over the plans for the next few years, announce some new games, and launch the “One” fighting title on MMC. In other words, everything’s running smoothly and we wanted to let you know that.
The first slide encapsulated everything that the dedicated N-Gage follower needed to know. Titled “The (R)evolution of Mobile Gaming,” you could have replaced this with “Nokia’s Stalking Horse,” because the message was clear. We’re not going anywhere except forward with mobile gaming. If you’ve not been watching the announcements from Finland then the change of the N-Gage from the name of a single phone unit to a global brand that promotes gaming over every Nokia handset would come as something of a shock – much like the contents of the ancient Trojan Horse.
Of course the N-Gage has had a rough ride from some people, but it's worth remembering that while it started in 2003 with one device and seven titles, and today’s three handsets (Classic, QD and QD Silver) and over fifty titles is nothing compared to what Nokia are planning to do.
N-Gage Inside (Insert Twinkly Music)
Yes the N-Gage is going to become a platform. Running under Series 60 version 3 (and Symbian OS 9.1) it’s going to be available in more and more Series 60 phones from the middle to late next year. Not every new Series 60 device is going to be capable of running any N-Gage branded games (each phone will probably be assessed on a case by case basis), but the target of having 10 million N-Gage capable devices during 2007 is clearly achievable. And while there won’t be another “N-Gage Phone” per se, there’s sure to be a ‘gaming orientated’ device that will be influenced by the current QD form factor. So the simple question of will there be new hardware can be answered both yes and no!
Putting that into perspective, this year alone Nokia is looking at 25 million Series 60 devices, and by Christmas 2005 a total installed base (in Series 60) of 40 million units. That base is going to rise and rise, and being able to bring a stable and mature gaming platform to them (and the N-Gage will have been running for three years by then) is going to be a huge selling point to everyone concerned.
While it’s still going to be smaller than the base of the big consoles such as the Xbox360, it’s going to be a significant percentage, maybe 30-40%. And that’s not counting any of the Java handsets that are going to be able to use the Java SNAP system that’s built around the Arena technology. With 700 million Java handsets world-wide, just 10% of that base and you’ll probably be closing in on numbers similar to the Nintendo Gameboy. As Gerard Wiener is fond of saying, ”this is a marathon, not a sprint,” and the strategy employed reflects the optimism of that view.
Using the N-Gage Arena and the Internet
The installed base of the N-Gage devices now stands at around 2.1 million devices, with around 500,000 of those having registered for the N-Gage Arena service. That’s a huge conversion rate, and while there are peaks in terms of usage (such as competitions and during holiday periods), the N-Gage Arena has proven a success both for gamers and as an anti-piracy method. With more and more games providing innovation through the Arena, that warez copy might let you play the game on your device, but if you want the really cool stuff, you’ll need to be online… with an official copy. So while it’s still a bad thing, Nokia aren’t just accepting that some level of piracy will always exist, but they’re essentially using them as another viral advertising channel.
Do You Want To Know More?
Normally I wouldn’t cover the questions asked from the floor into its own section, but given that the event was partly about the communication between Nokia and the media, it’s interesting to find out which points needed clarifying.
There are still a number of highly visible problems to overcome, and both of these were addressed. The first is in game distribution, and while there have been some local successes, getting the MMC based games into the hands of customers is still proving a challenge. Nokia’s demonstration of an Over the Air system, allowing users to download titles onto their PC and install onto their own MMC cards is going to happen, but it needs to be balanced with the retailers that will continue to work with the N-Gage. The second challenge is in data pricing. Most GPRS accounts (which are needed for the Arena) are “pay per Kb” style, and end-users are naturally wary of what an Arena session will cost them. The key is flat rate data pricing, and some networks (eg T-Mobile in the USA) have flat rate plans especially for N-Gage users. As these roll out across the world, it’s fair to say that always-connected games will become much more popular.
And finally, the question of the N-Gage vs the Sony PSP vs the Nintendo DS. “There is handheld and there is mobile. N-Gage is mobile,” replied Gerard Wiener, VP of Gaming for Nokia and the ‘Boss’ of the N-Gage. “We are competing for shelf space and we are in the same world, but Nokia is aiming for a different piece of a very big pie.”
So in short, the N-Gage is here to stay. It might have evolved from the original plans, but then no plan survives initial contact. What’s telling is if the company gives up, goes and buys a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, or steps up to the plate to take another swing. Nokia are doing the latter, and they’re giving a running commentary as they do it. If you were worried about Nokia giving up, then don’t bother. They will finish the marathon, and there’s every chance they’ll be on the podium.